The Ultimate Guide to 1950s Fashion for Women
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1950s fashion for women including the 1950s fashion aesthetic, 1950s fashion womens outfits, 1950s fashion women dresses, 1950s fashion women pants, 1950s fashion womens shoes, and 1950s fashion women evening gowns.
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What was women’s fashion like in the 1950s?
The 1950s fashion aesthetic for women was very feminine, with defined waist and hourglass silhouette.
After the more structured fashion of wartime 1940s, fashion and material restrictions loosened up in the 1950s to become more elegant, luxurious, ultra-feminine, with perfectly matched accessories.
Defined waists and full skirts helped create the feminine, hourglass body shape that the 1950s are known for.
Christian Dior unveilied his “new look” in the late 1940s (1947) emphasizing the hourglass shape with lots of fabric after years of fabric rationing during the second world war.
The end of world war II also ended the period of more practical, tailored looking women’s styles that dominated the wartime 1940s and showed what was to come in the next decade.
Although dresses were still the norm, even around the house (hello, 1950s style housedress!) women’s pants became more mainstream during the 1950s, with high-waisted jeans, cigarette pants and capri pants becoming popular.
Above, Christian Dior’s “new look” unveiled in 1947 that gave a glimpse of the fashion to come in the 1950s.
The cinched-in waist and full skirt created the hourglass silhouette popular throughout the 1950s.
1950s fashion women outfits
What were the fashion trends in the 1950s?
After the second world war, the fashion trends in the 1950s that got started by Dior’s new look in 1947 were all about having that feminine hourglass silhouette.
This was achieved by full skirts, and fitted waists and cropped jackets.
Pants also became the norm, with style icons like Audrey Hepburn popularizing the capri and cigarette style pants. Old Hollywood glamour stars like Marilyn Monroe also popularized jeans for women.
Even the pants worn emphasized the waist, with tucked in blouses.
Christian Diors radical new fashion known as the “bar suit” was so popular it sold out.
Women Fashion icons of the 50s
Fashion icons in the 1950s included stunners like Old Hollywood stars like Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren.
Royalty also had influence, with Queen Elizabeth II bringing her classy interpretation of 50s fashion.
Marilyn Monroe
Still one of the most recognizable faces of old hollywood, Marilyn Monroe defined feminine glamour and the coveted hourglass silhouette.
Her 1950s fashion influenced audience both on-screen and off.
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Grace Kelly
The actress turned Princess influenced 1950s fashion with both her on-screen and off screen appearances.
Thousands of people tuned in to watch her marry the Prince of Monaco, and the Grace Kelly Wedding dress is still one of the most searched for wedding dresses to this day.
Above, Grace Kelly’s timeless wedding dress designed by costume designer, Helen Rose, who also worked with Grace Kelly on several of her movies.
Above, Grace Kelly’s classic 1950s fashion in the Hitchcock film Rear Window.
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Audrey Hepburn
Famous for her little black dresses, ballet flats, and capri/cigarette pants, Audrey Hepburn’s simple elegant style is still influential today.
Her style collaborations with Hubert de givenchy influenced the 50s fashion.
Above, Audrey Hepburn wearing a gown by Givenchy.
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Queen Elizabeth II
Just like today, royalty back in the 50s had an influence on fashion as well.
Queen Elizabeth II was a fashion icon throughout her entire life, including the 1950s.
Her coronation dress worn in 1953 was the ultimate in 1950s glam.
Above, Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation dress.
Brigitte Bardot
Though more well known for her 1960s fashion, Brigitte Bardot helped popularize the bikini swimsuit back in the 1950s, when she made an appearance at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.
Sophia Loren
Famous for her curves as well as her fashion, Sophia Loren defined glam 1950s fashion with dresses that emphasized her hourglass figure with nipped-in waists and full skirts.
Above, Sophia Loren in a 1950s style cocktail dress with a small waist and full skirt.
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1950s fashion women dresses and skirts
The most popular two styles dresses of the 1950s were the pencil dresses or wiggle dress and the fuller style that is now called the swing dress.
As the 50s silhouette was all about the waist, these two style emphasized the waist, with the pencil skirt remaining popular to this day.
Dresses often had large buttons, and could have a endless variety of necklines including strapless, halter, sleeveless, sweetheart, scooped, v neck, square, boat neck.
More casual dresses would also have collars, for example, the famous 1950s house dresses were usually a shirt dress style and often had little collars.
Above, an example of a shirt waist dress that was often used as a house dress in the 1950s.
The shirtwaist dress was also even used as a maternity dress!
The belted waist made it easy to alter for a mother’s changing silhouette.
For more on vintage maternity clothes:
Chic Vintage Maternity Clothes, from Retro Dresses to 50s Fashion
1950s style “wiggle dress” with pencil skirt style
The pencil dress was a dress that could have a variety of necklines, but the skirt had to be in the pencil shape.
The length hit right below the knees and was often paired with pumps.
Marilyn Monroe adopted the pencil skirt as it emphasized her curves and created her signature “wiggle” when she walked.
Marilyn Monroe wears a 1950s fashion “wiggle” skirt in the film Niagara.
Above, in the 1953 film Niagara, Marilyn Monroe wears a teal 1950s style skirt suit with a pencil skirt.
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1950s style “swing dress” with circle skirts
The “Swing” dress was fitted through the waist, but had a full skirt.
Above, an example of a 1950s style swing dress with a full skirt.
Above, an example of Lauren Bacall wearing a 1950s style swing skirt.
Above, Audrey Hepburn wears a 1950s style swing skirt in the 1953 film Roman Holiday.
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1950s style “housewife” button-down dresses
Housewives would wear basic button down shirt waist dresses during the day.
These dresses had a blouse like button down top with a full or straight skirt.
The neckline was often a modest v neck, focused on getting work done, and were often accessorized with a simple cardigan sweater.
1950s fashion women dresses evening gowns
Evening wear had a similar silhouette as the day dresses, but the style was taken up a notch.
More material and fancier material was used when transitioning from day to evening.
Where cotton, linen, and wool were used for day dresses, silk and other more luxurious materials was used for evening gowns to achieve those wide skirts.
Above, in the Hitchcock film Vertigo, Kim Novak as Madeline wears a snazzy 1950s style evening gown, complete with a nipped in waist and lots of luxurious fabric.
Casual 1950s women’s fashion
Did they have jeans in the 1950s?
Although still new for women, denim jeans were starting to become a casual wear fashion staple for women in the 1950s united states.
Thanks to the 1950s, casual clothing was beginning to make an appearance.
The popularity of jeans was helped along after they were worn by the likes of 1950s fashion icons Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly who's casual looks on screen provided fashion inspiration.
Womens jeans in the 1950s were always high-waisted with a straight leg cut, no skinny jeans here.
Above, a promotional photo of Marilyn Monroe wearing jeans for the 1954 movie River of no Return.
Above, in the Hitchcock movie Rear Window, Grace Kelly wears a pair of jeans cuffed at the hem, and paired with a red blouse and brown loafers.
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1950s fashion women pants
By the 1950s, gone were the menswear style pants from the 1930s and 1940s, and instead were feminine, more form-fitting pants, that again emphasized the small waist.
The 1940s pants were a more masculine style, the 1950s were more feminine, like the rest of the 1950s fashions.
A popular style pant in the 1950s was the cigarette pant.
Cigarette pants would be worn with some sort of blouse tucked in at the waist, and often accessorized with a belt.
1950s fashion: Cigarette style pants
Characteristics of the cigarette pants were it’s high waist, fuller cut through the hips and thighs, and a slimmer leg, usually ending above the ankle.
Above, a pair a cigarette style pants from Vogue, 1953.
Above, Lauren Bacall rocks a pair of 1950s style cigarette pants in the movie How to Marry a Millionaire.
Above, in the 1953 film Mogambo, Ava Gardner models a typical 1950s fashion outfit, complete with cigarette pants, and a knit top accessorized with a scarf rolled around the neck.
Grace Kelly wears a 1950s style short-sleeved blouse tucked into a skirt.
1950s fashion: Capri style pants
Also popular in the 1950s were capri pants, or “pedal pushers” as they were called, which ended mid calf.
Below, Audrey Hepburn defined chic with her capri style pants in the 1950s, often paired with ballet flats.
What kind of shoes were worn in 1950?
Casual women shoes included oxfords or “saddle shoes,” ballets flats, loafers, wedge heels.
Espadrilles also became popular after being worn by old hollywood glam stars at the time like Lauren Bacall and Grace Kelly.
Formal women’s shoes included pumps, stilletto heels or heeled sandals including t-straps, slingbacks or ankle strap sandals.
Above, Grace Kelly wears a pair of espadrilles.
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1950s style shoes loafer and oxfords
Loafers were often worn with socks, especially popular with teenagers.
Saddle shoes were usually worn in black and white leather with white bobby socks, a favorite with teenage girls.
Below, a teenager wears oxford with socks.
1950s style ballet flat shoes
Ballet flats, were a popular casual shoe in the 1950s, made popular by the style icon Audrey Hepburn.
Below, Audrey Hepburn wears a pair of pink ballet flats.
1950s fashion womens tops
What tops were popular in the 50s?
Popular womens tops in the 1950s included:
Button up blouses with a range of materials, including classic white blouses with frills down the front.
These button-up blouses could have full sleeves, be sleeveless, or have 3/4 length sleeves, or even short sleeves.
A variety of knitwear was also popular, including sweater tees and cardigan sets.
These tops were always tucked into whatever they were paired with (for that 1950s style waist), and often accessorized with a belt as well.
Popular choices for the tops to be paired with included the circle skirt, capris, or cigarette pants, shorts or a skirt in the summer.
A popular way of accessorizing all these tops was to wear a short scarf rolled and tied around the neck.
Below, a variety of 1950s fashion womens tops, from short sleeved button ups, to knitwear.
Above, Grace Kelly wears a halter style blouse in Rear Window. Notice how she wears it tucked inside of her pencil skirt, one of the popular style skirts at the time.
Below, Ava Gardner accessorizes her 1950s fashion blouse with a small scarf tied around the neck in Mogambo. A cardigan in a matching color to the scarf ties the outfit together.
1950s bullet bra
You can't talk about 1950s styles without mentioning the obvious bullet bra.
Although invented in 1940s, the bullet bra rose to popularity throughout the 1950s.
They helped emphasize the ever popular cuvy figures and were a favorite under a tight sweater.
This started the trend of the so-called "sweater girls" after Lana Turner wore a bullet bra under a tight sweater in an early film.
For more on the history of bullet bras:
1950s Coats
What coats were popular in the 50s?
3 coat silhouettes were popular in the 1950s.
These ranged from very fitted, so slightly fitted, to full and swingy.
Popular coats included the fur coats, the swing coat, the trench coat, the princess coat, and of course there were 1950s winter coats as well.
Above, Elizabeth Taylor wears a long fur coat, (left) Anita Eckberg rocks 50s trench coat, (center) and a magazine cover showing a 1950s box coat.
For more on 1950s coats:
This post was all about 1950s Fashion for Women
What do you think of women’s fashion in the 1950s?
What is your favorite vintage fashion decade?
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