Book review - 1940s Fashion: The Definitive Sourcebook by Emmanuelle Dirix

When one looks back over the course of human history in relatively recent decades, it is impossible not to stop and take notice of the fashions that comprised and defined the 1940s. This was an era that was fraught with heartache, suffering, brutality, and challenge the world over, and yet, no matter how dire the straights, strict the rations on clothing, or grim the situation, women - and those in the industry who created fashions for them - refused to let style, much like hope itself, die. This point, like many other excellent examinations of the fascinating path that fashion took during the decade, is highlighted in the recently released book 1940s Fashions: The Definitive Sourcebook. 




{Note: this image, like all others throughout this post, was taken of my personal copy of 1940s Fashion: The Definitive Handbook, using my cell phone and can be found, along with other images from this book not included herein, on my Instagram stream.}



I caught wind of this book a few months back on the blogs of some fellow vintage loving ladies in the UK and Europe, where it was released first (before making its way to North America and elsewhere) and instantly knew that it was destined to land on my bookshelf as quickly as possible. When my birthday rolled around and I received some funds to spend as I please, I thought instantly of this book and got a jump on Amazon.com and .ca (where it had yet to be released), by ordering it directly from The Book Depository in the UK.
 
It arrived in snap and I set to work savoring the informative, beautiful pages housed within instantly. My first reaction was to curl up with it and do a marathon read, but a few pages in, I knew that I wanted to stretch this vintage fashion filled tome - it's 512 pages long - out over the course of August, and that is precisely what I did. When I'd finished, I went back a couple of days later and did as my initial gut reaction had urged, reading it cover to cover a second time in a single delightful afternoon. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that further readings will ensue over time.




1940s Fashion opens with a thought provoking, intelligently written essay focusing on the effects that various elements of WW2 had on women's clothing (this book, it should be noted, deals exclusively with womenswear), as well as a look at the styles that proceeded and followed those of the war years. 

The heart of the matter is that time frame however, and it is here where writer Emmanuelle Dirix shines as she digs well beyond the surface of this subject and takes readers on a what feels like a trip in a time machine back to various European countries (including England, France and Germany) that saw years of ongoing conflict firsthand, as well as America, as she explores how the war shaped and defined women's styles during the period.




This book is the third in series (it was proceed by the 1920s and 1930s, respectively) dedicated to encompassing a great deal of the history of, and behind, the fashions of a given decade. Both prior titles had been on my reading wishlist for quite some time, however I had not yet even so much as flipped through them in person, so I didn't have any preconceived notions when it came to the 1940s Fashion: The Definitive Sourcebook. That said, I did have certain hopes that I wanted this book to fulfill.

I hoped that it would be expertly written, well structured, widely encompassing, informative, and chalked with beautiful images. On all of those points, and many more, it hit things right out of the ballpark. Proceeding beyond the introductory essay (which in and of itself, would be more than enough to paint a clear picture of 1940s fashion to someone who was just beginning to learn about the topic), the book is divided into chapters focused on different elements of women wear, such as daywear and work wear, with each new chapter being kicked off with a small, yet thorough, introduction to the topic it covers. 




The the examples were not presented in a strictly chronological order, which some might prefer, however I didn't find this detracted from the images one iota, especially because they're accompanied by a very brief description (usually with a date) and because they were all grouped with like being alongside like.

Many, many crisp, clear photographs and illustrations, pulled from sources as diverse as Hollywood publicity shots to France's famous Echo de la Mode magazine go to work illuminating example after swoon-worthily marvelous example of various types of clothing, as well as making sure to draw attention to supporting fashion players, such as hairstyles, shoes, handbags and accessories throughout the book.





It's a fair bet to say that most people reading this review already have a serious interest in the fashions of the 1940s. Many of us wear, or have worn at different times in our lives, forties styles. For a good number, this may even be the sole decade that your wardrobe and personal style focuses on. Some folks will know only the utmost of basics about the subject, others will be experts to the point where they could have all but penned this book themselves, and many will fall somewhere in between. No matter at what point on the spectrum you find yourself, this book is exceedingly likely to appeal to you because it is so all-encompassing in its scope and magnitude.

No one book can ever truly cover every single element of a topic (for example, my own country, Canada, which was a major player in the second world war, and its respective womenswear scene during the 1940s, receives virtually no mention anywhere in this book), but when it comes to the fashions of the 1940s, this title more than lives up to its name. Not only is it a sourcebook, but for those of us who collect and/or wear vintage clothing from the era, it is a lookbook (thanks to its stellar selection of 600 different images) and an endless source of wishlist fodder all in the same go.




I'm extremely glad that I bought this book and read it as I did. For in doing so, I got to satisfy both my desire to slowly lap up the insightful writing, stunning images and general atmosphere that it presented, as well as to then go back and give myself the the pleasure of flipping working my way through it quickly, like a kid let loose in an all you eat candy store until I was almost drunk with the kind of euphoria that only studying and surrounding oneself with vintage fashion can create.

Whether you buy or borrow, this is a book that deserves to be in the hands and on the bookshelves of every vintage fashion lover the world over, regardless of it the forties fill your wardrobe or not. Emmanuelle Dirix has done a superb job of exploring many of the diverse facets of fashion during a time when nothing in the world was certain and each day reverberated with change, both before and after the war, as Dior's iconic New Look was ushered in and fashion began to traverse ever closer to the silhouettes, shapes and styles of the fifties.

This is a book packed with as much important cultural history as it has inspiration, and if for that reason alone, 1940s Fashion: The Definitive Sourcebook deserves a place on every vintage fan's reading list.