1940s Vintage Stockings

1940s – Stockings

If you’re looking to make an impression at a Blitz party and you’re really into forties fashion, then you’ll probably know something about stockings, for they were the ultimate in forties style. They were also extremely hard to come by, due to rationing and shortage of materials. You see those films where the Americans arrive in town, and everyone practically swoons when they bring out some chocolate and a pair of stockings? It was probably the most important missed items during the war years, apart from a bunch of bananas.

Incredible Couturiers Schiaparelli Part 5

Incredible Couturiers – Schiaparelli

Part 5

Inheritors and Imitators

Directly and indirectly, Elsa Schiaparelli influenced a diverse range of fashion trends and designers.

Hubert de Givenchy worked alongside Schiaparelli in his early 20s, and credits her with influencing his outlook on fashion. She was reportedly furious with him when he left her start up his own label in 1951, and told him “You will bankrupt me.” Which perhaps shows how much she had come to rely on the young designer, rather than the other way around.

Vintage Shabby chic dressing

Shabby chic is a term we are all familiar with – especially if we are fans of this particular style for our interiors. The French green, the distressed wood, the slightly feminine pastels and antique look pictures frames are a must if you’re a fan of vintage/retro shabby chic.

Incredible Couturiers Schiaparelli Part 4

The Designs

Schiaparelli always liked to look elegant, but lacking natural curves and eschewing uncomfortable corsets she needed to find another way to sculpt the figure.

“You see, in designing, I consider both the clothes and the body architecturally; structure and line are the all important factors in the construction of fashions. And, of course, comfort too! Clothes must look as if they belong to the woman who wears them or they are not right.”

Jane Birkin Movie style icon

Jane Birkin

If you think you’ve been inundated recently with film star glamour that’s purely for the curvaceous, then perhaps Jane Birkin’s style might be more up your street. This is the English actress with oodles of French style, the androgynous figure and gamine features, so if you’re looking for a relaxed, more Gallic look, then Birkin could be the way to go.

Jean Seberg Movie style icon

Jean Seberg

For Jean Seberg style it’s all about the hair, or at least it starts with the hair. So if you’re not into short haircuts, as Seberg’s hair was seriously short, then perhaps this isn’t the look for you. Seberg’s style is all about a deviant devil-may-care attitude, elegance, understated chic and androgynous simplicity.

Incredible Couturiers Norman Hartnell

Norman Hartnell

The fifties isn’t necessarily everyone’s favourite decade, but it’s hard to compete with the 40s that came before it and the 60s that followed, and therefore it’s sat between the 2 decades, a grey shadow of the post war period – no money, fashion merely an extension of the 40s, and grey suits.

Ingrid Bergman Movie style icon

Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman’s spirit and independence was as notorious as the title of her famous Hitchcock movie. She was woman who followed her own path and dressed to please herself. As she once famously said “Be yourself. The world worships the original.” And Bergman was definitely that, a true original.

Incredible Couturiers Schiaparelli The Designs

 Part 3

Incredible Couturiers Schiaparelli The Designs

 Elsa Schiaparelli was never trained in tailoring or the art of fashion design. She could not cut, drape, sew or knit, being totally an ideas person.

She described the first outfit she made for a cocktail party, which was influenced by the Oriental harem pants of Paul Poiret.

Brigitte Bardot Movie style icon

Brigitte Bardot or BB as she was known, was an actress, model and singer during the 50s and 60s, but she was more than that. After “And God Created Woman” (1956) she was launched into the spotlight and with her sultry looks and devil may care attitude, she would set the world alight with her modern attitude to sexual freedom and her relaxed style of dress.