Men and Women's tailoring 1935-1950 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Men and Women's tailoring 1935-1950 - Essay Example This paper shall critically assess the effects of world events (around the time of 1930-1950) on both men’s and women’s tailoring, focusing on changing aesthetics in relation to gender. It shall also discuss the effects world events (like World War II) on women’s and men’s role and on lifestyle changes. The gender issues that were existent from 1935-1950 and how these issues changed the aesthetics of tailoring fashion shall also be discussed in this paper. Men’s fashion in the early 30’s was influenced by the Wall Street Crash of October 1929. Nolan (2005) discusses that, at about this time 8 million people were out of work in the United States. As a result, clothing was not prioritized over basic necessities. Clothing sales declined and many apparel businesses went out of business. The demand for Edwardian style clothes also declined. The tailors and clothing designers were forced to come up with a different style of dressing. Men’s suits were then designed to create the image of a large torso with shoulders squared with shoulder pads and sleeves tapered to the wrist. Peaked lapels formed a v-shaped chest. The double-breasted suit became popular and eventually gave way to the modern business suit (Nolan, 2005). In 1935, however, prosperity in the United States slowly returned. Prosperity also demanded a better design of the business suit. The ‘London cut’ was introduced to the fashion world at this p oint. Sleeves tapered slightly from shoulder to wrist, the pockets and buttons were high, the lapels were wide and pointed flaring from the top rather than the middle buttons, and flat rather than roll lapels completed the London cut business suit (Nolan, 2005). The London cut business suit underwent various changes to its style with the Windsor double-breasted and the Kent double-breasted suits making their way into men’s tailoring. Blazers also became a