How we can now respond to our research questions...
How did fashion evolve as a consequence of the contribution of British women to the war efforts during the First World War?
There are a few ways in which fashion has adapted for British women as a consequence of the war that we have discovered from our primary and secondary research. From this research that we have carried out we have established that these changes came about when women of Britain became involved with the war; makeup became more prominent, with the introduction of Maybeline in the year of 1915. The makeup that was first used was face powder, kohl eyeliner and also mascara. This new concept of makeup became more popular as women were now more involved with working in society and women were now contributing a lot more, out of the house more and due to these things they now felt more empowered and wanted to make more of an effort in regard to their appearance. Another change that took place was that after the war body hair started to be seen as unsightly on women, due to the introduction of shorter skirts therefore more leg would be seen on women more often and body hair was no longer embraced. Contrary to this what also became popular in women’s fashion was trousers due to the obvious practical reasons that you can imagine now that women were more involved with physical work in farming, factories, even mining and a lot more. Another major adaptation that came from this was that corsets began to decline in popularity as they were not practical and very restricting due to how they were so tight and hard to move around freely when wearing. Despite a change in haircuts not really being a change in fashion it did contribute to the appearance of women as a consequence of the war. This hairstyle change was that it became common for women to cut their hair short and often in the style of a bob, which before the war would have been seen as unacceptable and unattractive. These are just the prime examples of how fashion adapted as a reaction to the women’s efforts in the war in Britain and not all of them, but these are the changes that were deemed most drastic and important on the timeline of fashion for women.
What are the similarities and differences between women’s fashion from the beginning of the war and the end of the war?The differences of women’s fashion from the beginning of the war and then end of the war is that before the war, women’s jobs consisted of cleaning, caring for the house, caring for children, cooking for the family and more house related occupations and during these jobs the women would wear a long black dress with a white apron on top of it. Makeup became more established during the war, with the introduction of Maybelline in 1915, popular makeup wear was powder, kohl eyeliner and mascara. After the war, women started to wear shorter dresses as body hair started to be seen as unsightly on women, due to the introduction of these shorter skirts and dresses, and changed their hair cut shorter, often into bobs. A similarity is that as shown on many visuals, throughout the years the women have paired their dress with an accessory of some time, such as a hat. Their dresses may have gotten tighter and shorter however their accessories to their outfits seemed to have stayed the same.
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How is women’s fashion in World War I contributed to how it is worn today?In today’s society, women wear shorter skirts and dresses showing most of their legs due to the fact that shaving became an essential part of every woman's grooming routine. After the first world war, trousers were more often worn, due to practical reasons as women could broaden their job opportunities and not just have to wear the traditional maid uniform. This is extremely similar to how it is today in modern day, as women are allowed in most countries, especially Britain, to become whatever they strive for and wear what they want and what is appropriate. This all happened due to the women’s contributions during World War One as after the women took over the men’s job when the men went to war, after the war the men and women then realised that they have a lot more to offer to the society than being housewives or maids.
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What place within Britain was most affected by the women’s roles and fashion?Even though the entire of Britain and many other european countries were affected greatly by the women’s war services, the areas where the industrial factories were based, were more greatly affected. This makes sense as these areas would have been where women were photographed, and seen by other women, in the new clothing styles. When the women working in the factories were seen in these clothes, the word would have been spread about them. Therefore, the area would have been affected a lot more than a remote area in the countryside with no factories. Birmingham would have been an area affected greatly, as they had many munition factories.
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