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Example research essay topic: Argyle Sweater Vests Barbie Like Figure Style - 1,714 words

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American fashion in the 1950 s Fashion is a significant aspect in peoples lives, and is influenced by various parts of society. Mostly there are useful reasons behind certain fashion trends, but there are some trends that have no evident origin or purpose. It was different in the USA, where wartime restrictions had been quickly removed, and where the new consumer society was forging ahead helped by new developments such as the start of the credit card system in 1950. But these differing conditions produced a similar effect on fashion both in Europe and America a tendency to prefer the safe and normal, a veering away from the radical and extreme. Normal felt good, especially with the memory of the war still so fresh in many peoples minds (Baker 6). Fashion sometimes influences other parts of popular culture, including music.

Rock n roll, the music of the 1950 s, represented young peoples (17 - 25 year-olds) interest in clothes. During the 1950 s, style was not only a portrayal of ones sense of fashion it was a portrayal of who you were. The 1950 s and 1960 s were a time of unusual raise in economy of the United States. Factories were kept busy filling orders to post-war countries. White-collar jobs increased, wages were high, mortgage and tuition money was available due to federal support, and goods were comparatively cheap. By the end of the 1950 s, three out of five families owned homes, and three out of four owned cars.

Consumers could choose among a wide range of new products, most of them were developed from wartime innovations, including polyester fabrics rayon, dacron, orlon and new domestic electric appliances such as freezers, blenders, and dishwashers. Manufacturers urged new models on consumers. Americans acquired more private debt, credit cards and instalment plans were introduced in that period. Home mortgages increased the debt burden. Companies tried to increase consumer desire for spending by investing more money in advertising, particularly in television ads.

Television played a central role in consumption both as a product to be bought and as tool in selling more products. In the 1950 s, the role of a woman was to be in the home, and particularly in everything that involved kitchen and children. Most of the images used in shows, movies and commercials of a housewife showed her not as a mother wearing cozy trousers and sweater, or loose dress, appropriate for such work, but as a Barbie-like figure dressed in rustling, full skirts, nipped waist and narrow-fitting bodice. Even her apron had deep frills and a heart-shaped top and pockets. The main idea was that she has to catch and keep her man, not by her personality and intellect but by her young, thin, Barbie-like figure and long legs presented on high stiletto heels. Women tried to develop their style by keeping in mind what is sexually attractive to men.

Not only was their feeling of fashion an expression of their femininity, it was an expression of being put on the show. By the end of the 1950 s it was developed and widely used new artificial fabrics and fibers. This influenced everything from underwear to leisurewear. These new fabrics offered lightness but warmth, minimum shrinkage, quick drying and waterproofing that were exploited to the full extent in sportswear designed with an eye to both style and function (Baker 16). One of these new fabrics is nylon. It was used not only for lingerie and stockings, but also in mens socks, sportswear, and underwear.

There were two groups of people in the 1950 s that tried to be out of those standards and did not have sportswear in their closets they were the Beats and the Greasers. Their ideologies were close to rebellion, these groups differed in style. The Beats rejected the conventional fashion of middle-America for the beaten down way of life. Male beats would don sloppy joe sweaters, baggy chinos, leather jackets, jeans, workman's shirts, and anything black. Their female girlfriends wore black leotards, straight skirts, and sandals or ballet slippers. The males wore their hair longer; at the same time the ladies trimmed their locks into either a gamine or urchin haircut.

And berets topped everyones heads. The beats dark fashions duplicated the burdened psychological condition they lived in black became synonymous with style, and fear was their best accessory. Greasers, at the same time dubbed Boppers, and were the ultimate rebels. They tried to behave as thus they were teenagers raised in broken, dysfunctional homes. They formed gangs in order to substitute the family that many of them lacked. Inspired by Marlon Brandos biker style in the 1951 film The Wild One, their significant style became leather and denim.

Leather was not a mere fashion statement, it protected them from knife wounds and falls from their motorcycles. Greasers and Boppers wore slim-fitted denim jeans that were cuffed to high ankle, white T-shirts with cuffed sleeves to show off biceps or hold cigarette packs, and carried a comb in the back pocket of their jeans to maintain the perfect coif. They would slick back their hair with large amounts of Vaseline or Brylcreem hair grease, from which they were get their name. Greasers girls define themselves from the Peggy Sues by wearing short haircuts as opposed to flirty ponytails, neck scarves to hide hickeys, tight shirts, slim skirts or cigarette / capri pants, and stiletto heels. Bopper and Greaser girls gave freely what the angelic Peggy Sues kept sacred.

Boppers and Greasers played bad because it was cool and was the trend of fashion, and not necessarily because they were bad. The good girls Peggy Sues, on the other hand, had a more flirtatious and feminine style. The highlight of their wardrobe was the circle or poodle skirt. It was a huge circle of fabric with a center space for the waist. These skirts could be worn softly draped, or with layers of crinolines or petticoats underneath for a fuller look.

They were mid-calf length and worn with a wide belt to display the smallness of the waist. Poodle skirts were circle skirts with the addition of felt or embroidered decorations. They turned the simplistic circle skirt into a work of art. It was top of the fashion to have the fullest skirt possible so ones applique could be seen clearly. Peggy Sues competed in who has the keenest skirt. Not only were poodles commonly showcased on these skirts, but also cats, fish, dice, flamingos, and cars.

Next to their poodle skirt, females wore the shirtwaist dress. It offered firm, clean style, as well as casual comfort and practicalness. As the Victorian hourglass figure made a comeback in the 1950 s, the shirtwaist dress reached this look through a pleated or full skirt and a nipped-in waist. The popular wasp waist brought bathe use of waist corsets for women, or the more comfortable and modern rubberized girdle. Young girls get into the dress in competition to their graceful mothers, walking across the living room floor in shirtwaist dress, pearls, short-heeled stilettos, apron and martini salver. The shirtwaist was a grown-up style for mature girls, while younger girls imitated the dress with the softer styles of lace collar and puff sleeves.

Undergarments were necessary for the slim waist effect of the shirtwaist, and a girls first girdle was a rite of passage into womanhood. If people werent rebellious, they had one option to be Squares and Peggy Sues the good kids. Because of its conservative college preparatory influence, the Squares style was dubbed the Ivy League Look. Their wardrobe commonly consisted of neatly pressed chinos, button-front plaid shirts, cardigan sweaters, argyle sweater vests, and penny loafers or bucks. Hair was either neatly trimmed and side parted with the aid of Brylcreem, or cut into a flat top or crew cut. High achievements in the class, good manners, neat hair and conservative clothes guaranteed you an idyllic and wealthy life, with an obedient housewife by your side.

The prospective wife would ideally be a Peggy Sue, a girl who was looking for the good life, and finding the perfect man was the surest way to fulfill the American dream. Thats the girl most of the parents were aiming for their offspring. By being either a Greaser with a dark, rebellious look, or a Square with the more classic and sophisticated appearance, one would be in line with the style of the 1950 s. The rebels were not rejecting conformity in general they were, in fact, conforming to their own style and way of life. Whether a housewife wearing a shirtwaist dress or a Bopper with a greasy coif, ones thoughts and ambitions were the same. In the 1950 s, the mindset was to fulfill the American dream of wealth and success.

Irregardless to social class or status, society desired to be normal, and if being normal meant wearing gigantic poodle skirts to the high school sock hop, or argyle sweater vests and chinos as leisurewear, then people was that much closer to being normal. When we think about the Fifties the first thing that comes to mind is that popular movie Grease poodle skirts, leather jackets, Greasers and Pink ladies. It was nevertheless, just that, a movie. The styles of that decade were a slightly less teeny bop and a little more wholesome and stylish. That isnt to say that the style was boring and unappealing, instead as we know it, the style was used to make statements about society they lived in.

Obsession on appearances only escalated through the years and still rules society, film, and television today. Men and women still go through tough processes to make them beautiful. Most of these daily rites take up more than half the morning or an entire wage. But then again who doesnt like the attention they get from turning heads with gorgeous hair, stylish shoes and fashionable clothes? Not many. Word: 1635 Bibliography Baker, Patricia.

Fashions of a Decade: the 1950 s. New York: Facts on File, Inc. , 1991. Wilcox, Turner. Five Centuries of American Costume. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1963. Peacock, John.

The 1950 's (Fashion Sourcebooks). New York: Thames and Hudson. , 1998. Rowley, Cynthia. , Ilene Rosenzweig. Swell. New York: Warner Books. , 1995


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