With the emergence of the high heeled doll, fashion suddenly became the focus of attention. Cutesy pie gingham frocks and nursery bonnets were replaced by stylish designs reflecting trends from the glamourous fashion houses of Paris. By looking at the history of 1950s fashion we will be able to see more clearly the influence on such famed Barbie outfits as Gay Parisienne, and Enchanted Evening, and Miss Seventeen's Rage of Paris and Turnabout amongst others.
Increased living standards during the 1950s resulted in more money for consumer goods and a growing demand for fashion conscious clothes at all price levels. Although early 1950s clothes were less formal than they had been before the war, women still followed fashion in a conformist way. Paris designers set the lead, and their ideas reached the public in a watered down form within a season or two of their first introduction. Dior and Balenciaga were amongst the most influential designers, setting a high standard of taste and style in fashionable dressing.
Famous for his New Look silhouette introduced in 1947, by 1950 Dior's styles were less frivolous, with simpler details in garments, and materials used in a less lavish way. His interpretation of glamour was to accentuate femininity. Women at parties and receptions filled rooms with their tiny waisted crinoline style dresses, and shoulders elegantly draped in stoles looked pretty and appealing in a way that had not been fashionable since the turn of the century.
Dior's clothes were beautifully proportioned. He used colour in a discreet and classic way, keeping embroidery and decoration mainly for cocktail and evening dresses, whilst his day clothes were given stylish impact by the use of high quality fine wools and silk mixtures. His dresses often had their own built-in bras, lightly corseted waists, and stitched-in petticoats. Fine, lightweight fabrics were mounted on firmer materials to give dresses their contrived shape of the season. Evening dresses were sometimes so heavily constructed that they stood up on their own!
Dior's style of designing was based on shapes constructed to show off womanly curves so Barbie would have been an ideal house model for him. Her After Five outfit (1962-4), for example, was surely influenced by him.
Skirt lengths were the subject of major debate in the 1950s. Unlike today, skirt lengths were dictated straight from the salon. Day clothes were generally worn to about the middle of the calf for the first half of the decade, whilst cocktail and informal evening dresses were slightly longer.
Hair was neat looking in the 1950s. Both short and long styles were fashionable. The short versions were based on skillfull cutting and shaping. Hard set waves and pinned curls were out! Hair that was smoothly brushed into a knot on the crown of the head or at the nape of the neck suited the lines of the constructed shapes and standaway necklines. The swinging ponytail style was a symbol of 1950s youth that Mattel exploited very successfully with their earliest Barbie dolls. The 'bubblecut', Barbie's other famous hairstyle, whilst often attributed to Jackie Kennedy, was actually originated by musical comedy star Mary Martin in the musical South Pacific.
Hats were still an important part of the fashion picture and many women felt that they should be worn to complete their outfits even if they were only visiting their local town
