1947: Celebrating femininity
Women’s fashion during the 1940s was about creating the “hourglass” figure: padded shoulders and high-waist tops coupled with A-line skirts created an hourglass silhouette. The biggest name in the industry, much as it is today, was Christian Dior, the brand that celebrated the hourglass silhouette with waist-cinching jackets, which received the name “New Look.”
The tight-fitted jackets and the petite waist created by the A-line skirt and high-waist jacket was a blast from the past: Dior was abandoning the more loose, liberated women-ware of the 20s and 30s, instead bringing back the style of corsets of the early 20th century. The everyday clothes that characterized the beginning of the decade weren’t part of Dior’s dream, but rather a vision of going back to the good old days.