Women in Wartime: Dress Studies from Picture Post 1938-1945

(Hardback)

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This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by Knowledge Unlatched. Picture Post magazine was made famous by its pioneering photojournalism, which vividly captured a panorama of wartime events and the ordinary lives affected. This book is the first to examine this fascinating primary source as a cultural record of womens dress history. Reading the magazines visual narratives from 1938 to 1945, it weaves together the ways in which design, style and fashion were affected by, and responded to, the state of being at war - and the new gender roles it created for women. From the working class of Whitechapel to the beach sets of the Bahamas, and from well-heeled Mayfair to middle-class New York, Women in Wartime takes a wide-angled lens to the fashions and lifestyles of the women featured in Picture Post. Exploring the nature of femininity and the struggle to be fashionable during the war, the book reveals critical connections between clothing and social culture. Drawing on a unique range of photographs, Women in Wartime presents a living history of how womens clothing choices reflect changing perceptions of gender, body, and class during an era of unprecedented social change.

Reviews

Women in Wartime is successful in demonstrating the value has as an academic resource. Furthermore, it is relevant to studies of the Second World War, beauty, gender, and material culture. While the themes within this work may not be novel for a seasoned fashion researcher, the source material is fresh, and the extensive use of images makes it a serviceable resource for those interested in visual culture. Most of all, this book leaves the reader curious, with a desire to explore the archive for themselves. * Journal of Dress History *
Women in Wartime is a fascinating and sometimes surprising survey of fashion during the 1930s and 40s. Using Picture Post as a unique window into the period, it reveals the changes that war brought to womens everyday lives. Howells deep understanding and exhaustive knowledge of her source material help her show how the magazine captured the look of this era in all its contradictions and contrasts. * Amanda Mason, Senior Curator, Imperial War Museums, London, UK *
This wonderful, engaging and lively book discusses the full range of dress history in the Second World War from couture to rationing, from high fashion to living with poverty, from practical clothing to home sewing. With its impeccable scholarship, it is essential reading for fashion and social historians, and for anyone interested in the visual culture of this vital period in British history. * Sue Malvern, University of Reading, UK *
As a museum curator, it is wonderful to have a book about fashion in real life across all levels of society. The Picture Post is a unique resource and makes this a truly insightful read for anyone studying fashion history. * Natalie Raw, Curator of Dress and Textiles, Leeds Museums and Galleries, UK *
This fulsomely illustrated book opens up a mine of fresh research into the study of dress and social history. It throws a unique searchlight on the popular Picture Post magazine 1938-57, specifically on its detailed coverage of the daily lives, aspirations, problems, work, beauty and fashion interests of women all ages and classes but especially of the everyday women of this period. Howell sets all of this, significantly, in the context of the progressive and anti-fascist ideals of the journals editors, journalists and documentary photographers fascinating reading indeed. * Lou Taylor, University of Brighton, UK *

Author Bio

Geraldine Howell is an independent scholar based in the UK. She formerly co-ordinated the dress and art history programmes at the University of Westminster, UK, is the author of Wartime Fashion (2012) and has worked on WW2 dress exhibitions.