If you are on a budget and love vintage costumes, here's the good news - you may already have a costume in your own closet! Find how to put together a vintage 1940s WWII era costume from modern clothing. Watch next week for a similar post on the 1950s!
The 1940s is quite an era for fashion buffs, although hard to describe and pinpoint since fashion shifted so much during the decade. Late '30s styles and early '40s styles look similar. After WWII restrictions were lifted, fashions changed, and late '40s and early '50s are hard to tell apart.
We have a wealth of movies and photos to study, and lots of vintage patterns to make, but I am struck by how often modern clothing fits this time period unintentionally. Ideal for a retro-inspired dresser or someone interested in 1940s costumes on a low budget, I want to show you it's possible to find truly Period costumes (with perhaps a few alterations) will walk you through some of the components of putting together Swing Era costumes from your own closet with modern clothes. Watch for another one for 1950s costumes next week.
The Caveat
Remember that for these 2 decades (the '40s and '50s), accessories are essential. These costumes will just look like a nice modern outfit if you wear them with messy bangs and flip-flops. Repro heels and the right jewelry, gloves, hats, and makeup are all very important if you are really going to look Period.
There was a fairly strict etiquette for different types of dress, and I am not completely versed in it. A house dress was a house dress, and only the family or a woman friend dropping in to borrow yeast might see you in it. Shopping or running out to the post office would have required a change of dress, unless it was winter and the woman cheated by wearing a long coat!
However, I've given some general categories to assist you in putting together the type of costume required for different events, but the best way to learn what was worn when is to look at old photos of real people doing real things, and notice how they were dressed. Movies too can be helpful, but remember that Hollywood is Hollywood. I mean, they really truly didn't go to sleep each night with makeup still on and their hair magically staying curled overnight. So take movies with a grain of salt.
Casual Wear
Building this outfit, I started with a skirt I had made from a 1946 pattern.
This modern cardigan is perfect for the 1940s costume. Short sleeves, V neck, simple lines, not coming down too far or too cropped. I did alter it slightly by putting in shoulder pads. Square shoulders are a must for almost every 1940s costume, and thankfully, shoulder pads are easy to make and only take a minute to fasten into shoulder seams. You can also cut them out of discarded blouses and jackets for re-use.
But the neck came too low. Instead of a dicky, I chose to pair it with a knit undershirt of the right shade to match the skirt. Simple, but classic 1940s. If you wear an undershirt, under no condition should the under layer show at your hem beneath the top layer!
A bright scarf adds a splash of color. Vintage scarves are usually cheap, easy to find, and ideal for costumes.
In case you don't have a real 1940s skirt on hand, here's the same cardigan with a modern A-line skirt. A few gathers or pleats are fine. '40s skirts could be a straight, short A-line with an inverted pleat at the bottom, or straight in the front or the back, with gathers or pleats on the other side, and came down below the knees. During the War, skirts were worn short – just below the knees – but both in the early '40s and in the late '40s everyday skirts were commonly mid-calf.
This type of outfit a woman would have worn at home, to do physical work, or perhaps a teenager would have worn to school or to play tennis and go hiking.
The Business Woman or Daytime in Town
When I looked at 1940s patterns, what most struck me was how common suits were: two piece suits, with a jacket over a simple blouse and a matching shortish A line or pleated skirt. Usually worn with a flamboyant hat, a touch of white (collar or ruffle or bow) at the throat, and of course gloves and heels. For street wear, the look was classy but tailored. Matching suit jackets and skirts were most common, but it's also quite Period correct to coordinate them and this makes it much easier to find something suitable in your own closet.
So first, find a simple suit jacket in a tweed or other Period fabric (not faux suede, for instance). Most modern jackets have shoulder pads, which add the perfect silhouette.
Check the buttons, too. The ones on this Casual Corner jacket I got for $1 are old-fashioned, which is perfect.
Notice the back pleat – a great military touch. Women's fashions during the War, when not actually military, often had military influence to show patriotism and their support.
I put it over a blouse with some neck detail. This blouse is vintage, but there are many similar modern blouses. And it doesn't matter if the hem or sleeves aren't right since all you'll be seeing is the neck. However, make sure the neck doesn't have sergeing to it, edging ruffles or anything, or is T-shirt fabric.
Since I didn't have a matching skirt, I paired it with something completely different but coordinating - a Sag Harbor A-line skirt in a retro print. To be completely Period correct, it should be hemmed up a little. (Keep in mind the mannequin is not scaled to height.)
This would have been worn while shopping, going into town, doing secretarial work, etc.
Formal Evenings
This type of costume is harder, especially if you want a one piece dress. But if you opt for 2-piece, it can be easier. There is a great variety for you to choose from for formal wear. Formal dresses (different from cocktail dresses which were shorter and more suit-like) were commonly very long, sleeveless, and with some sort of adornment on the front of the (usually plunging) bodice, but quite often the necklines were high and it had sleeves. Look for pieces with lots of embroidery, gauze, matching jacket, but not with a regency waistline or princess seams. Steer away from cotton fabric.
For this one, I found a modern formal flared, floor-length taffeta skirt to work well. I've owned and seen several of this style and cut, so they seem to be fairly easy to find.
I paired it with a modern evening wear jacket style top, this being the easiest modern cut of formal wear to adapt for a costume. This one is Period because of the fabric – tons of beading on gauze – and the cut: square shoulders, short sleeves, and a round neckline.
Look at the beading detail and that fabulous waist-defining beading!
This would have been most likely a fancy-dinner-and-then-the-opera outfit, not a UFO dance dress.
The Church Dress
Pleated skirts, as I already said, were common, either pleated just in front or accordian-pleated all the way around, and sewn-down pleats were also common. Here's a modern skirt that is on the narrow side and has sewn down pleats all the way around.
Perfect.
Paired with a double-breasted (another great 1940s fashion element to watch for in your costume-able pieces) military influenced jacket with contrasting trim, it makes a classy outfit to go to church in.
Notice the sleeves – shoulder pads, slightly gathered at the top, and peasant style at the cuffs. Each of these elements is Period.
Dressier than street wear, yet decorous, this outfit would have been paired with white gloves and a fancy hat.
Visiting
Speaking of peasant blouses, there is something very popular in the 1940s that can easily be found today in modern brands. Here's one of mine worn over a white dicky, with a slightly crazily printed A-line skirt.
Notice the way it's gathered into the neck band, and the small tucks on the sleeve, which would come to below the elbow. Detail like this is wonderfully Period correct, even to the setting of the sleeves, yet it's a Kmart brand. It's a solid bright color, too, and a smooth cotton fabric.
Wear the peasant blouses tucked in, and with a belt wide enough to cover the elastic if your skirt has elastic at the waist.
This particular skirt came with a matching strand of beads, which adds the perfect coordinating touch.
This outfit might have been worn at a neighbor's barbeque or for afternoon visiting. Depending on the fabric and accessories, it may be a good style to wear to the neighborhood dance.
In Conclusion
Of course, I understand that what I find in my closet won't be the same in yours. Some of these clothes, while not from the 1940s, were still vintage-ish. Incidentally, the 1980s is a good era to look for '40s style clothes since they did a lot of throw-backs then. However, there were some important differences (a post on telling the difference is in the works.)
But I hope that this post can spark your imagination to look at your wardrobe in a new way, whether it'll save you a lot of pain trying to find a real dress from the era or if you want to make costumes your normal way of dressing, which, by the way, is completely doable. And I hope it will help give some helpful guidelines of what to look for when buying new clothes, whether from a thrift store or out of a catalog.
See you next week!
~Kristen - Verity Vintage Studio
If you're a Downton Abbey fan, click here to see a great similar tutorial on making 1920s costumes out of modern clothing.
Unfortunately I think you are quite off on these looks.
Posted by: Beth | 10/19/2015 at 02:31 PM