WW1

World war 1 caused momentous changes in fashion and the manufacture of fabric. When the war was declared by Germany Paris was already undergoing planning for the Paris Fshion week so the even went ahead despite the current position that the country was in.
The war also affected people higher in society, people did not splash out on expensive couture anymore and the male couturiers signed up to fight in the war so that left the women in charge.

America joined the war in 1917, and as a result of this the Paris fashion houses were supported even more by the Americans. However the fashion houses were still not affected and fashion shows still took place. The styles that were still coming out of Paris during the war still interested poeple across the world. And in 1916 Britain launched its own version of Fashion magazine 'Vogue' to boost people's morale.

War time silhouettes

The silhouettes of fashion throughout the war stayed mainly the same however there was the addition of peplums and drapes onto the dresses and layered skirts to give the dresses a bit of flow.
In 1915, many designers began to use the war as an inspiration and designed military inspired clothing. Vogue even used the colour khaki in their magazine.

Tailored jackets woth a pulled in waist became fashionable and military style clothing continued to filter its way into women's wardrobes. Women's skirt shapes were changing to, it was edging away from the hobble skirt style and moving more towards being slightly flared and tierred. Hem lines started to rise, this started to become necessary so that the skirts became more practical for the women to do the jobs of the country.

During the war there was a shortage of domestic labour because all the women were doing the men's jobs so they had to adaot their clothing so that it didnt have to go through the process of being dry cleaned etc. The years of the war saw the drop of the need in the tea gonw and only pratical daywear became most important.