1950’s Pop Culture (Fashion)

Source Citation
"Youth-Centered Fashion in the 1950s, 1950-1959." DISCovering U.S.
History. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center -
Gold. Thomson Gale. Cook Memorial Public Library. 5 Feb. 2007

The "Greaser" Look

"Greasers," by contrast, were the all-American rebels. Inspired in part
by movie star Marlon Brando in "The Wild One," the idea, Horn says,
"was to look poor, tough, and hard—cold as ice, angry as hell, macho,
arrogant, and dressed to kill." Tight black jeans, black boots, shiny
shirts, black leather jackets, and T-shirts with rolled-up cuffs (for
storing cigarettes) constituted the greaser look, as portrayed years
later by Fonzie in television's "Happy Days." Boys' hair was worn long
and greased with Vaseline, molded into a ducktail like Elvis Presley's.
(A Massachusetts school banned the D.A. in 1957, fearful that it was
fostering rebellious attitudes.)

Tough Girls
Their girlfriends were a tough group, too, wearing heavy makeup, tight
sweaters, short skirts, and stockings. Some girls wore their hair
greased into ducktails, and some smoked cigarettes, too. The dress of
both male and female greasers screamed rebellion, and society
heartily disapproved.

Accessorizing
Couples, of both styles, also made fashion statements. Preppies
exchanged class rings, which girls wore on necklaces, and had
matching ID tags. When in college, this group's fraternities sponsored
elaborate pinning ceremonies. Greasers, by contrast, rarely bothered
with class rings; they sported tattoos and heavy ID bracelets, instead,
and girls wore their boyfriends' leather jackets. But whether you were
a preppy or a greaser, by mid decade the youth culture and its
fashions reigned supreme.
Preppy on the Dance Floor
Preppy girls wore sweaters, poodle skirts, bobby socks, and saddle
shoes. The dirndl dress (sleeveless, or with puffed sleeves, and plenty
of petticoats underneath) became the first popular fashion designed
strictly for youth. Billowing circle skirts and cinch belts were perfect for
rock 'n' roll dancing or the Bunny Hop. Baggy pants were also favored
by girls, as were long, pleated, plaid skirts. At night teens glittered with
paste-on rhinestones. Hair was cut into short, curly "poodle" cuts or
shaggy Italian styles, or it was swept back into a ponytail or teased and
sprayed into an elaborate bouffant.

The "Preppy" Look

Quant's more radical designs became widely popular in America in the
1960s. But in the mid to late 1950s both boys and girls had their own
versions of the "preppy" look. Preppy boys wore baggy pants, V-
necked sweaters, and Top Siders or dirty white bucks. They sported
crew cuts or else, in Horn's words, "the long-but-not-too-long carefully
combed and parted, wholesome-looking rocker hairstyles favored by
such teen trendsetters as Ricky Nelson of `Ozzie and Harriet' fame."
For dressy occasions they donned a sports jacket and slacks, with
loafers or white bucks.

Born to Spend
But children and teens of the 1950s identified with a fifteen-year-old
Los Angeles girl quoted in a 1957 Newsweek article: "We just find it
neat to spend money." In 1957 teens' disposable income was
estimated at $9 billion. Intensive research into this "hitherto untapped
teen market" began after World War II, and by the mid 1950s fashion
manufacturers were masters at manipulating teens' tastes.
Not like Their Parents
On the other hand, young people in the 1950s did their own
manipulating by deciding to reject their parents' styles and make
their own mark. Vogue commented on the trend in November
1952, when it described a "blueprint teenager" complete with
bobby socks, ponytail, and the boyfriend's sweater. Young fashions
became a regular feature in that magazine in 1953. Harper's
Bazaar started a regular section called "The Young Outlook" in
1958. England's Mary Quant began making youth-centered fashions
in 1955 and had a successful trip to America in 1959. Announcing
that "snobbery has gone out of fashion," Quant offered kicky outfits
specifically for women under twenty-five, rather than popular
fashions that had been designed for film stars.

Women’s Fashion

By 1950 women were long gone from the factory jobs of World War II
and were back home (usually in the kitchen and wearing aprons, to
judge from advertisements of that era). Domesticity and femininity
were the watchwords, and women wore wasp waists, voluminous
skirts, and pearls by day and clingy, sequined gowns by night.

The "New Look"

Christian Dior's "New Look" took the fashion world by storm in 1947.
Emphasizing the natural curves of the female figure, the shape of
Dior's fashions resembled an hourglass. The bosom was emphasized
by skintight tailoring; hips were padded; the skirt was midcalf in
length, full, and "extravagant in its use of fabric"; the waist was
slender, or "wasp." By 1950 the sensuous Dior designs and the
hourglass figure reigned supreme in the postwar United States, where,
as sociologists have noted, sexuality and maternity were the way to
restore the population.

Women by Day
Career women in the 1950s (and there were not many of them) wore
wool suits with slim sheath skirts and straight, short jackets over silk
blouses. The ideal silhouette was long-legged and shapely. Dresses
hung at midcalf. Gloves were a must: a woman dressed in a suit always
wore them. Hats, too, were essential, although less so than they had
been in the 1940s. According to a 1959 survey the average American
woman owned four chapeaus. Some were large, although most were
small pillboxes or berets. Handbags in brightly colored lizard skin were
favored. Shoes, usually with impossibly high stiletto heels, matched
the outfit. All of this would be encased in a clutch coat, often of mohair
or textured cloth, that had no buttons—hence the name clutch.

Work Clothes
Less formal working women donned "separates" (originally designed
by American designer Claire McCardell), consisting of skirts and tops
that could be interchanged at will, giving women a variety of outfits at
a lower cost. Pop-it necklaces, which could be lengthened from choker
to waist-length by snapping on extra beads, were a favorite with this
group (and with teenagers, too).

The Sack and Other Fashion Ideas

The chemise, also known as the "sack" dress, made the biggest fashion
splash in women's day wear in the 1950s. This type of dress, which
looked like a bag, was not popular for long, since the hips and bust
were completely hidden. After a year, says author Richard Horn, "the
sack was sacked." The hooded dress made of a single tube-shaped
length of hip-clinging knit also caught on in the 1950s. Housewives in
the 1950s wore shirtwaist dresses (often with pearls), housedresses,
slacks, and dungarees. The theme was comfort.

Women by Night
Women wore essentially simple clothing in the daytime; nights were
different. Evening dresses in the 1950s were either full-skirted,
ethereal, and romantic—in exotic hues and materials such as silk and
taffeta—or they were narrow, clinging sheaths, often slathered with the
shimmering sequins popularized by Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell.

Colors
Colors varied, with black and white particularly favored for fall and
winter. Synthetics, which are viewed as somewhat tacky today, were
not thought so then. Rayon and rayon blends were particularly popular
in evening frocks.
Accentuating Curves
All evening styles emphasized women's bodies (the "ideal" woman in
the 1950s was curvier and considerably less angular than today's
ultrathin, waiflike models). Most dresses were tightly fitted, sleeveless,
and strapless. They also sported plunging necklines and back lines yet
concealed elaborate foundations that enhanced a woman's figure.

Accessories and Cosmetics

Fur stoles and capes were popular. Handbags and satin pumps
matched the dress. Gloves were always worn. Hair was short and
swept back off one's face, and really adventurous women colored their
hair so that it matched their evening clothes. Arched eyebrows and
dark lips completed the look.

Don't Forget the Makeup

Makeup was an essential part of a woman's appearance in the 1950s
There was an excessive emphasis on painted lips and eyes, and those
lips were usually colored fire-engine red. Charles Revson, president of
Revlon, said in the 1950s that "most women lead lives of quiet
desperation. Cosmetics are a wonderful escape from it—if you play it
right."

Men’s Fashion

Conform—Or Else
In the 1950s conformity was the password of men's fashions. And as
long as "conformity was the order of the day, there was a uniform to
go with it," according to author Richard Horn: "a three-button, single-
breasted, charcoal gray flannel suit, with narrow shoulders, narrow,
small-notched lapels, flaps on the pockets, and pleatless, tapering
trousers. A white or pale blue cotton broadcloth shirt with a button-
down collar and button cuffs, trim ties with regimental stripes and
small knots, and trim black leather shoes that rose at the ankle and the
toe..... A drip-dry beige raincoat, a Chesterfield with black velvet collar,
or a single-breasted, straight-lined tweed overcoat with raglan sleeves
was donned upon stepping out of corporate headquarters and onto the
street. Any hat would have been narrow-brimmed and worn brim up or
brim down, sometimes with a pinched crown. Hair was worn in a crew
—or semi-crew—cut. Jewelry was minimal—no more than a wristwatch
and, if the man was married, a wedding band."

Alternatives
Not every man wore gray flannel suits, of course. Corporate types
sometimes wore dark blue suits. And blue-collar laborers did not wear
suits. By the mid 1950s, suits made of "miracle" synthetic fabrics such
as Dacron blends that were lightweight and spot- and wrinkle-resistant
were gaining popularity in colors such as beige, blue, and brown.
Nonetheless, men's formal fashions in the 1950s were generally
somber.

Sports Clothes
Men's clothes for leisure time, on the other hand, were more fun than
work outfits. Bermuda shorts made a big splash in the 1950s, with
some men even wearing them to parties and the country club with
sports jackets and knee-length socks. Though tweed jackets with gray
flannel slacks were standard among conservative dressers, sports
jackets came in a variety of casually festive styles for more
adventuresome men. They boasted colorful madras plaids, large bright
checks, or smaller hounds tooth checks. Continental jackets had lightly
padded shoulders and hung straight in the back. Slim-cut slacks were
sometimes worn cuff less and with a trim belt often in a bright color.
Long- or short-sleeved sport shirts came in lightweight, washable
synthetics such as Dacron; as a bonus they were wrinkle-free. Gaudy
Hawaiian "aloha" shirts were popular during the 1950s, too,
particularly at the ubiquitous backyard barbecues.

Outerwear
Heavy duffel coats held together by wooden toggles and hemp loops
rather than zippers or buttons came into fashion in the 1950s. So did
the thigh-length car coat. But the best-known outerwear of this era was
the Eisenhower jacket, named after President Dwight D. Eisenhower: it
was "jaunty, blousy, and waist-length."

Who Cares?
Perhaps because their range of fashion choices was so limited, men in
the 1950s did not care as much about clothes as women did. As an
article in Newsweek in 1957 put it, "men prefer to spend the extra
money they're earning on things other than clothes," that is, on their
homes and growing families. Probably because of the relative
disinterest from men, styles did not change measurably from year to
year in the 1950s as they did for women
1950’s Designer’s

Postwar Style
Before World War II American fashion had little sense of national
identity or style. Since the nineteenth century, in fact, Paris couturiers
had set fashion trends for women in both Europe and America. Before
the 1950s America's only distinctive contribution to international
fashion was via Hollywood movies. This situation changed in the 1950s
with the emergence of more than two-dozen energetic and imaginative
young men and women on the American fashion scene.

The "American Look"

"The `American Look' is a young look because it comes from young
minds," said a 1955 Look magazine article. "It's an American look
because these designers are independent and free-wheeling, wary of
imitating, anxious to create. They share a pox-on-Paris spirit." These
young American designers ranged in age from twenty-four to thirty-five
in 1955, and they included such names as Anne Klein, Claire McCardell,
Kasper, Rudi Gernreich, and James Galanos. They had a common
purpose: to give American women comfortable yet chic sportswear
that fit their active lifestyles and complimented the wearer, not
necessarily the designer.

Simple and Comfortable

American women in the 1950s were busy wives and mothers. Backyard
barbecues, weekend car trips, get-togethers in front of the television,
chauffeuring children to school, sports, and parties— this active life
required relaxed, comfortable, yet sophisticated clothing. As a young
New York mother told Time magazine (2 May 1955), "When I get
dressed up, I have little time to make up to the dress; I want the dress
to make up to me."

Leisure Wear
American Look clothes were intended not so much for work as for
leisure, but a leisure, as a cover story on McCardell said, "of action."
They were mass-produced, simply made, of clean lines, durable
(especially those made of synthetics), and easy to wear.
No Need to Break the Bank
American women loved the fact that this comfortable, functional
clothing was inexpensive. Almost everyone could afford McCardell's
creations, for example, which ranged from bathing suits and play
clothes ($10 to $50) to dresses ($20 to $100) to suits and coats ($89 to
$150). "The best-dressed women in the world are to be found on
almost any street in America," said Lifemagazine in 1956. "Without the
small fortune it takes to outfit a fashionable woman abroad, women
across the U.S. can out-dress all others because of a unique $8 billion
ready-to-wear industry which puts no price barriers on style."

What Was Popular

Jersey jumpers, tailored slacks, play shorts Bermuda shorts,
housedresses, and short-sleeved golf dresses were popular. So were
mix-and-match separates—a madrs skirt "topped, perhaps, with a
simple tailored blouse boasting a Peter Pan collar, or a dirndl skirt worn
with a peasant blouse," according to Richard Horn. Dungarees were
worn only around the house. Ponchos and shawls were worn in cool
weather, along with a short-sleeved sweater with a matching cardigan,
in cashmere or angora.

International Influence
The American designers of the American Look were considered trend-
setting revolutionaries. The look was influential abroad, particularly in
Italy, where it influenced the designers of sportswear. Paris also tried
the style with no less a master than Dior declaring that la mode sport
in America is "beyond doubt excellent.