Let’s Think About It

Did you know fashions, both men’s and women’s, can predict impending war and impending truce? Before America got into World War II, and during the war itself, women’s hemlines were short and men’s trousers lost their cuffs. Short here does not refer to mini skirt length, but to an inch below the knee. Naïve to this truism, I dreamed of wearing my beautiful Navy uniform (remember, a Mainbocher creation), without the insignia, after the war was over. But almost immediately hemlines dropped six or so inches. Some ladies had their seamstresses insert six inches of a contrasting material around the skirts of their good suits, several inches above the hemline, at the risk of its looking “homemade.” I did not have that done to my uniforms. It would seem a desecration, I felt.

The reason for these trends is, of course, a great deal of fabric goes into any war effort, not just uniforms for the fighting men, but tents, tarps, backpacks, parachutes, flags, and the like. It’s a sacrifice all patriots are willing to share in. In fact, it’s no sacrifice at all for truly patriotic Americans.

If one had the time and inclination, he could research this topic to determine if perhaps President Franklin Roosevelt really did know Pearl Harbor was soon to be attacked, as several experts have maintained. But when the war was about to wind up, the big bomb had been kept so secret that the garment industry and its manufacturers surely had no orders to change their routines. That gave me only a short season of wearing my Mainbocher.

About other wars America fought in? The War Between the States waged in a pre-industrial time, when dressmakers or other individuals made a family’s clothing. One can guess, but history will surely bear it out, the full skirts of the antebellum days became less full with a shortage of material. From the postbellum period on, history shows no such lavishness in women’s attire. At the time of World War I, family photos likely show rather skimpy clothes in circumference, but still skirts much longer than minis. Remember movie scenes of the Charleston dance era in the 1920s and 1930s? Skirts had gotten short while sleeves were entirely missing. And war in Europe was soon to follow, with it just around the corner for America.

The Korean War was too close time-wise to WW II to make its own fashion statement but by the time of the Vietnam War, mini skirts were having a heyday.

The greatest change is always with women’s fashions, more than with men’s, but in addition to cuffless trousers, width of lapels on men’s jackets and a smaller output of slacks with pleats have also reflected history’s stance.

But now we hear, “You can wear anything and be in style.” Does that mean the politicos “ain't gonna study war no more?” Or do we assume we will always have war with us, with leaders who are all mixed up?

♥