The Sugar Land Heritage Museum welcomes the new exhibit, ‘Fashion through the Ages’. This fascinating exhibit was created by Board member and volunteer, Carolyn Gilligan. Carolyn’s collection of women’s clothing beginning from the early 1900’s through the 1950’s, shows the transition from long dresses with bustles and accessorized with parasols in the early 1900’s to the ever feminine 50’s style dress of the June Cleaver days of television. The exhibit represents the history of women’s clothing and what the people of Sugar Land and Fort Bend County were wearing in those days. This exhibit will be on display until October 18th.
1920 to 1929
The fashions of the 1920s were similar to those at the end of the 1910s. The silhouette had been set for the coming decade, as had the length of the dress and the minimalistic style for everyday life. The only thing left for the 1920s was to add the glamour: fringe, feathers, and sequins.
During the 1920s, a Sugar Land homemaker would wear a simple cotton house dress of colorful plaids, checks, stripes, or solid colors with pretty embroidery and trim such as lace or rickrack. Outside the house clothing was still simpler but of higher quality than the cotton prints. A walking suit (skirt, blouse, and sweater) or tailored dress were both appropriate. In the early 1920s the dress would have featured a natural waist sash that gradually moved down into a drop waist with a thin belt as the decade progressed. A small collar or wide-open flat collar with a bow tie at the neck was common. Details added to the dress such as vertical pin tucks, buttons and pleated skirts helped elongate the silhouette.
For non-working women, a common social activity during the 1920s was the afternoon tea, which could be formal or semi-formal. The shape of the dress was not much different from day dresses, but the materials and trim were fancier. Elaborate embroidery was the most common fancy decoration. Edges were trimmed with lace, ribbon, ruffles, small pleats or silk braid.
Women working outside of the home had clothes that were more closely aligned with college students than a homemaker. Dresses needed to be simple and durable. Black was a common color for women working in offices or in retail shops.
Even while packaging sugar at the refinery, young women took the time to stay on top of the current fashions.
In general, evening wear was distinguished from afternoon wear by being sleeveless. Bare arms were wrapped in silk shawls, furs or capelets. And bared arms were not the only skin exposed. Backs plunged lower and lower, reaching the waist by the 1930s.
Evening dresses were designed to be as loose as day dresses but made with more expensive fabric and trim. Formal dresses were made of layers of light pastel chiffon for summer or heavy velvet for winter, accented with clusters of crystals and beads. Beading was fashionable the entire decade. Initially, beads were placed in small clusters as accents. Eventually, beading all over netting in ornate designs created the fabric. A less expensive option was gold or silver metal embroidery that created the illusion of beadwork.
1930 to 1939
Until the 1930s, morning, afternoon, and evening attire was distinctly different, and it was common for people to change clothes several times a day. After the stock market crash in 1929 triggered the Great Depression, women had to make do with less. Curiously though, as the decade started, hemlines descended back to ankle length. Waistlines moved back to their natural place and the simple lines created a soft, feminine silhouette. The fashion of the 1930s was less extreme and extravagant than the previous decade.
Daywear returned to romanticism and femininity. Day dresses came in a variety of patterns that included abstract designs. They had clearly defined waists and fell between mid-calf and just above the ankle. The exaggerated shoulder was a hallmark of 1930s fashion and was created using padding, layers of fabric, or other embellishments.
Evening wear was dominated by the body skimming silhouette. One of the most important development of the 1930s was the development of the bias cut. Especially in evening wear, bias cut satin dresses with low backs created a slinky and feminine silhouette, flaring out at the bottom and hugging curves that had previously not been hugged. Increasingly, women looked to movie stars for fashion inspiration. Every woman could imitate the look of their favorite movie stars, if only through copying their make-up and hairstyles.
Although clothing was often handmade during the Great Depression this decade ushered in the ready-to-wear fashion age. To recover from the stock market crash, companies began researching and implementing cheaper ways of manufacturing clothing. New materials that were cheaper to produce were created this decade – replacing more expensive materials, such a rayon instead of silk. Zippers, invented in 1933, became more widely used.
By the end of the decade, the popular style of broad, padded shoulders, nipped in waists and shorter A-line skirts that would dominate the early 1940s had already emerged.
1940 to 1949
With the first half of the 1940s dominated by World War II, fashion stalled. If women were not in uniform, their clothing styles were dictated by rationing and functionality. In 1942, in the United States, the War Production Board introduced restrictions on allowable fabrics, banning cuffs, hoods and limiting the circumference of women’s skirts. The mid-calf skirt length of the 1930s was raised to knee length. The war also affected how the top of the dress looked. Every blouse, dress or jacket was fitted with shoulder pads that extended just past the edge of the shoulder, creating a boxy or square neckline and shoulder angle. 1940s women’s fashion was about creating an hourglass silhouette with masculine details, padded shoulders, nipped in high waist tops, and A-line skirts.
Fabric shortages triggered the popularity of the two-piece “Victory” suit. Women could mix and match skirts, blouses and jackets to create a different look every day. Even after the war, the suit remained popular due to its comfort and practicality.
Until the 1940s pants were primarily a men’s garment. During the war women working in factories needed safe clothing that would not get tangled in machinery. Initially, women wore men’s pants. Later, pants were made specifically for women, although they still looked masculine with high waists and full legs. Eventually, pants became a standard for women’s casual wardrobes.
By 1947 with the end of restrictions after World War II, fashion returned quickly to a more feminine look with longer lengths and drastically fuller skirts. Ironically, with the return of the GI’s to the workforce, women were compelled to return to the kitchen.
The “New Look” embraced femininity with rounded shoulders, shapely bust lines, closely defined waists, slightly padded skirts, and full, billowing skirts that hung just below the calves.
1950 to 1959
From a fashion point of view, the 1950s ushered in the rise of “ready to wear”. Clothing was being mass produced with greatly improved standards in construction and quality of the material. Fashion exploded into new directions, new colors, and new silhouettes. The fashion at the beginning of the decade took off in 1947 with Christian Dior’s “New Look”. Utterly feminine, dresses had full skirts and padded busts to accentuate a small waist. Women were encouraged to fulfill their role as wife, mother, and homemaker, and be beautiful doing it. At home, women set about the day cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children – all in the typical house dress. The shirtwaist dress, with its full skirted dress in simple cotton with buttons up the front was the most popular design. These dresses were made more functional with short ¾ length sleeves and pockets. Most had a thin fabric belt. A light petticoat was used to provide fullness and an apron on top to keep the dress clean completed the outfit.
Out and about, did not necessarily mean a wardrobe change. Adding accessories such as a pearl necklace and earrings, gloves, hat, heels and matching purse was acceptable for visiting friends and running errands. More formal outings would require a nicer dress with coordinated accessories.
The two classic shapes of the 1950s were the full skirt, tea length dress and the more formal looking form-fitting sheath dress. Both styles had modest snug-fitting bodices with narrow waistlines and shin-length or tea-length skirts. The stiletto shoe was invented in the 1950s and perfectly complimented the feminine look. Adding a steel core created a strong slender heel, as high and thin as possible.
The decade of the 1950s was the decade of the cocktail party. “Cocktail” dresses were minimally trimmed. Necklines were high and round or a modest “V”, with no collars, buttons, or belts. The clean, simple lines made a cocktail dress classy enough for most parties, accessorized with long or short gloves, pearls, and possibly a coordinated hat. Matching shoes and purse was the formal way to dress.
The Sugar Land Heritage Museum hosts a collection of Sugar Land and Fort Bend County Historical exhibits and artifacts. The Museum is in the Imperial Sugar Complex at 198 Kempner Street, on the second floor of the Building behind the Children’s Discovery Center. The exhibits are free and open to the public.
Sugar Land Heritage Museum
198 Kempner Street
Sugar Land, TX 77498
Monday: Closed
Tuesday – Saturday: 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Sunday: Closed