This report would be concerned with the discussion of the “The New Look” fashion trend that was popularised in the 1950s. The conception of the “New Look” is perceived to be the brain child of the eminent Christian Dior. He was invited by Boussac, a friend who owned a clothing company and hoped that Dior’s fashion would inhale new life in his already struggling garment company. However, the term New Look was actually coined by the chief editor of Harper’s Bazaar who gave the statement: “It’s such a new look!” Hence forth the term New Look was vehemently used to define Dior’s signature style that found its key compliment in its full length skirts, soft shoulders as well as waspy waists. This new fashion conception can also be perceived, as Arnold (2018) states, as an attempt for revival of the internationally famous fashion industry of France in the post war period.
In the year 1947, Christian Dior came up with the latest fashion trend that quite rebellious in contest to the fashion sense of the European origination in the 1950s. Dior presented a layout of one fitted jacket that has a nip at the waist line and is accompanied by a skirt of full calf length. The rationing of cloth fabric during the span of 1947 to 1950s was a stark reality. In contrast, Lagier and Ranfagni (2018), states that the lavish usage of fabric material by Christian Dior have been a bold move that was a shock for the contemporary fashion industry. According to the data provided by Izberk-Bilgin and Nakata (2016), 10 yards of cloth was already being used for the dresses pertaining to “The New Look” early patterns of style. However, in the latter versions, almost 80 yards of cloth went in to the dresses that were modelled as a later version of the “New Look” by Dior.
The emergence of the new fashion trend by Dior was particularly poised owing to the time that he chose for the exhibition of his new model of dresses. The women were actually craving for some frivolity in their fashion trends as they were already tired from the fashion attires that according to Reis et al. (2018), were an extended version of the military outfits that were in vogue at that times. That is why they demanded more feminine fashion. As Parmentier (2016), informs, the Life Magazine captioned the Corolle line fashion of accompanied by the huit by Dior as the New Look in the year 1947. Fashion critics have come to opine that the evening suits of the New Look fashion trend were the most glamorous. The strapless and boned tops accompanied by full skirts bore an ultra-feminine touch. In fact Dior was highly inspired by flowers. In the launch of the new Look, Dior had exclaimed that: “After woman, flowers are the loveliest thing God has given the world… I design clothes for flower-like women.” The fashionable outfits designed by Dior dominated the French Fashion Domain for 10 years. Pitted against the stuffy normality of the 40s era, the change that was brought about by Dior paved the way for more new outfit designs in the latter years like 1956.
It is evident that all women of the 1950s could not afford a new Dior Ball for every formal occasion. However the prices of the New Look gowns were comparatively cheaper than the outstation sources where the products were available. Dior’s gowns were ranged from $3000 to $400. Hence it was evident that for practical day to day use, the products were not adaptable. Rather they found that in the blooming days of the New Look fashion, there were no suitable alternatives to the trendy baggy and heavy weight dresses that had the least bit of femininity. That is why, Jones (2015), have stated that for occasions like formal evenings and other famous parties, the dresses of The “New Look” were most suitable. However, Zanette and Scaraboto (2018), states that the handmade couture had played a great role in accomplishing the wartime distorted fortune of the French economy.
The original fashion garments of Christian Dior were above the budget of the common people. However since this was a very widespread and revolutionary fashion, people of every strata of life were eager to incorporate this fashion statement. This is because most of the people were fed up with the baggy war time jackets and short hair that was the only fashion trend of the day. The Golden age of Culture that started with this new fashion sensation was used for the benefits of the corporate houses. Gardetti and Girón (2017), sates that no sooner than the industrial entrepreneurs started to realise the huge demand of the cloth range, they production of industrial copies of the products at a high scale started to flourish.
Made of cheap linen these industrially manufactured garments were immensely popular among the average working class European ladies. However, Stokes (2015) describes that in France the cheap substitute of the dresses that were made in the factories were never popular. The French women did not accept the industrially produced New Look dresses. On the contrary, Donzé and Fujioka (2015), denotes that in the foreign countries, these dresses that were industrially produced in the European factories with cheap linen were immensely popular in the external regions and in the foreign countries like America. In USA, people recognised this fashion from the industrially produced dresses that were exported to those regions. They did not have a very good conception of the authentic and original handmade dresses that bore the emblem of the Dior fashion. The Dior fashion was also influenced by the current musical trends that were emerging at that time. The Rock and R&B culture enticed the Europeans and Americans to join music nights and other outhouse parties. As an outcome, the new fashion culture of Dior gained a sensational acceptance among the people. This craze fostered by the industrial production of the garments pertaining to the new look. In the latter part of the 1960s, designers like Jean Ozenne were inspired by Dior’s fashion and working for couture houses, introduced the Corolle and huit fashion to the entire world.
The fashion culture had democratised fashion. The implications of war had democratised fashion and edged the fashion gap between the rich and poor. Dresses like snood that were in vogue had prevented the women from unleashing their feminine spirit. The spirit of consumerism was absent from the apparel business of the dy. As an outcome, this was considered as a time of dyeing the legs brown and as well as painting the seam down the backs of calves in the dress in order to simulate the stockings. Pitted against this background, the New Look fashion of Christian Dior marked the beginning of the age that made an attempt to return to normality, abrupt and sudden reappearance of the traits of femininity in fashion as well as a subtle exhibition of extravagance that was accepted as an emblem of feminism.
As per the opinion of critics like Donzé (2017), the trends of femininity that was set by the new fashion sensation, brought about the differences of rich and poor. The haute ball gowns of the New were not affordable for the commoners. The trend spread wide, however, the more it spread, and the more was the expanse of difference between the poor and the rich. The cloths were generally handmade and customised and can be compared with the designer outfits of nowadays and only the rich and the generally affluent female personalities could not afford the products of Christian Dior.
There is variable sensation in the fashion world regarding the fashion garments of France, in various geographical domains. The visitors in Paris, from post war Britain considered the skirts that was worn with the dress to be fuller and much longer compared to that of Britain and America. However, the poor material that was used in the dresses was unacceptable. The fact that rayon was used in the dresses instead of silk made the market of the dress, absolutely drab in Britain. However, in spite of that Jones (2015), sates that Dior had been the first designer who showed the concept of ballerina length to the whole world his genius in fashion designing was redefined by the fact that he showed the entire silhouette explicitly and on-suite works of beadings as well as embroidery was also like never before.
The American government actually despised this new fashion trend. The tiny waist and wide hips pattern of the dress made it acceptable in America as a foundation garment only. Such corsetry was however deemed as an unessential garment that could not be rationed. The government of the country in fact tried to exhibit that the new fashion did not exist at all. The British Vogue was strictly instructed by the ministry to avoid promoting this new fashion trend management.
The regional governments of Europe as well as American countries realised the need to generate income from the garment industry. Indigenous garment manufacturing could only give them the necessitated income that they expected. The New Look, as per the government could have become the new fashion sensation which could have promptly destroyed the demand for locally rationed goods.
Conclusion
The more structured fashion outfits were the gift of the New look which actually introduced the trend of the suits that were simple, straight as well as heavy. The Ballantine gowns can be considered as a modified version of the French New look gowns. In, fact, Christian Dior helped the whole fashion industry to emerge after the deadlock of the Second World War. The nylon petticoats that were later in trend in Europe were actually manufactured as a cheaper alternative of the kind of full scape skirt that was in vogue during the days of the New Look fashion. This dress helped the women to become more figure conscious. In fact the conception of workplace fashion also emerged from this fashion sensation that was created during this time. La Belle Epoque designers exhibit massive influence from the New Look suits. The Gowns that are now worn at formal occasions are basically inspired from Dior’s fashion.
Reference List
Arnold, R., 2018. Dior: Couturier du rêve: Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris July 5, 2017–January 7, 2018. West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture, 25(1), pp.115-117.
Kessler, E.A., 2015. Cutting through abundance: Raf Simons and the artful slice. journal of visual culture, 14(2), pp.208-212.
Lagier, J. and Ranfagni, S., 2018, July. LUXURY BRAND IDENTITY AND HERITAGE IN TRANSITION IN LUXURY CAPITALS: THE CASE OF CHRISTIAN DIOR. In 2018 Global Marketing Conference at Tokyo (pp. 1512-1516).
Izberk-Bilgin, E. and Nakata, C.C., 2016. A new look at faith-based marketing: The global halal market. Business horizons, 59(3), pp.285-292.
Reis, B.M., Miguel, R., Jerónimo, N.A., Pereira, M. and Azevedo, S., 2018, October. Analysis of attributes in unisex and genderless clothing. In Reverse Design: A Current Scientific Vision From the International Fashion and Design Congress (p. 87). CRC Press.
Parmentier, M.A., 2016. High heels. Consumption Markets & Culture, 19(6), pp.511-519.
Jones, K.B., 2015. ‘when one dior closes…’: the discourse of designer changeovers at historic fashion houses. Fashion, Style & Popular Culture, 2(3), pp.321-331.
Zanette, M.C. and Scaraboto, D., 2018. From the corset to Spanx: shapewear as a marketplace icon. Consumption Markets & Culture, pp.1-17.
Gardetti, M.A. and Girón, M.E., 2017. Sustainable luxury: Stories from the pioneers…………… María Eugenia Girón (Director of Mastercard and IE Business School Premium and Prestige Market Observatory). In Sustainable Luxury and Social Entrepreneurship (pp. 15-36). Routledge.
Stokes, A., 2015. The glass runway: How gender and sexuality shape the spotlight in fashion design. Gender & Society, 29(2), pp.219-243.
Donzé, P.Y. and Fujioka, R., 2015. European luxury big business and emerging Asian markets, 1960–2010. Business History, 57(6), pp.822-840.
Donzé, P.Y., 2017. The transformation of global luxury brands: The case of the Swiss watch company Longines, 1880–2010. Business History, pp.1-16.
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