In October 1929, the Roaring 20s ended with the crash of the Stock Market, which led to the Great Depression. Unemployment was rampant, and government aid was woefully insufficient. A complete juxtaposition to the suffering of the ordinary people was the over-the-top glamour that was Hollywood idolized.
The Great Depression
The Great Depression was a financial crisis that cause massive unemployment across North America. At the same time, the Dust Bowl overtook the midwestern and southern plains of the United States. Drought, high temperatures and years of poor farming practices had devastated the land. The agricultural industry failed and with it the farmers fell into ruin. A mass migration of people from the east toward the west occured as people searched for hope in California.
Women’s Rights
Jobs were few, and many believed that married women should not keep employment as their husbands could support them. Many saw it as unnecessary and selfish. Before the Depression 9 states in the US had laws that restricted the employment of married women but by 1940, 26 states had restricted their employment. This decade was a time of stagnation for both the economy and women’s rights.
Hollywood Glamour
Hollywood’s first real style icons emerged at this time. The Talkies were in full swing, and the average person needed an escape from the drudgery of poverty that was affecting the western world.
There was also experimentation by Hollywood icons such as menswear worn by Marlene Dietrich.
Silhouettes
The global economic crisis led to the conspicuous flaunting of wealth as tasteless, shifting instead towards sophisticated simplicity. Long, feminine, neat and serene became the look to be had; demure femininity in soft, elegant colours. The simplicity of the 1920s silhouette was still apparent, but instead of hanging off the body, the dresses of the 1930s was triangular with broad shoulders and flowing fabric draped off of the body, displaying the natural waist and flaring out around the ankles. Thanks in part to new technologies and techniques like bias cutting. Hemlines dropped to low or midcalf for the day and floor-length or trailing for the evening. Volume was above the waist with broader shoulders and neck details like ruffles and pussy blow blouses. For the first time, we saw backless dresses. The bobs of the previous decade softened into gentle waves but remained cropped quite short.
Schiaparelli. 1938. Brooklyn Museum
Design
The influence of art deco was still prevelant. Apparent in the geometry visible in many prints and the seam lines of garments. Polka dots were hugely popular, and a fascination with Africa led to lots of animal prints.
Designer of Note: Madeleine Vionnet
A french designer who began sewing at the age of 12. She is known as the innovator of using bias cutting techniques. She was influenced by modernist art movements and believed seams should follow the lines of the body. She created complicated garments which rarely had any closures. The influence of both Japanese and Greek art is prevelant in her designs. She was prolific, leaving behind her a collection of over 12,000 dresses. Outside of her work as a designer she also championed the fair treatment of employees and laborer protections.
Image: Evening Dress by Vionnet. Photographed by Edward Steichen, 1930 for Vogue. V&A.
Seed Sack Dresses
Thrifty homemakers had been using the fabric from commodities such as animal feed, or flour sacks to create garments for them and their families since the 1890s. By the 1930s thee printing of garment appropriate patterns on these sacks had become an integral marketing tactic for companies.
Image: American Family in clothing made from Feedsacks. 1940. Russell Lee.
The Invention of Nylons!
After 10 years of polymer experimentation Dupont invented Nylons in 1938, showed them at the world fair and began to produce them for retail in October of 1939. The next decade would benefit from this discovery but it happened in the 30s.
Image: Nylon Advertisement in LA. 1938. Science History.com
French Riviera
The rich vacationed on the Cote D’Azur encouraging an industry for resort and beach wear. Beach pajamas became hugely popular, what we would now call Palazzo Pants. They were considered scandalous and androgymous to many at the time, as it was not yet considered appropriate for women to wear trousers unless absolutely necessary. The style had originated from colonized India and had been worn only by men. The word pajama was taken from pāy-jāma in Urdu which was derived from Persian pāy-jāmeh, meaning ‘leg garment’.
Cosmetics
In the 1930s the lip took on a more natural shape than the bee-sting of the 20s. Eyebrows though, stayed pencil thin, but rather than the sad sloping shape of the previous decade, they were high rounded 1/2 circles. The Vampy eyemake of the 20s was replaced with more lighter shades in a variety of colours. Rouge also gained popularity as the tanned look became desirable.
Image: Cosmetic Harmony, Elizabeth Arden. 1930s.
Thoughts
It seems that after the devastation that had followed the hard partying and rebellious nature, women of the 1930s wanted a return to romanticism and femininity. Almost an expression that they were good girls that did not deserve the economic hardship brought on by the bad flappers of the previous generation. Escapism was clearly a driving force behind the growth of Hollywood and the glamourous icons it displayed. The impact of icons in fashion is apparent in the conservative but elegant and feminine creations of the decade.