1950s Fashion

For me, when I think of the 1950’s fashion I visualize the traditional poodle skirt, white crew socks and black and white saddle shoes. In the 50’s, times were changing. This was the era when television was gaining immense popularity . Television brought the fashion world into Americans living rooms, with show like, Leave it to Beaver, Ossie and Harriet, and debatably most famous “I love Lucy.” These shows had television moms who had style. First lets start with the hair. There were many different hairstyles to choose from. The women of the 50’s tortured their hair. They bleached it, permed it, put pins in it and teased it until it was stuck. The most famous was the “beehive”, with the hair, shoulder-long or more, drawn up to the top of the head, and combed up to give it bulk and height. Then turned in with pins and hair sprayed heavily to hold the doo together. The 50’s television shows portrayed the fifties wives and moms as a happy homemaker at the breakfast table in her clinched skirt with the white blouse tucked in neatly. She had her hair done, and wore all the necessary accessories, such as pearls or snap beads. I always noticed this when Lucy wore pearls. Yes I’ve watched my fair share of I Love Lucy with my mom. Appropriateness was everything. Young women expressed the responsibility of their positions by being as ladylike as possible. Just leaving the house called for dressing up neatly.

What to wear depended on the occasion. The sundress was very popular, with spaghetti straps, bodice clinched at the waist and a full skirt. Another favorite was the shirtwaist dress, like Lucy made famous on the, (I love Lucy) show. These dresses could be worn at pool parties, back yard barbecues, and at night to almost any non-formal event. In 1957, the sack dress became the popular. American women bought the waist-less, straight dress by the thousands, until they realized that men didn’t like them. For most of the decade skirts were fairly long. There