Glamorous Depression

April 1937.
The newest edition of Vogue Paris reveals that vibrant colours are trendy this season. The dreams of every woman, “to go out, dance, shine and be beautiful,” (1) are fulfilled through fashion, and mostly through evening dresses.
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In 1929, the brutal Wall Street Crash shook the world’s economy and greeted the new decade with bad news : the following years would be a time of Great Depression. As the world was living its “most catastrophic economic crisis of modern times,” (2) the National Socialist party came to power in Germany and Europe was on the eve of the Second World War. Yet, the April 1937 edition of Vogue Paris depicts a world of dance and colours, not a gloomy economic crisis. The depressive decade might be framed by two tragic events (the crash and the war), but, when looking at the period’s garments, the 1930s were also times of glamour and modernity. (3) In Paris, the main capital of fashion, haute couture – even if the depression slowed down production (4) – highlighted feminine elegance and glamorous sophistication.

In contrast to the 1920s, in which trends emphasized boyish garçonne looks, elegance and prestige were the new keywords in the 1930s. (5) Indeed, despite – or possibly in reaction to – the darker years of the Depression, Emmanuelle Dirix and Charlotte field describe the period’s fashion as “golden age of glamour.”  (6) The growing popularity of evening wear – produced in distinctive collections from daywear (7) – illustrated the love for elegance. Even working women would transform their looks from daywear to prestigious dresses when going out to dance at night. (8) Evening dresses were often designed in bias-cut, with an open-back and the material “skimming the body to the hips and flaring out and to the floor.” (9) In tune with the decade’s streamlined aesthetic, those dresses displayed vertical lines, fluid fabrics and slim silhouettes. 

This increasing importance of glamorous garments in the 1930s could be explained in relation to the growing popularity of Hollywood. In 1933, Vogue published a whole article on the impact Hollywood had on Parisian fashion. “The movie star of today makes a noise like a lady of fashion.” (10) Similarly, social historian Jane Mulvagh established that starting in the 1920s, cinema’s growing popularity resulted in “film stars becom[ing] fashion-setters both on and off screen.” (11) Evening wear possibly owed a lot of its popularity to the fact that in old Hollywood films, actresses were often portrayed in floor-length glamorous dresses. For example, in the movie Dinner at Eight, Jean Harlow wore a dress closely inspired by a previous bias-cut Madeleine Vionnet creation. 

Whilst Vionnet’s design had gone relatively unnoticed before the movie was released, the model became a great success after Harlow wore it. (12)  “Hollywood helped to create new standards of appearance and bodily presentation, bringing home to a mass audience the importance of looking good.” (13)

This context of dichotomy between economic depression and glamorous lifestyle allowed the creation of an apple green bias-cut-floor-length dress in the Jean Patou couture house in Paris… but was it produced in France? The (only) label in this dress reveals an important aspect of the fashion industry of the period: the fact that because evening wear became so popular in 1930s that it grew difficult for couturiers to respond to the demand. Sewn at the shoulder –  with threads of a different colour from the other stitches of the dress, possibly suggesting that it was sewn afterwards or resewn by the owner – the label says : Adaptation Jean Patou, 7 rue Saint Florentin, Paris. The inclusion of the “Adaptation” in the label could reveal that the dress wasn’t produced in the Parisian ateliers, but probably reproduced according to a Jean Patou design in a different country, possibly Canada. Indeed, historian Johanna Zanon reveals that it was common custom for French designers to sell their designs to entrepreneurs in Canada or in the United States (14) to respond to the growing demand that couldn’t be satisfied only through local production. (15)

Nonetheless, we can assume this dress was produced according to Patou model and would perfectly fall within the evening wear trends of the period. It respects two important trends of the decade, namely a back of the dress cut lower than the front and the bias cut fitting closely the wearer’s silhouette. (16) The emphasis on sleeves was also a method used at that period to emphasize the femininity of the silhouette without having to add too many details to the actual bodice or skirt in order to keep a streamlined silhouette. (17)  In this case, the sleeves are not only decorated with ruffles, but also with two darts adding a little bit more femininity to the piece. 

The open-back subtly emphasizes the elegant sexiness of the piece and provides a dramatic and glamorous effect. The apple-green shade also fits perfectly within the period’s love for vibrant colour. When comparing the Jean Patou dress to fashion plates from Vogue Paris 1937  or to the evening dress from Femina 1937, it seems perfectly in tune with the 1930s trends.

Yet, trends go beyond fashion and idealize certain body types. When establishing the context and how this Jean Patou dress fits within the trends of the period, a part of the artefact’s history is still missing : the body of the wearer. By only looking at the first layer of what’s visible (mostly the dress’ aesthetics), the body that wore the dress isn’t considered. This solely visual approach is problematic because garments are created and designed to be worn. In light of Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s theory, it is useless to observe this dress only as a visual object disconnected from its embodiment, because fashion is always experienced through the body.(18)

In contrast to the shapeless ideal body of the 1920s, during the 1930s “the body is conceived of as a curved but streamlined form.” (19) The period’s streamlined trend was visible in all disciplines (architecture, design, painting, etc.) and emphasized geometric lines and movements. As a result, the ideal fashion body was created through fluidity in the fabric contrasting with “slim-fitting elegant shapes and vertical lines.” (20) This new streamlined body changed women’s postures and the way they would stand, walk and sit. (21) Indeed, when comparing the Vogue Paris’ fashion plates from the 1920s and the 1930s, the women in the latter seem to stand taller with straight backs and elegant positions of the shoulders. They arch their backs and theirs hips as a way to emphasize the natural curves of their bodies. 

The floor-length bias-cut dress closely hugs the body creating an elongated, vertical, and slightly curved, silhouette. The addition of a belt – the two empty belt loops on each side of the waist reveal the possible use of the accessory – would have permitted a slightly curved streamlined shape. Moreover, the light crepe fabric (and the lack of lining) allows for a certain freedom of movement.

However, even though the bias-cut silhouette emphasizes the natural body (22),  ideals of the period also evolved around very subtle female curves and “slender, long-legged, small-breasted, narrow-hipped” women. (23) Therefore, the straight cut from the bust to the thighs creates a linear – almost without curves –  silhouette. Indeed, the measurements of the dress at the hips and at the waist are almost identical, both around 10 inches. The seams details under the breast also allow elongating of the body, creating the illusion of longer legs and a shorter torso.

Therefore, one could argue that by wearing a dress emulating Hollywood stars’ fashion, the owner of this Jean Patou creation would embody a 1930s female ideal, which could possibly impact her experience of the world. Wearing such a dress might afford the wearer an increased self-confidence as most of us feel when we sport beautiful and glamorous garments. Indeed, drawing from Adam and Galinsky’s research (24), the clothes we wear affect the way we act in the world. Moreover, the dress’ various material damages suggest that it provided a certain type of comfort – whether in terms of bodily sensations on the skin or in terms of psychological feelings. Indeed, whilst the conservation conditions are probably at fault in the fabric’s discolouration, other small details reveal that the dress has been worn on many occasions. For example, one of the buttons on the left sleeve is missing, the fabric at the wrist is slightly stained, the collar’s stitches are falling apart and tiny rips are visible all over the dress (some of which seem to have been re-stitched). 

In short, by connecting the 1930s social context to a close analysis of the Adaptation Jean Patou dress – using The Dress Detective’s method (25) –  this discussion allowed to further understand the history of this artifact. However, the analysis raises some questions about the relationship between a society’s fashionable body ideals and the production of garments. How is that relationship established and what are the powers at work in the creation of societal body ideals? Is fashion establishing the ideal body, or is the ideal body influencing the fashion trends (and garments production) of a period?

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End Notes

(1)“Collections de Printemps,” Vogue Paris, April 1, 1937, 2.

(2) Alan Brinkley,”The Great Depression,” The Tocqueville Review/La Revue Tocqueville 30, no. 2 (2009): 105.

(3)Emmanuelle Dirix and Neil Kirkham, “Fashion in 1930s Hollywood,” Film, Fashion & Consumption 3, no. 1 (2014): 3-4.

(4)Simon Arbellot, “La Rue de la Paix Devant la Crise,” Figaro, November 7, 1931.

(5)Marylaura Papalas, “Fashion in Interwar France: The Urban Vision of Elsa Schiaparelli,” French Cultural Studies 28, no. 2 (2017): 162.

(6)Emmanuelle Dirix and Charlotte Fiell, eds., 1930s Fashion: The Definitive Sourcebook (London :  Goodman Fiell, 2015)

(7)“During the 1930s, evening dress made an uncharacteristic split from daytime styles, remaining floor-length while daywear fluctuated in length from mid-calf to ankle.” Jane E. Hegland, “Evening Dress,” in The Berg Companion to Fashion, edited by Valerie Steele (Oxford: Bloomsbury Academic, 2010)https://www-bloomsburyfashioncentral-com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/products/berg-fashion-library/encyclopedia/the-berg-companion-to-fashion/evening-dress.

(8)Marilyn R. DeLong and Kristi Petersen, “Analysis and Characterization of 1930s Evening Dresses in a University Museum Collection,” Clothing and Textiles Research Journal 22, no. 3 (2004): 101. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/10.1177/0887302X0402200301

(9)Jane E. Hegland, “Evening Dress.”

(10)“Fashion : Does Hollywood Create?.” Vogue, February 1, 1933.

(11)Mulvagh, Jane, Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion (London : Viking, 1988), 102.

(12)Dirix and Kirkham, “Fashion in 1930s Hollywood,” 10.

(13)Leila Wimmer, “Modernity, Femininity and Hollywood Fashions: Women’s Cinephilia in 1930s French Fan Magazines,” Film, Fashion & Consumption 3, no. 1 (2014): 66.

(14) Johanna Zanon, “La Face Cachée De La Lune : Les Ateliers De Couture De La Maison Jean Patou Dans l’entre-Deux-guerres,” Apparences 7 (2017) : 10 http://journals.openedition.org/apparences/1351

(15)Véronique Pouillard, “Design Piracy in the Fashion Industries of Paris and New York in the Interwar Years,” Business History Review 85, no. 2 (2011): 320.

(16)DeLong and Petersen, “Analysis and Characterization of 1930s Evening Dresses,” 102.

(17)DeLong and Petersen, “Analysis and Characterization of 1930s Evening Dresses,” 102.

(18)Llewellyn Negrin, “Maurice Merleau-Ponty : The Corporeal Experience of Fashion,” in Thinking Through Fashion : A Guide to Key Theorists, edited by Agnès Rocamora and Anneke Smelik (London : I.B Tauris & Co, 2016) : 117.

(19)DeLong and Petersen, “Analysis and Characterization of 1930s Evening Dresses,” 102

(20)DeLong and Petersen, “Analysis and Characterization of 1930s Evening Dresses,” 102

(21)Women were changing their shape and posture, it would seem from contemporary photographs, almost overnight.” Meredith Etherington-Smith, Patou (New York : St. Martin’s, 1983):100.

(22)“Bias cutting involves cutting fabric at a 45-degree angle instead of along the warp or weft. The bias cut allows for the creation of sculptural dress that closely hugs the body, literally stretching the material round its contours.” Dirix and Fiell, 1930s Fashion: The Definitive Sourcebook, 14.

(23) Mulvagh, Jane, Vogue History of 20th Century Fashion (London : Viking, 1988), 123

(24)Hajo Adam and Adam D. Galinsky, “Enclothed Cognition,” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 48, no. 4 (2012): 919.

(25)Ingrid Mida and Alexandra Kim, The Dress Detective: A Practical Guide to Object-Based Research in Fashion (London :  Bloomsbury Academic, 2015) : 10-79.

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“Fashion : Does Hollywood Create?.” Vogue, February 1, 1933.

“Collections de Printemps.” Vogue Paris, April 1, 1937. “