STYLING: ~ 1940s ~ 40s fashion Women’s fashion in the 1940s combined style and practicality to achieve a lasting elegance. With jackets shorter thanks to rationing, the peplum became hugely popular, helping to narrow the hips while showing off a trim waist. It was also common for women to re-use their coats from the 1930s, altering them slightly by cutting off the bottom of the coat and hemming it to knee length. Classic cuts with no fabric excess were key, often with military influences ~ accordingly wide lapels or double breasted buttoning & shoulder pads became popular styles. As women often lived by the ‘make-do-and-mend” mantra during the war years, men’s coats became a popular choice, the oversized, draped style became quite fashionable, as did the swing coat, with women occasionally reusing an old coat belt or other belt to draw in the waist, while others enjoyed the free flowing swing cut. Despite restrictions on designers and rationing of materials, the 1940s has played a key role in fashion history and despite the wartime limitations incredible trends still emerged from these wartime years, and many of these styles are quintessential pieces in the modern woman’s wardrobe today. ~ 40s fashion