At the end of the 1920s there was widespread availability of mass produced fashion. Style became a valid reason to replace goods, rather than durability and utility. Style was seen as a tool of upward social mobility.
It is interesting that there was a problem of industrial overproduction. This was remedied with marketing strategies and consumer credit making it easier to buy large things. This made it easier to replace goods still that were functional, but seen as old fashioned. This mindset seems to have remained constant to today's attitude toward consumption. The only things which have changed are the things which are consumed, and the modes with which to consume them. For example, online shopping.
New media, faster distribution and window display made it normal to quickly change fashion. Retailers built on this, but had to use divided ‘sweatshop’ conditions in order to reduce production costs and remain profitable. Things were made using piecework. This had terrible conditions for the workers. By the mid 1920s, labour unions + new equipment= assembly line production. This, again, connects to today's market, as global production chains are difficult to track, and fair trade is rarely acknowledged in popular, profitable labels.
Advertising began using style as a selling point. American housewife was the target. This was because in 1928 women were responsible for 80-90% of all consumer purchases. Since thebeginning of 20th C, cheaper commodities has meant that the woman's traditional job of production has been replaced by the job of shopping. Around the 1880s, department stores were seen as a pleasurable experience. This history is an interesting background as to why women are seen as the 'shoppers,' more so than men.
Women’s clothes had been categorised by occasion. New roles during WWI. Clothes were then categorized by feminine personality. Some people recommended performativity to assume the character of that feminine type, others recommended personal authenticity, with customization of the feminine type. What Price beauty 1924, represents this.
This idea of self help and building personality through clothes, was parodied in A Star is Born 1937.
Hollywood was democratic. A guide for what women could assimilate into their own wardrobes. Our Dancing Daughters 1928 launched Joan Crawford’s career, and popularized art décor interiors.
Film industry was seen as working with advertising to promote style-conscious consumerism.
Will Hays was the President of Motion picture Producers and Distributors of America. Product placement + tie ins = studio revenue Warner Brothers General electric & motors. 1933.
Hollywood was snubbed by fashion elites. Omar Kiam, used some of his Folies Bergere 1934 costumes the following year in Saks fifth avenue. They appeared in Harper’s Bazaar. Thus Hollywood looks were accepted in mainstream fashion. Then, Hollywood looks became more mainstream to profit from this connection. Hollywood was more influential on the majority of Americans, than Paris was.
Hollywood had to tread the line between wearability and marketing, and theatricality suitable for the character.
During the Depression there was a return to home sewing, which meant patterns rather than garments were used to emulate Hollywood based trends.
Emulating stars. Joan Crawford. Jean Harlow.
Like the rags to riches stories so often communicated in Hollywood, the style used for costuming is democratic, available to viewers if they wish, unlike the previous system of aristocratic birth. “the importance of clothing as a catalyst for new kinds of social behaviour." (P.29) Apparel is shown to create confidence in male-dominated situations. What Price Hollywood. Emulation is based on desire and calculation.
Mae west Goin to town 1935, Crawford The bride wore red 1937, Mannequin 1938.
Easy living 1937 parodies the Cinderella story, and use of fashion to signify class. Interwar migrants to the US who were working lowly jobs but had aristocratic backgrounds, inspired a new genre of movies The princess comes across 1936. Midnight 1939 comic Cinderella story. Fifth av girl 1939.
Presents status as a matter of appearances.
Vogues 1938, The Women 1939 makes fun of tasteless socialites.
These films communicated fashion as a construct. The way it could be applied, and change one’s life. Social status assertion is deconstructed and parodied.
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