Reading ‘The taste of time’

Dior’s new look. Desire was to look extravagantly feminine again. Desire for colour and frills. Not just fashion of clothes changed. Went crazy with design after the war. Interesting that women had achieved a sense of freedom from traditional gender roles, and empowerment during the war, but they felt the need to relinquish this, and go back to the traditional role of the aesthetically pleasing housewife.

Stiletto heels were invented by Parisienne bootmaker Jordan in 1951, unveiled at Dior the next year. 1956. Brigitte Bardot made the rumpled look sexy. Other girls felt over dressed, loss of interest in accossories and millinery. Youth wearing sloppy joes, pedal pushers, long trousers, but expected to wear the traditional adult clothes. Not a smooth transition. Mary quant saw an opportunity to make more child like clothing for adults, allowing for bodily freedom. “I wanted everone to retain the grace of a child, so I created clothes that allowed people to run, to jump, to leap, to retain this precious freedom. British chic, with flat chest, childlike impudence. Began making for herself and her friends. ‘I didn’t want to grow up to have candy floss hair, stiletto heels, girdles and great boobs. Young communicties created. Chelsea, Greenwich village, NY. Old copied young, rich copied less rich, for first time in history. ‘Buy 4 0r 5 dresses at a time and not worry about sewing’ Janey Ironside, Royal college of art. You couldn’t tell the secretary from the deb, because the debs were copying the secretaries. Desire for chic, cheap, independent. This tracking of the development of a youthful fashion is insightful. It is presented clearly, and shows the transformation of popular public images.

Dior died in 1957. YSL took the reigns. He raised the hemlines...'

This excessive exposure of flesh has changed the way society views clothes. It is almost like the fashion is about the body, rather than the other way around. in current times, women go clubbing wearing body-clinging stretch dresses, it is acceptable to wear shorts so short that the entire pocket is exposed. The 'skimpy' revolution of the '60s changed the way we see fashion. it has become more about the fashion of the body type, this is represented in the amazonian supermodels of the '90s, and clothes by designers such as Alaia and Herve Leger.