Take off that stiff girdle, your vendeuse orders sternly.
You cant be fitted into that.
It makes you into a tube.
And with that came the 1930s!
The natural curvature the flapper tried so hard to distract from was now a womans prize possession.
Vionnet started it all, the article continues, with her dresses that wrap and cling.
Illustrated by Carl Erickson,Vogue, September 1936
If the 1920s birthed a new Art Deco movement, the 1930s was the era of the neoclassical.
She was goddess divine.
Find below a breakdown of all these 1930sfashion trendsand more.
Salvador Dalí, 1939. Illustrated by Salvador Dali,Vogue, June 1939
Clothes are literally molded to the womens body.
ManyVoguearticles were dedicated to what, exactly, women were meant to wearbeneaththese open dresses.
But undergarment makers quickly rose to the challenge and devised foundational pieces up to the task.
Artwork by Christian Bérard,Vogue,September 1, 1939
The photograph epitomized the backless trend.
It read: On they godiscussions about where and when women can wear slacks, shorts, culottes.
For sport and holiday, the pant was a smart choice.
Illustrated by A. E. Martin,Vogue, September 1932
Designers who offered their takes on pants included Maggy Rouff and Elsa Schiaparelli.
In the superb Does Hollywood Create?
Only yesterdayHollywood was a law unto itself.
Model in a Vionnet design, 1931
Its fashions were born and remained in Hollywood, she writes before declaring: Hollywood is originating fashion.
The deity that rules over clothes knows that it was not always thus.
Nylon, dubbed artificial silk or art silk, also became a popular alternative choice for silk stockings.
Gertrude Lawrence in Molyneux, 1931
Zippers would also be incorporated into high fashion for the very first time.
Surrealism in Fashion
Second to the taste for neoclassicism in fashion wassurrealism.
Salvador Dali became a regular contributor, blessingVoguewith otherworldly covers and several fashion illustrations in his signature not-what-it-seems storytelling.
Marion Morehouse, left, and a fellow model, both in Vionnet, 1930
Then were others likeChristian Berardand Jean Cocteau.
Photography perfectly captured and promoted the luster and drape of 1930s fashion, which an illustration could not convey.
Steichen was responsible for the first-ever photographic cover ofVoguein 1932.
Evening dress in white Romaine crepe, tied with scarf at the back by Maggy Rouff. Lithograph from La Grande Couture, September, 1931
By the end of the decade, almost every other cover was a photograph.
And like women, they were found on the big screen.
Savile Row tailoring continued to lead the trends.
Woman in Goddess evening gown of black satin with gathers by Henriette Jeantou. Lithograph from La Grande Couture, September, 1931
Silhouettes slimmed down after the looser, baggy fits of the 1920s.
Suits were worn with semi-accentuated waists to match the womenswear shift in silhouettes.
Edward VIII, then Prince of Wales, continued to be the poster child for all things stylishly English.
Woman on a sailing boat; wearing Molyneux. Published in Die Dame, 1936
By 1933, the nation could at least toast to their health with the end of Prohibition.
Culture-wise, film allowed for a much-needed inexpensive escape.
For front row tickets, emailparis@vogueworld.com
Elsa Schiaparelli (right) in Hyde Park, London wearing her ‘trousered skirt’,May 19, 1931
Joan Crawford as she appeared in the title role of Clarence Brown’s ‘Letty Lynton’, wearing a white organdy dress by Adrian, 1932
Marlene Dietrich in the film ‘Shanghai Express’, directed by Josef Von Sternberg, 1932
An for Courtaulds Limited, published in 1939
Elsa Schiaparelli’s trompe-l’œil “Tears” dress pattern was designed by Salvador Dalí, 1938
Elsa Schiaparelli’s “Lobster” dress was hand-painted by Salvador Dalí, 1937
Photographed by Edward Steichen,Vogue,July 1, 1932
Madeleine Vionnet, c. 1930
Elsa Schiaparelli, photographed on March 1, 1934.
Clark Gable, 1938
Cary Grant, c. 1932
Nina Mae McKinney, 1935
Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson (in a blue Mainboucher dress) posing at the Castle of Conde on their wedding day, June 3, 1937
