1950s Fashion Is Not What You Think It Is

hi do I even bother with the minimum intro no I don't it's you mean love today we're going to talk about 1950s thus the nineteen fifties inspired look to be honest I didn't bother to send my hair yesterday so like the full-on fifteen curly hair look it's not here well let's proceed with nitpicking on what people think about nineteen fifties I had a lot of requests to do this and I think the reason is because nineteen fifty is one of the most misinterpreted decades or eras when it comes to fashion history there's a lot of other IRA's like that for example eighteenth century or nineteen twenties as I mentioned before but 1950s for some reason I think maybe because of the cultural impact that it had on the history of the humankind in fashion it basically works on our imagination really well and it does not always bring the best results so first of all I went to every video I've done so far on the similar topic 1950s was a way more complex era than everyone is thinking in terms of fashion we we usually tend to have this one particular picture of what fashion looked like at the time but obviously a lot more happened in the era and not everyone more the same and especially after World War Two there were a lot of differences between the countries as well so for example French fashion from the ear is completely different from let's say American fashion or German fashions whereas in Poland fashion was also completely different because we had an different political system that affected the way people dress it's important to remember that if you have a particular image that's connected to an era it's probably one hundredth of what happened in terms of fashion at that time so this does apply to a couple of major stereotypes that people have reinforced when it comes to nineteen nineteen fifties first of of them is kind of rockabilly rock-and-roll style that I see a lot when it comes to like 1950s costumes or 1950s parties basically everyone just throws on a bandana and a skirt and saddle shoes and they're ready to go and I mean it's not that inaccurate there were some people that were this style obviously different a lot from what we see nowadays with costume parties are like costume stores or whatever but it was a small group of people it was basically a subculture at the time even people dancing rock and roll on a regular basis such as teenagers or like students they would probably have been dressed in a much more modest and conservative style which consisted of like buttoned up blue flared skirts and like ballerinas or heels so like all of those elements are very particular style but not everyone's for it and that's just it there's a lot of misconceptions that the rockabilly style has put into people's minds I don't mean to like be salty a lot of people just think that modern rockabilly is what people wore at the time and it's hugely inspired it takes it takes a lot of inspiration but it's not at all historically accurate so I cannot everyone was like running around in polkadot skirts and a bandana it's an easy way to imitate some of the silhouettes from the era but it's by no means an accurate representation of what people wore so that's one thing that I think is important to remember is that at that time fashion was primarily for grownups it changed in nineteen late nineteen sixties but up until that era everything that was proposed by the designers or like fashion brands was supposed to be worn by grownups basically anyone that was not grown up at the time kids teenagers people in their early twenties similar styles but they would also have a completely different style that was made especially for younger people and one of these things that were sort of a symbol of that style establishes and also some younger people were ponytails as well so all these things that nowadays are kind of symbols of 1950's were actually sort of off main track of fashion it was sort of non mainstream it was it was what young people who are at the time but young people did not dictate fashion at the time so like young people's outfits were not what you would show involve what he would show in vogue or in like fashion magazines were dresses for people over like 30 40 50 so another thing which is kind of sad and disappointing to some people but it's also a very popular misconception is that 1950s in terms of body image was all about those like curvy women and I've seen that in some of the videos discussing like different body types or on different eras but actually that's completely false if you look at the models from the magazines or photographs from the Iraq anyone that is considered beautiful is really really skinny and I mean sounda models from 1950 look even skinnier I would say to modern models because they're like completely flat their waists are insanely tiny you can have a look at the female whose waist was like I don't know how much dunnison inches but it's probably like 50 centimeters so basically anyone that wanted to make a career in fashion would have to be really skinny when it comes to actresses it actually shows because none of them are plus-size to be honest if you look at Grace Kelly Audrey Hepburn they're all really really tiny and I know Marilyn is supposed to be like the prime example of how curvy women were embraced at the time but to be honest her actual measurements were really tiny her waist was smaller than my waist and if you look at her like objectively she is not plus-size at all she just has a nice big if you look at her leg there is no satellite or anything she has no tummy fat and I think she just looks like regular actresses from nowadays which means sadly that no last night's women did not have the best time in 1950 a different thing is that a lot of the women were malnourished from World War two and also the food wasn't great in 1950s so not a lot of women were actually plus-sized generally speaking people tended to be more on the thinner side but still probably a lot of them existed and they would not be a model in 1950s and that's the sad truth if you really want to think of an era where being plumpie or like plus-sized or curvy was considered desirable I would say that would be 1900s if you look at the actresses from that era they they kind of lean on the plus side side and you had a lot of like medicines that were supposed to make your boobs grow they had a lot of specific medicine that was supposed to make you look curvier and basically make you gain body fat so another thing is the skirt so I've seen a lot of modern dresses modern like 1950's style dresses that barely reach your knee and the truth is in 1950s all the dresses and skirts especially earlier in the decade we're way below your knee and that's something I didn't notice until I read a couple of articles about how people were actually complaining about yours new look in 1947 for reinforcing longer skirts after didn't already ditched them so basically and where will - because of like the fabric ristic pens and and a lot of stuff the skirts got shorter to the point where they were barely covering the knee so then when after the war in 1947 Christian Dior Dior Dior came out with this idea of Kirsten dresses reaching your mid calf people who are really really upset like women really raging because they didn't want to wear long dresses again they were just kind of past that over that they were really comes to her in their short dresses and they were kind of like hell no we're not doing that again and this is why the new look sparked a lot of outrage because they kind of saw that as a setback in terms of fashion but is really is important to remember because then like when I read about that and I started looking at the pictures I've actually noticed that not a single skirt reaches right to the knee they're all kind of way below the knee then the skirt starting started getting shorter around the end of the decade like 58 59 and by 1960 they were sort of like meant knee so what I would think a normal thing I've noticed that people do when they try to recreate 1950 style or silhouette is that they kind of get all of the accessories at months like gloves Harold's earrings have sunglasses next cards whatever it's just too much like if you look at actual pictures of people from the era they rarely wear a lot of accessories they usually just settle on I don't know a hat and gloves maybe if it's really like an elegant situation but there weren't a lot of people around that could afford going like full elegant all the time and I think that shows in the pictures especially in summer pictures where you have people just going around and like blouses and skirts and not caring at all about the accessories it also depended heavily on the outfit like if you were just wearing a simple skirt and a sweater you probably not go oh whoo here is my huge hats and vogue style glasses because that just wouldn't match so we basically had to adjust what you wore accessorize wise to what sort of outfit you are wearing if you were like wearing a really nice cocktail dress and like going for a night out you probably would not wear I don't know a huge hat or a sweater and now the thing is fluffy petticoats oh we love fluffy petticoats and it's like a symbol of 1950's and I love the silhouette they give like the fluffy puffy Vogue style silhouette and makes your waist smaller so like why the hell not the only problem is that people back in 1950s did not wear them everyday let's just say that they were probably not as fashion conscious as we see them today and I've examined a lot of pictures of people from 1950s like Street style or like family pictures and to be honest not a lot of people who are fluffy petticoats my kind is trying to get in boy and it's also because a lot of skirts were actually quite narrow and a fluffy petticoat would not work under that and a lot of coats and like outerwear was also sort of a line and that would look really freakin weird with a fluffy petticoat underneath because it would just bring the silhouette so I've noticed in a lot of cases people just chose to wear like simple plain petticoats instead like no fluff no wear comes out and basically just something to have underneath but like a lot of skirts and dresses from the ear are not feature a fluffy huge petticoat it's a bit different when it comes to like high-fashion because if you look at the photos from magazines or like the fashion drawings from the era that sort of a puffy silhouette is accentuated a lot but it's not like a must-have you know what I mean part from the high fashion drawings I really don't see that happening that often in pictures from the era which is interesting because a lot of those petticoats survived a lot of women wore them but it was not asked common as let's say Edwardian petticoats or like 1920s girdles so another thing kind of connected to that is that I used to think that 1950's is all about like glamour and that is because I've only seen vogue covers actresses photoshoots and basically a lot of fashion related content so obviously in those pictures women are extremely elegant and they're just stunning everything matches the tailoring is impeccable they are all wearing high heels and they basically look like goddesses so I remember looking at those pictures and thinking wow well I could never live in 1950s because damn I would just feel uncomfortable in clothes you know and it took me a while to actually understand that this is not at all what people were wearing at the time similarity to today like if you look at that Vogue magazine obviously like people are not wearing that style because it's like a avant-garde and be it's expensive and I didn't think about that that a lot of the designs were not meant for the public like they were not meant to be worn every day if you have a look at like balance Iago coats or I don't know Charles James dresses I always confuse him with James Charles oh my goodness they are not meant for like everyday wear and you would not worry about seeing a dress for a problem because you're not a freaking millionaire and I kind of didn't figure that out that what people who are on the vogue covers was not compatible with what people actually learn so there is a lot more than the vogue fashion going on in the in 1950s there's the subcultures they're like housewives regular people there are more like minimalistic styles there are pants there are schoolgirls there's a lot happening that is not really mentioned there because it's not like the mainstream high fashion this is important to understand and also I looking at the photos of models in the magazines and going like their waists are insane and it wasn't until a couple of years later that they realized a lot a lot a huge amount of these models are actually wearing some sort of course a tree or like a really stiff girdle to have them achieve that silhouette don't worry as long as you don't see a model in a two-piece suit having the same type of figure it's probably not like she's probably heavy car Siddhant to make her look what she's supposed to look and also don't forget that they could edit photos at that time and so not everything you see is true so another thing is that high heels in 1950s were not actually that high even the stilettos they had at the time we're usually not higher than let's say 10 to 12 centimeters and I think 12 is like the highest God the only shows higher than that we're like fetish shoes if you look at the photos of of stars of like Hollywood actresses obviously the heels are quite high but notice how a lot of those photos were taken during a photo shoot or like for a photo shoot so they might have only worn the shoes to make their legs look better but for like everything looks a lot of women chose kitten heels that were actually not that high or like fat a lot of people who are flat surprisingly especially younger women and another thing is Mary Jane's were not really a thing in 1950s ever considered syrup a say they smelled like 1930s and 40s which was obviously old-fashioned by then so if you're going for like an authentic 1950's look Mary Jane's do not look right with the silhouette their skirts were quite long and the Mary Jane caught sort of made your leg look shorter so like visually it just was not a match the most popular shoe was served like just a simple ballerina style cut if you know what I mean like open feet I don't know how to call it but you know this too like regular heels also make um so there's the stereotype of 50s makeup being a black eyeliner heavy brows and a really red lipstick it was a thing especially if you look at the models like the vemma or like Suzy Parker what's her name they do support that look a lot simply because it's quite dramatic and it works well for the fashion like photo shoot if you look at regular people or even stars actresses from the Iran not a lot of them decide to go with that look a lot of women chose more subtle lipstick shades especially that they were more developed in 1950s a lot of pink and peach shades appeared which was quite popular with a lot of women even like Marilyn Monroe I think she lost her pink lipstick oh sherry red let's say it was kind of also passe at the time because it looked a little like nineteen forty's lipsticks so what was more popular at the time was served like brighter red orange red shades eyeshadows were a huge thing in 1950s and a lot of women would choose like we did bright pastel colors such as like lilac green I don't know blue what else to yellow you know all of the pastel shades that you could think of pink and they would just paint her eyelids with that so it's not always a black eye liner and the red lipstick another thing is and I've noticed that when I was watching this compilation on YouTube of the crown scenes compared with the actual footage of Queen Elizabeth and I've noticed how the original Queen Elizabeth's hair is much shorter than the actresses and I was thinking how we always tend to make 1950s hair much longer than they actually we're a lot of people cut their hair really really short to the point they actually almost look like men's hair and true it does not fit like every face type and it does make you look a little bit like a granny but that was what they wore and that's a look that's really difficult to achieve if you have longer hair if we're talking about pulse 1952 a lot a lot of women had really like tiny almost pixie style hair cuts even if you look at 1950s starlets not a lot of them have longer hair if your hair reaches your shoulders after you've said it it probably means it's too long and that's something that people always get wrong even when they do like authentic 1950s hairstyles but what people did when their hair was long they would sort of support something that I'm wearing today though I do look like a teacher and I don't like that hairstyle at all but they would basically have a really tight bun that also looked really elegant and it would work for a long hair type younger women also wore ponytails and also younger women in general were sort of allowed to have on their hair and because they were again out of fashion and the last thing that kind of irks me every time I see someone sporting a 1950s look is that people tend to go for plunk it ups and patterns Allah sort of like typical pinup pattern at this point and I mean it's cool it's not like they did not exist it's just I don't know where that came from because it was not the most popular pattern at all I'd say polka dots were just as popular at the time stripes or like fat whereas cherries I'm not sure where that came from it was not at all like a huge trends it was probably one of the novelty prints but that was not at all the most popular pattern and actually there isn't much like there isn't a lot dresses that feature that pattern so we now put my battling hopefully now you have a little wider perspective of what 1950s fashion was I don't know I just kind of hope this pushes here to explore 1950s because it's a really interesting decade let me know if there are any other misconceptions you think people have about nineteen fifties fashion and how they're wrong let's diss them in the comments that's it that's item I don't have anything else to say

Channel: Karolina Żebrowska

Views: 906,577

Rating: 4.9434214 out of 5

Keywords: 1950s, vintage fashion, 1950s fashion, 20th century, fashion history, rockabilly, rock'n'roll

Id: o6F_kHN6lyA

Length: 19min 28sec (1168 seconds)

Published: Thu May 23 2019