The Change of a Decade

Looking towards the fashions of the past, and how they evolved over time, is something that has always interested me. However as is often the case with history, it is only with the benefit of hindsight that one is able to spot overwhelming trends and major patterns. It is also with the benefit of having this hindsight that one is able analyse the past, within reason, objectively. Understandably, no historian can ever be totally objective, issues from one's personal school of thought regarding history to one's actual aim and purpose for researching specific events, has an undeniably huge impact on their analytical perspective.

Therefore, whilst briefly looking at the major 'fashion trends' of the first decade of the 20th century, or more specifically women's fashion, I would like to pose a question to my readers:

What would you consider to have been the major trends thus far in the first decade of the 21st century?

The issue I would like to address, is that, is it only with hindsight and the benefit of knowing what came after that one is able to spot an overriding 'trend'? Or can we honestly point out as of now, how history will document this decade in fashion? Indeed we can all easily look back to the recent decades of the '90s and '80s, and state what the predominant trends and changes in fashion were, however is that only becuase we know how those 'lines' in fashion, so to speak, evolved following those certain decades. We know that trends died out after certain periods, and therefore are able to say it was, for example, exclusively an ''80s trend'.

For my own opinion, the major change in fashion I would have to say I would document, is undoubtedly the decade of the 'skinny' jeans and legwear. This has been a trend for both men and women, from ultra hip fashion designers, to classic designers and to even the high street. Fitted garments seem to have a key theme throughout the decade thus far, only recently have we seen the re-emergence of the wider and relaxed cuts. Indeed this also has lead to, in denim, the favouring of washed and faded designs over deep dyed and 'raw' fabrics. However could one merely catalogue this to be another brief cyclical trend, or indeed is it something more dominant for this decade?

With the first decade of the 20th Century, one is able to look back and clearly see a predominant trend in women's fashion. Generally speaking, it was the last real era for the corset. However would one have considered this a major trend at the time? No doubt without the knowledge that the favour for the corset would end by 1907, one may have come to the conclusion that it was not a major trend, as it was simply something that had to that date been a staple in women's fashion.

For the majority of this decade, the 'health corset' was employed, seen as relieving the dangerous stresses of the previous designs. Although this was, by the end of the decade, to be dropped altogether for a more natural silhouette, the Swan-Bill ('S-curve') corset was undoubtedly one of the key garments of women's fashion of the time. The full bust and curvy hips of the more 'mature' silhouette was seen as the most attractive feminine shape.

This S-Curve female shape was promoted by the emergence of the 'Gibson Girl' during this period. The Gibson Girl was the personification of the feminine ideal, with a curvaceous figure, oddly missing from high end fashion today, and ephemeral beauty. Her hair piled up, as opposed to falling loose, with fashionable hairstyles such as the bouffant and chignon. The Gibson Girl was immortalised in drawings and comics, as a woman on equal with men, or often chiding them playfully in dominance. To an extent, this ideal was not to return for the 1950s pin up. Indeed by the end of the decade, a more natural and simple silhouette was to be favoured, promoted by the likes of Coco Chanel, in response to the threat of war. This sombre turn in fashion was to continue until both wars ended and the world economy was able to recover in the 1950s, where they would look back to this period of 'Belle Époque'.



The Belle Époque would see the last of elaborate and highly embellished womenswear, as for example designed by Charles Worth. Following this period, women began to favour more practical garments, and the shadow of war would see to that austerity and economy played the major influence. Yet at the same time womenswear was to become empowered, with a woman no longer needing outside assistance to simply get into her clothing and dressed. The end of the corset would also prove healthier, with the removal of such great strain on the female torso. The idea of the corset was however to continue, to the version we see today, a far cry from the almost torturous designs of the past.

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