Fashion Sourcebooks the 1940s

Fashion Sourcebooks is a series of beautifully illustrated paperbacks presenting the costume drawings of John Peacock. The series charts the development of women's and men's clothing from 1900 onwards, with a volume devoted to the fashions of each decade. Fashion of the 1940s divides into two pre-New Look and post-New Look. The first period was dominated by the Second World War, when rationing and shortages affected the design of clothes. Women's garments had a somewhat military, functional appearance, with wide shoulders, straight below-the-knee skirts, and a minimum of decoration. In 1947 Christian Dior's New Look brought a romantic Narrow, rounded shoulders, lightly padded hips, and voluminous, billowing skirts introduced a new era of femininity and extravagance.