How to Dress Like the Stylish 1950s Woman

Fashion for women was at its height in the mid-20th century. It was a time when women couldn’t wait to look good once again and certainly went all out to bring back style into their lives.




For fashion houses and fabric manufacturers, it was a great welcome back from the austere times of the 1940s brought on by the effects of the 2nd World War. During the war times, fabrics meant for fashionable clothing were in limited supplies, as were food and other things taken for granted in the pre-war years. Because everything was influenced by rationing, women's apparel was made from fewer yardages of cloth, into simple outfits using as little threads and materials as possible.

Once the war was over, there was increased availability of beautiful fabrics in vast quantities which allowed a new type of fashion to blossom by the 1950s. The good times were back again!

The Fashionable Woman of the ’50s


Stylish and well-groomed women emerged again, and this new fashion era was soon to be described as the ‘epitome of style’.



Looking good and dressing elegantly was soon the norm, and women invested in looking stylish. Every young lady was brought up to recognise and appreciate style.

1950's women fashion was the tailored silhouette, and elegant cuts that always made women look sophisticated and stylish. Styles include:
  • Full skirted dresses
  • Full swing skirts
  • Pencil skirts
  • Sleeveless blouses
  • Long-sleeved blouses
  • Tailored pants suits
Ensembles were incomplete without long coats, hand gloves, shoes, day hats, and neck jewellery like a string of faux or real pearls.

How to Replicate the 1950's Woman's Style Above


The designs of the 1950s clothes required a shapely figure with the curves in the right places . . .  showing distinct hip lines and distinguishable busts. 

But though the styles look best when a woman's waist is small, for those who weren't naturally endowed with a close-to-the-perfect figure, girdles, waist cinchers and general body shapers provided the desired hourglass shape required of most mid-20th-century fashion.






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