The Little Black Dress and Zoot Suits: Depression and Wartime Fashions from the 1930s to the 1950s (Dressing a Nation: the History of U.S. Fashion)

What would you have worn if you lived during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s? It depends on who you were:

*Most American women in the depression era made their own daywear, including printed floral dresses and slim skirts and blouses. In wartime the government rationed fabrics, so women often remade men's suits into simple outfits.
*For 1930s high fashion, nothing beat Coco Chanel's women's suit--a slim, straight skirt with a matching boxy jacket.
*For a classy evening, men donned black tuxedos and velvet smoking jackets.
*Casual wartime fashions brought the colorful Hawaiian shirt and khaki trousers into men's closets. Sailor suits also became popular for men.
*Latino and African American men brought the oversized zoot suit into the mainstream for men of the 1940s.
*The 1950s saw a shocking development--the two-piece, navel-exposing bikini for women and swimming trunks for men!
*In the post war boom era, young men either went tough--rolled up jeans, white t-shirts, and leather boots and jackets--or preppy--a sweater vest and sport coat over casual trousers.
*And young bobby soxer girls of the 1950s couldn't go wrong with white ankle socks, a pink poodle skirt, and matching sweater set.

Read more about depression era and wartime fashions--from the form-fitting little black dress to polo shirts, stylish snoods, and chic chignons--in this fascinating book!