Today I decided to talk about wartime fashions during World War II. During the late 1930s and early to mid 1940s the world was at war and making due and mending what you already had was one way of helping the war effort. Another way was to use manmade materials rather than leather or silk. Buying leather shoes meant using ration stamps so many women opted to buy shoes like these Vintage Late 1930s Conformal Black Babydoll Peep toe Shoes 10AAAA which are made of manmade materials rather than leather.


Dresses were made of linen, rayon blends, acetate and cotton as silk was used for parachutes. Just a few examples are this Vintage 1940s Sage Green Long Line Linen Dress

this plisse Vintage 1940s Blue Crinkled Rayon Dress

and this Vintage 1940s Blue Rose Swing Dress made of cotton in a plus size


Hats were renewed by adding things like bows and buttons to make what was old new again such as this Vintage 1940s Black Velour Bowler Hat with Decorative Buttons

And purses were available in stores and also custom made by hand crocheting with corde' rayon thread and adding lucite handles like this Vintage 1940s Corde' Woven Black Purse with Lucite Handles




Women during wartime made many contributions by enlisting in the service to man the hospitals as nurses (more than 59,000 American nurses served in the Army Nurse Corps during World War II and worked closer to the front lines than in any war previously).


enlisting in the air force and becoming Women Airforce Service Pilots, WASP, the first women in history trained to fly American military aircraft.


and of course working in the factories manufacturing munitions, airplanes and everything in between.


Women showed their strength and what they were capable of without losing their femininity and trying to be what they weren't.

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