The Complete Guide to Women's 1940s Casual Dresses
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Your guide to women’s 1940s casual dresses, also referred to as the 1940s house or 1940s shirt-waist dress.
This post is all about 1940s Casual Dresses including the 1940s House Dress & Shirtwaist Dress
This is part of our 1940s dresses series.
Other posts in the series:
Your Guide to 1940s Dresses Formal
Your Guide to the 1940s Cocktail Dresses
'40s fashion
With the start of the war, the United States implemented wartime restrictions dictating that materials become rationed which influenced the fashion industry…as a result, styles had to be made with less fabric.
Women's fashion in the 1940s emphasized wide shoulders (often obtained with small shoulder pads), a nipped-in waist, and often an a-line dresses or a pencil skirt.
Women's skirts were often a practical knee-length hem.
Women's pants were also becoming more popular due to women entering the workforce and being influenced by movie stars like Katharine Hepburn and Lauren Bacall.
Other posts you might like:
The Katharine Hepburn Style Guide - Her Vintage Tomboy Fashion
Lauren Bacall Pants - How to Wear Pants Like an Old Hollywood Glam Star
Once the war ended and material restrictions were lifted, in came the dresses of the 1950s, with a greater emphasis on the hourglass figure and a full skirt.
Christian Dior had a large influence on 1950s fashion with the "dior's new look" that he introduced at the end of the decade.
Other style evolutions due to wartime efforts to save materials?
Enter the scandalous swimsuits, i.e. the two-piece bikini.
Other posts you might like:
How to Rock the Vintage Swimwear Aesthetic Like an Old Hollywood Glam Star
The House Dress 1940s Fashion
The 1940s house dress went by lots of names.
It was also called a shirt dress or shirtwaist dress.
The 1940s house dress was the casual dress of choice for women for their everyday wear.
This was totally a WWII masculine and military-inspired style influenced by all the military uniforms.
It was a perfect solution to the no-nonsense dressing of the first half of the 1940s.
Plus it was so easy to put on--simply slip over your head, no help needed.
This utility clothing was so practical for ladies and teenagers, no matter what they needed to do, whether studying, household duties, or working.
Accessorize it with a swipe of red lipstick, and you were ready to go!
Buttons were in the front of the dress (versus the back!) and either buttoned from the neck to the waist, or all the way from the neck to the hemline.
The knee-length skirts were practical and suitable for working.
You’ll love stepping back in time as we look at how creative the 1940s ladies (and designers!) were in adapting the 1940s house dress style for everyday life.
Casual 1940s Dresses: the Utility Suit
“Will you help nurse our sick and wounded fighting men?”
Serve your country by joining the Australian Army Medical Women’s Service.
This 1945 ad to help the war effort by joiing the AWAS highlights just how practical and stylish the retro button down shirt dress is.
If you join, not only will you receive ‘attractive living quarters’, but... drum roll... you will receive good clothing with coupons for replacements.
During World War II fabric was scarce, and there was a rationing system where each article of clothing had an allocated ‘points’ value.
The more material and labor that was used to make it, the more points it cost you!
For example, you had to have eleven whole coupons to buy a dress, whereas you only needed eight coupons for a pair of trousers.
Notice the patriot colors.
The dress is blue, it has a white collar, and there is a dramatic pop of color from the red cross stamped on the white pocket.
Also, the big buttons are not only cute, but are oh so practical for dressing quickly in any conditions anywhere--whether at the crack of dawn at a base camp or in a dimly hospital.
Casual Dresses in the 1940s Dresses: Retro House Dress
The practical 1940s house dress was ladies go-to everyday dress.
In other words, in the 40s, this casual dress equaled today’s jeans, leggings, and joggers that are so popular and worn everywhere all the time.
This retro shirtwaist dress has buttons that travel all the way from the collar to the skirt hem.
A belt cinches in at the waist to show off the hourglass figure, a key element to 1940s fashion.
Notice the much fuller skirt on her dress, which hints that this house dress was worn in the later 1940s, leading into the 1950s, when it became all the rage for skirts to be crazy full.
The house dress was even adapted to be a maternity dress in the 1940s.
Casual 1940s Dresses: The Shirt Dress & Apron
“Cleaning is just putting stuff in less obvious places.”
We just couldn’t talk about the dress of choice in the 1940s for the everyday woman without giving an honorable mention to one of its most common accessory--the apron!
Together these were the “iconic duo” of the 1940s.
Why the 1940s apron?
It was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few, and aprons used less material.
Plus, it had a million practical uses--drying children’s tears, potholder for removing pans from the oven, cleaning dirty surfaces (and faces), quick hand-wiping in a pinch on the go, etc.
Notice how these retro aprons are layered are pulled snugly on top of the 1940s button-up house dress.
Casual Dresses in the 1940s Dresses: Shirt Dress
“I became a star for two reasons, and I’m standing on them.”
Betty Grable was a famous pin-up model who had her legs insured by her studio for a million dollars.
In this pic, the famous pin-model and Old Hollywood Glamour actress, Betty Grable models the 1940s shirt dress.
It just goes to show how easy it is to dress up the classic 1940s shirt dress style.
Notice the classic button-up bodice, and a-line cut of the skirt.
A belt highlights her gorgeous curves, and blends the masculine shirt elements with the feminine form.
Also, what really takes her 1940s shirt dress to the next level are the details, fabric, and accessories.
The black checkered fabric matches is a playful background to the white sparkling peephole pump high heels.
The white detailing pockets matches the collar of her shirtdress and provides a whimsical contrast to the black dress, but a fun coordination with her pumps.
Casual 1940s Dresses: Lauren Bacall 1940s Style Shirtdress
Lauren Bacall rocks the 1940s housedress in her 1944 film To Have and Have Not.
It’s no wonder that she captured the heart of her co-star Humphrey Bogart.
The world was enthralled with their lifelong romance.
Lauren Bacall oozes sophistication in her simple 1940s shirtdress in this movie set against the backdrop of World War II.
This goes to show how the 1940s house dress was a favorite onscreen and offscreen for everyone, from the girl next door, to the legends of Old Hollywood.
Other posts you might like:
Lauren Bacall Style - 15 Spectacular Looks to Inspire Your Wardrobe
Casual 1940s Dresses: Lana Turner 1940s Style Shirtdress
Lana Turner oozes sex appeal in her white 1940s shirtdress in the suspenseful 1946 film noir The Postman Always Rings Twice.
In this iconic film, she superbly plays the femme fatale who plots to murder her husband, after falling in love with a drifter.
Notice how Lana Turner rocks the 1940s shirt dress as a waitress’ uniform.
Casual 1940s Dresses: House Dresses & Pintucks
Again, ladies and girls loved the shirtwaist style dress top in the 1940s because it was so easy to slip on and slip off over the head.
Now if you lived in the 1940s and this was your favorite casual dress style, what else could you do to add a bit more variety and even more feminity, and make more room for a lady’s assets to be front and center?
Say hello to the pintucks!
What the heck are pintucks?
The pintucks were small gathers that are strategically located on dresses, such as at the shoulders and waist, to add bust shaping.
They also jazz up the shirtwaist dress bodice as ornamental details!
Casual 1940s Dresses: Bette Grable 1940s House Dress Style
“The practice of putting women on pedestals began to die out when it was discovered that they could give orders better from there.”
What’s not to love about that?
Did you notice how our favorite pin-up model, Betty Grable was the face on the 1940s sewing pattern with the house dress with pintucks (see above)?
We love the creativity of this clothing pattern company, Hollywood Patterns, who cashed in on the public hunger to have the Hollywood movie star look by creating fashions that were from famous and popular moves of the day!
Not only was Betty Grable the Old Hollywood Glamour movie star for the 1940s house dress with pintucks pattern, but we found the real life pics of her modeling the 1940s shirtwaist dress with these exact style detail.
Our bet is that this is the exact dress the pattern is recreating.
Notice the pintucks add a feminine style element to the shirtdress bodice and also gives more room for the curves.
We also love the delicate floral pattern that is oh so vintage and the large white button (so iconic in the house dress) that travels from the neckline to the hem.
1940s Button Down Dress
What was the sister dress of the 1940s shirt dress?
It was the 1940s button down dress.
As the name implies, this dress would either be a full button down from the neck to the hemline, or simply button down bodice.
The 1940s ladies and girls got very creative with their fabric selections, ranging from cotton, chambrey, rayon, or wool and fabric patterns, using solid colors and adorable retro patterns.
Notice how the adorable detailing (buttons, belts, delicate applicae), not only makes each of these adorable 1940s button down dresses look unique, but when incorporated with the other stylistic elements could up level a dress.
For example, see how the differences in each of the necklines (scalloped, v neck, round etc.) completely changes the dresses.
If you’re scratching your head as to how this is different than the shirt dress, it appears that these dress types are sometimes used inter-changably, but the the simplest differentiator is that the other dress could be called a shirt that’s looks like a dress, whereas this is a fitted bodice dress with buttons.
In the mid 1940s it also became a popular trend for buttons to be the runaway focal point with asymmetrical positioning on the dress.
This created beautiful movement in the outfit as the buttons playfully matched or contrasted with the fabric.
The button down dress was undoubtably the most common 1940s casual dress style for women.
Grab fancier fabrics and these are transformed into tea dresses.
Casual Dresses in the 1940s Dresses: House Dress with Knife Pleats
In the late 1940s, a popular trend was to add long knife pleats to a line skirts.
This elongated and slimmed the silhouette transforming it into a rectangular cylinder.
This straight military inspired look of the 40’s was very feminine and classy.
The knife pleats acted as decorated finishes and added fullness to the dress skirt providing a clean finish and space for the garment to move.
Knife pleats are folds of fabric pressed in one direction.
In other words, they are a series of narrow equal pleats.
They are also called accordion pleats (yes like the musical instrument!) because they allow the garment to expand and relax.
The pleats are folded much like an accordion with equal space from top to bottom.
Casual 1940s Dresses: Everyday Examples of Knife Pleats (Accordian pleats)
Betty Grable (left) sizzles in this 1940s dress with knife pleats.
We also love this candid snapshot of 1940s lady (right) rocking knife pleats in her plaid button-up dress!
No wonder this was a favorite 1940s style element!
Check out how much volume and movement this creates.
1940s Housecoat
When were housecoats popular?
In the 1940s the housecoat was a popular choice for women, as gown was a practical and classy variation of the dressing gown.
Need to clean the bathroom, vacuum and knock out the rest of those household to-dos?
Simply pull on the housecoat and you’re ready for action.
1940s housecoats were either crafted from lightweight fabrics for summertime or for heavier fabrics for cold days.
In the winter, ladies would layer this on top of their house dresses for extra warmth.
Fun fact!
According to the fashion history buffs, the “direct ancestor” of the 1940s housecoat is a tea gown, which was an indoor frock designed in the 1870s.
Casual Dresses in the 1940s Dresses: Lauren Bacall 1940s Housecoat
In the film Dark Passage, Lauren Bacall pulls on her plaid house dress first thing in the morning, as her dress of choice to tackle the most important “chore” of her life--to remove the bandages from Humphrey Bogart’s face.
In breathless anticipation, she slowly works to reveal of his new face, post plastic surgery.
This 1940s housecoat style just oozes Old Hollywood Glamour.
Notice the warmth of the heavier plaid and the silk scarf at her neck, a cozy choice for your inside ensemble on a winter day.
This movie is a must-watch for iconic 1940s fashion, and of course the suspense and on screen tension between the lead actors.
Other posts you might like:
This post was all about 1940s Casual Dresses
What do you think of the 1940s casual dresses?
Do you have a favorite style?
Other posts you might like: