About Kirsten Expertise I can answer most questions regarding the history of fashion and the industry, within the last eighty years. I have a special focus on the sixties, as well as the seventies. I can answer questions regarding fashion trends, icons, designers, and trends and clothing that was specific to a certain decade. I will research every question asked of me until I find an answer.
Experience I am a fashion enthusiast and aficionado, and have an impressive collection of Vogues, Harper's Bazaars, and Women's Wear Dailies spanning from the fifties to the present. My grandmother was a photographer's assistant for Harper's Bazaar in the fifties and sixties and later became a fashion model. I am particularly well-informed when it comes to vintage, bohemian-inspired clothing and know the best boutiques to find these clothes in New York, Dallas, and especially Los Angeles, as well as the best online stores. I have done extensive research in the field of fashion history, and have an abundance of resources, and consider myself a well-rounded expert when it comes to fashion and its history.
Expert: Kirsten Date: 4/14/2006 Subject: fashion in 40's
Question Hi,
I have to prepare an oral report with my group about fashion in 1940's. My part is how famous people had influenced fashion. Can you help me?
Answer Hi! I can most definitely help you with this. The 1940's was a very glamourous era in the history of fashion. The stars of the day that you would probably be interested in researching would be: Katharine Hepburn, Gary Cooper, Joan Crawford, Spencer Tracy, Vivien Leigh, Judy Garland, Cary Grant, Lauren Bacall, and Humphrey Bogart. Each of these stars had a style all their own. Kate Hepburn, especially helped usher in a new style, in that she always wore slacks, she was hardly ever seen in gowns or skirts, this was extremely rare for that day, she was definitely ahead of her time. Women of the 1940's emulated what they saw on the screen. For instance, women had their eyebrows either tweezed or painted on very thin and and very defined. They also wore their lipstick in what was called a "cupid's bow" which was where the upper lip was accentuated rather than the fuller, bottom lip. The hair was worn in a loose "finger wave." If you really want to see a true lady of the 1940's, I suggest you rent the movie "chinatown," Faye Dunaway's character Evelyn really captures a woman of the 1940's. Back to clothing, silk stockings were a wardrobe staple for any 1940's woman. However, the United States was rationing silk, being in the midst of World War II. So the only silk stockings woman could get their hands on had a very noticible line down the back of them. In order to hide this, women would take a permanent marker and draw down the back of their legs in order to hide the large run in their stockings. I hope this was helpful, let me know what else I can help you with, and if you have any specific questions you would like me to answer. Here is a link to a chart of both men and womens fashions in the 1940's that I thought might be helpful: http://www.skaro.com/1940s_1.html
Best of luck with your report!
