Fashion In The 1950's

The 1950’s

According to “History.com,” the 1950’s was a very successful time period. During this time, the economy was booming, new cars, houses, and other goods were becoming accessible to larger amounts of people. Aside from the great things occurring during the fifties, it was also a time of “great conflict,” “History. com” stated. For example, The Civil Rights Movement was taking place and the Brown vs. Board Education case followed shortly after it, in 1954. Also, in December 1955, Rosa Parks’ acts stopped the discrimination against the African American passengers on all of the buses.

According to “The People History.com,” during the 1940’s and World War II, fashion and clothing were majorly influenced by the rationed and little quantities

com,” womens fashion was known as dressing “smartly” in the 1950’s. The slim and sleek style, began to grow throughout the fifties. During this time, outer garments and undergarments began to become more and more popular to a womans outfit. Women started wearing outer garments such as, cropped jackets that enhanced the hourglass shape that every female wanted to have. Longer, more fitted, styles of coats were also worn very often. These kind of coats were another form of fashion that accentuates a woman's waist, making it look thinner. Under garments were a huge part of a woman's attire in the fifties. Women wore dresses and skirts more than they wore pants because the style was more formal and conservative. There were a large amount of different styles of the dresses the women wore. There were styles from a pencil style dress, exaggerating an hourglass shape, to a casual yet classy afternoon tea dress. These dresses varied in color and pattern. Skirts were just as appreciated in fashion as dresses were. The most popular style of skirt that every women wore was a swing skirt. The swing skirt was tight fitted at the waist and extended out, reaching the

Men often wore a sweater with a cardigan over it, being more of a casual outfit. Also, plaid shirts became a very popular style that everyone admired. When men weren’t dressed in their casual outfits, they were dressed in their usual suits. The suits varied in many different colors, black, navy blue, dark gray, and light gray. Also, the style and color of the ties the men wore, changed the look of the whole outfit. There was also a very large selection of coats men could wear. They either wore sweaters or cardigans, long coats, or thin vests. As stated in “Fifties Web.com,” men always wore hats. There wasn’t much of a variation of hats but every man wore a hat to complete their outfit. As for men’s shoes, they were either a shade of brown or black leather dress shoes. This style of shoes matched with almost every outfit men wore.

I personally found this time period very interesting with the fashion of clothing. I think the style of clothes during the fifties were so classy and elegant, it made me very intrigued. I also thought it was very interesting that women wore gloves everywhere they went during this time. In the style of clothing today, I see some influences from the 1950s. I notice how many dresses are becoming more slimming in the waistline, accentuating the hourglass shape, like the style in the 1950’s. I’ve also seen the style of the cropped