Fashion History 3: The 1930s: Escapism During The Great Depression

Summary

The video discusses the fashion landscape of the 1930s, providing insights into the historical context that influenced clothing trends of the era. The Great Depression greatly impacted fashion, with styles falling back to more modest and conservative silhouettes. The era saw a rise in Hollywood's influence on fashion, as people sought escapism through cinema. Notable designers like Elsa Schiaparelli and Cristóbal Balenciaga are mentioned for their significant contributions during this period. The introduction of new materials like nylon and fashion trends like bias cuts and Hollywood glam played critical roles in defining the decade's style, while menswear became more casual and sport-influenced.

Highlights

• The Great Depression saw economic hardships reflected in the fashion of the 1930s with longer hemlines and practical styles. 💰
• Elsa Schiaparelli pioneered the use of zippers in couture, adding a functional yet fashionable twist. 🚀
• Hollywood's glamour provided an escape for many and led to the democratization of fashion trends. 🎞️
• Mainbocher and Balenciaga were prominent designers who left significant marks during this era. 🧵
• The invention of nylon revolutionized fabric use, particularly in hosiery, creating the term 'nylons'. 🧦

Key Takeaways

• The 1930s fashion was heavily influenced by the Great Depression, leading to more modest and practical styles. 🌍
• Hollywood became a powerhouse for fashion inspiration, with movie stars setting trends on and off the screen. 🎥
• Innovative designers like Elsa Schiaparelli introduced new materials and playful design elements. 🎨
• Bias cuts and figure-hugging silhouettes emerged, showcasing femininity after the boxy flapper styles of the '20s. 👗
• Menswear became less formal and more influenced by sports, reflecting a change in societal norms. 👔

Overview

The 1930s was a decade caught between economic turmoil and an escape into the glitz of Hollywood. Despite financial pressures from the Great Depression, fashion managed to innovate and evolve, becoming more modest in some respects but also creative and glamorous in others. Hemlines dropped, reflecting economic austerity, but glamorous Hollywood films offered a coveted escape, with stars becoming fashion icons.

Designers like Elsa Schiaparelli and Cristóbal Balenciaga pushed the boundaries of fashion innovation. Schiaparelli's playful designs with creative fastenings and the introduction of the zipper to haute couture were revolutionary. Balenciaga, with his sleek designs, and the revival of the waist cinching corset by Mainbocher, demonstrated that luxury could coexist with practicality and comfort even during tough times.

Meanwhile, men’s fashion shifted towards less formality, embracing sports influences with wide-leg pants and more relaxed, knitwear options. At the same time, women's fashion embraced more body-hugging silhouettes, reclaiming feminine aesthetics with bias cuts and glamorous evening wear inspired by the golden age of Hollywood. This era marked a significant turning point where fashion began to be influenced not just by Paris, but increasingly by the movie industry and its stars.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction and Historical Context The chapter begins with a warm welcome to viewers, introducing the topic of 1930s fashion history. The presenter emphasizes the importance of understanding the historical context to better grasp fashion trends. There's a focus on the credibility of the research, as it is based on respected published books. Viewers are encouraged to pause and read captions for more information.
• 01:00 - 03:30: Major Historical Events The chapter titled 'Major Historical Events' starts with a reference to books used for the content, which are listed in the description box below. The narrator highlights that the fashion trend known as the 'new look,' which became popular in 1947, shouldn't be seen as an abrupt change. Instead, audiences are encouraged to view fashion as a continuous evolution. The 'new look' was not a standalone event but part of a broader progression, suggesting that wartime fashion was a temporary detour from fashion trends that began in the 1930s.
• 03:30 - 06:30: Fashion Events of the 1930s The chapter delves into the fashion events of the 1930s, emphasizing the continuity of historical trends, particularly from the preceding decades. It notes that trends like the Jazz Age, which originated in 1918, extended into the 1930s. Additionally, the chapter touches on the development of swing music during the 1930s.
• 06:30 - 15:00: Hollywood's Influence on Fashion The chapter titled 'Hollywood's Influence on Fashion' explores the historical context and cultural impact of Hollywood on fashion trends. It begins with the discussion of the early 20th-century American society, focusing on the era of Prohibition, which lasted from 1920 to 1933. During this period, although ragtime, big band jazz, and blues dominated the musical landscape, the legal battle against alcohol significantly influenced other societal priorities, especially with the onset of the Great Depression in 1929. The chapter outlines how Prohibition, alongside the financial strains of the Depression, moved public attention and funds towards more pressing economic needs, indirectly paving the way for Hollywood's rise and subsequent influence on fashion. The narrative suggests the intertwining of socio-economic changes and how media, particularly Hollywood, began dictating fashion trends during a time of financial constraint and cultural shift.
• 15:00 - 21:30: Fashion Trends of the 1930s The 1930s was marked by the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, which caused economic hardships and environmental damage. The economy didn't recover until the end of World War II. During this time, notorious criminals like Bonnie and Clyde captured the nation's attention. They were often portrayed as rebellious figures akin to Robin Hood, gaining sympathy from the public affected by the economic downturn and harsh environmental conditions.
• 21:30 - 26:00: Concluding Thoughts on Fashion and Economy This chapter discusses the romanticized criminal partnership of a couple, similar to Bonnie and Clyde, who became infamous for their lawlessness and daring escapades. The imagery of the couple, particularly through photos left behind at crime scenes, added to their allure and has inspired numerous cultural works, including movies, fashion collections, music albums, and videos. The narrative briefly touches on historical context, with a mention of Hitler's rise to power in 1933, suggesting a concurrent timeline. The chapter reflects on the impact of their story on both fashion and broader cultural expressions, leaving a lasting legacy.
• 26:00 - 28:30: Conclusion and Viewer Engagement The chapter 'Conclusion and Viewer Engagement' highlights some historical events and figures. It references the caution required when discussing potentially controversial topics, such as political actions in Germany around 1937, likely referring to the Nazi regime. Additionally, it touches on Amelia Earhart's disappearance over the Pacific and her lesser-known fashion line that promoted practical, feminine clothing for active women. Finally, it mentions the beginning of World War II with Great Britain and France's declaration of war on Germany in 1939.

Fashion History 3: The 1930s: Escapism During The Great Depression Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 hey hey party people welcome to the next installment of my fashion history series the 1930s i will go into a bit of history so you can have some background cause and effect information to relate to the fashion trends of the time period before going into the fashion and as usual i filmed the books because i want to signal to you that my research is grounded mainly in respected and published books and i hope they serve like citations in an essay i left captions in many of the shots so you can pause and read them if you wish the
• 00:30 - 01:00 books i used are listed in the description box below okay one little note before we start everyone is so obsessed with dior and the new look to come in 1947 and what a spectacle it all was but i want you to pay attention to the looks in this video and to consider that the new look didn't come from just nowhere consider that fashion is a progression and it could be said that wartime looks were merely a break from the set progression of trends fashion was setting in the 30s i'd love
• 01:00 - 01:30 to know your thoughts in the comments below and let me know if you want more fashion history videos in the future let's start with the general history timeline just so you don't think that history resets itself at the beginning of each decade there are things that are leftovers from years before the 30s okay the jazz age for example started in 1918. and it continued well into the 30s swing music developed in the 30s with its
• 01:30 - 02:00 roots in ragtime big band jazz and blues prohibition started in 1920 and ended in 1933 and one of the reasons prohibition lost popularity is because the huge amounts of money spent by the government to enforce prohibition really needed to be funneled into other things because of the great depression which started in 1929. you know some historians say that the great depression ended in 1939 but many
• 02:00 - 02:30 say the economy didn't actually recover until the end of world war ii the dust bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture across huge swathes of the middle of the us and into canada actually the crime spree of bonnie and clyde captured nationwide attention in the us as the press portrayed them as robin hood style bank robbers beaten down by the great depression and the dust bowl the general public loved
• 02:30 - 03:00 the idea of these two madly in love and stealing from the man bonnie who loved taking pictures left a camera at a crime scene full of pictures of the two of them which the police then used for wanted posters further glamorizing the couple these photos have inspired several movies directly and indirectly and countless fashion collections music albums videos and much more in 1933 hitler was appointed the
• 03:00 - 03:30 chancellor of germany and youtube will ding me if i cuss but we all know how well that turned out in 1937 american aviation pioneer amelia earhart vanished while flying over the pacific erhard had a fashion line for a time designing and selling simple but still feminine clothes in wrinkle proof washable materials for an active lifestyle and in 1939 great britain and france declared war on germany
• 03:30 - 04:00 now that we have some background history let's talk about the fashion events of the time in 1930 maine bocker set up his couture house maine bocker was an american who moved to paris in 1911 and he worked as a vogue editor in the 20s until he opened his couture house and yes many people say maine beauche be probably because he lived in france for so long but it's maine bocker maine bocker closed the house in 1939
• 04:00 - 04:30 because of world war ii and promptly moved to new york to open his american salon as the u.s didn't enter the war until pearl harbor was attacked in december of 1941. main backer reintroduced the waist cinching corset to fashion in his last paris collection in 1939 he's probably most famous for designing walla simpson's wedding dress when she married edward viii in 1937 which became one of the most copied dresses in history
• 04:30 - 05:00 he was hugely inspired and influenced by vna using the bias cut and choosing to drape to design as she did also in 1930 elsa schiaparelli was one of the first designers to use zippers in clothes and the very first to use them in couture pieces sceparelli is known for a lot of things and many already well known but one of my favorite things about her work is attention to fasteners she loved unusual buttons collaborating with jewelry designers to create buttons shaped like
• 05:00 - 05:30 crowns mirrors animals vegetables musical instruments poker card emblems all kinds of stuff in 1932 nina ricci founded her own couture house with her son robert in paris early years at nina ricci were all about dresses and gowns party dresses debutant dresses feminine and ladylike and nina richie she had many years experience as a seamstress and dressmaker prior to opening up her maison and she draped dresses on live models to design her
• 05:30 - 06:00 gowns in 1933 lacoste was founded by tennis player renee lacoste and a man named andre guilier the owner of the largest french knitwear manufacturing firm at the time lacoste started with the tennis shirt with the crocodile logo which is arguably the first time a brand name appeared on the outside of clothing and the crocodile comes from renee lacoste being nicknamed the crocodile by the press and his fans for his tenacity on the tennis court lacoste remains a
• 06:00 - 06:30 fashion brand to this day with many product categories and its current creative director is a woman named louise trotter in 1935 nylon was invented and patented by wallace crothers at dupont's research facility and was used as a silk nylon is a silk like thermoplastic made from petroleum you know nylon first hit the markets in 1938 as nylon bristle toothbrushes and it debuted at the world's fair in 1939
• 06:30 - 07:00 as a replacement for silk in hosiery which is why we so often call stockings or hoes nylons regardless of what they're made of now and 64 million pair of nylon hoses sold the first year on market and then during world war ii almost all nylon production was diverted to military use for parachutes and wartime use of nylons and other plastics greatly increased the market for new materials in 1937
• 07:00 - 07:30 bachelor was a medical equipment company looking to make anti-glare glasses for pilots and that was how the sunglasses brand ray ban came to existence get it anti-glare ray-ban and uh ray-ban was sold to luxxotica in 1999. also in 1937 cristobal balenciaga he had boutiques in spain starting from 1918 but he
• 07:30 - 08:00 opened his couture house in paris in 1937. in 1938 columbia sportswear was founded and you know people don't think of a company like colombia having such a long history but remember clothing expressly for sport was a very popular and influential throughout the 20th century in 1939 war forced vioni to close her house yet again and she retired in 1940 and if any one designer embodied the 30s
• 08:00 - 08:30 it's arguably viennae with her slinky serpentine dresses influential bias cuts grecian styles intricate romantic embellishments the movement of her gowns celebrating the shimmy of women's bodies and you can see how christian dior's evening wear was inspired by her more romantic works and ball gowns the 1930s was the golden age of hollywood ridiculous budgets cheap labor
• 08:30 - 09:00 and audience hungry for escapism had hollywood cranking out visual masterpieces of costume and set design and at the time it was largely women who went to the movies or decided which movies to watch and movie studios really targeted the movies and the marketing to go with it to women okay and part of the marketing was commercial adaptations of movie costumes to be sold at affordable prices and yeah many of the movies are
• 09:00 - 09:30 extremely elaborate period drama so they wouldn't exactly inspire trends directly however because of the beautiful world hollywood built in these movies that escapism that the movies provided everyone wanted to look like the movie stars themselves on and off screen and the 30s saw hollywood becoming a major fashion and style influence so let's add some hollywood time steps to her background history in 1930 jean harlow starred in howard hughes's hell's angels and she became an
• 09:30 - 10:00 instant star a sex symbol people really became enamored with her look the opposite of the chic flapper of the 20s more androgynous with like close cropped hair jean harlow was lush she was luscious she showed a lot of skin in the sinuous gown she was the sex symbol of the 30s and her platinum waves and her dark lips and her skinny brows caught on like wildfire
• 10:00 - 10:30 in 1932 mgm released the movie letty linton and adrian's costumes for joan crawford inspired a craze in particular the letty linton dress inspired a craze for padded sculpted extravagant shoulders in the us and beyond pick up any book that features fancy dresses from the 30s after the release of letty linton and you will find copies and renditions including costumes made by other designers for other movies
• 10:30 - 11:00 in 1934 clark gable's character went without an undershirt in the movie it happened one night and boom sales of undershirts plummeted in 1937 mae west wanted elsa schiaparelli to design some costumes for her and so she had shipped over a custom dress form made to her measurements and the following year scaparelli was so shocked and enamored with the shape of mae west's body she modeled the bottle for her perfume shocking after that
• 11:00 - 11:30 dress form okay now let's pull these threads together to discuss the fashion trends of the 30s hemlines drop to the ankles and you will see over the centuries that hemlines drop during times of economic depression for daywear we see defined waists midi to t-length skirts lots of prints florals plaids polka dots suits with defined shoulders becoming more and more padded sculpted and
• 11:30 - 12:00 exaggerated and we see a rise in separates and sweater dressing as more women started working outside the home daytime looks became more tailored and angular with square shoulders with epaulets plumed hats low heels really like feminine versions of men's suiting and military uniforms eveningwear was more body skimming instead of the boxy straight up and down flat chested looks of the flappers
• 12:00 - 12:30 silhouettes became more feminine and figure hugging as waistlines rose back to their natural place torsos were still elongated but not boxy or straight but to give figures a more sinuous look vna invented and started using the bias cut in the 20s and it became popular all over by the 30s as it created that sinuous slinky shade what came first the popularity of the cut or the popularity of the shape mermaid and trumpet skirts became more
• 12:30 - 13:00 popular mermaid skirts are fitted and then flare out at the knee and trumpet skirts are fitted and then flare out closer to mid thigh backless styles weren't brand new in the 30s but became very popular in the 30s you know there were some scoop back pieces previously but nothing so completely bare and low cut like in the 30s grecian style gowns with their sensuous body draping looks fit right in with the 30 silhouettes they were very popular
• 13:00 - 13:30 showcasing many clever ways to apply pleating around the body animal prints were shown on clothes for the first time as going on safari in africa became popular yes during the great depression the rich continued to be rich hollywood became influential women wanted to emulate the style of stars like greta garbo marlena dietrich betty davis joan crawford gene harlow through fashion but especially through hair and makeup
• 13:30 - 14:00 they all kind of look similar that 30s look we all know with the fluffy wavy bobs huge eyes long lashes small dark lips thin eyebrows tanning continued to be popular for both men and women that healthy tan glow was increasingly popular tennis shorts got shorter bathing suits became more risque showing more skin some were even backless pants started becoming popular for women
• 14:00 - 14:30 but mainly for sport or resort resorts started becoming a thing in the 30s they called them pajama pants then but we call them palazzo pants now let's talk about menswear for a minute suits were still worn for formal occasions and work but casual knitted sweaters and soft collar shirts became more and more popular day wear for men ties were worn less and less menswear in the 30s lost a lot of extra layers and accessories that made the 20s
• 14:30 - 15:00 so formal the 30s saw fewer and fewer gloves canes waistcoats or vests formal dress boots spats white tie and tails was it the general democratization of fashion influenced by film or was it finding ways to be fashionable without extra money during the great depression what do you think sport continued to influence men's fashion in the 30s particularly dennis and golf wide leg pants continued to be popular
• 15:00 - 15:30 as were plus fours men's jackets also accentuated the shoulders with padding okay let's round things out with some concluding thoughts and ideas for your consideration of course it can be said that events like the great depression and impending world war would affect the global economy which in turn would affect the fashion industry but let's talk more specifically it was during the 30s that europe and paris in particular lost its singular grip on dictating fashion for
• 15:30 - 16:00 the western world before the 30s buyers would purchase copies of paris designs and resell them in their home countries during the great depression import duties rose to 90 percent making these copies ridiculously expensive however twalls aka mockups made of muslin or some other cheap fabric were duty-free tools were sold with instructions on how to construct these clothes and simplified versions sold at different price points including very cheap versions all over
• 16:00 - 16:30 the us on top of that movie studios were selling affordable versions of the popular movie costumes like the infamous lady linton dress in retail shops as well women still sewed at home but with the increasing access to more affordable retail options sewing slowly started decrease in popularity access to cheaper versions of fashion plus experimenting with hair and makeup to emulate their favorite movie stars
• 16:30 - 17:00 was really the first steps of the democratization of fashion yes paris continued to be and still continues to be hugely influential and paris would steal the spotlight again in 1947 but as i said they lost their almost singular grip on deciding how the western world dressed and honestly i think this is why europeans still hate the notion of hollywood and celebrities influencing how people dress all while the big european houses court
• 17:00 - 17:30 major celebrities to be their house ambassadors food for thought all right that's it for today's video please give this video a thumbs up if you learned something new today it really does help my channel let me know in the comments if you want me to continue my fashion history series check the description box for links to related videos information on the books i use in this video my social media and i'll see you in the next video