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In the ever-flowing fashion world, every piece of history leaves a strong color in this world. When major events happen in the world, the face of clothing changes with it. What kind of reasons have changed women's clothing is a question worth pursuing.
Women's clothing has been modernized through World War II, and France has always been the center of world fashion, let's talk specifically about what kind of state French women's clothing was in the 30s and 40s, and what kind of social state was reflected.
Socio-economic factors
September 1, 1939, the day World War II began, and after that, France experienced serious financial problems. With regard to the protracted war, France's economic preparations are not comparable to those of Britain, and the future is not optimistic as far as France's finances are concerned. Since France's military expenditures had increased, other expenditures had to decrease, which was a very important issue at that time. After France became involved in the war, from the financial point of view, British aid was very helpful in supporting France in the long war. Increasing production was a very important issue for the French wartime economy.
In terms of the Air Force, Germany has already surpassed France. On June 14, 1940, Paris fell as an undefended and non-resistant city, so Germany controlled France's economic life, and carried out serious oppression, the German army's "occupation fee" in France was initially set at 400 million francs per day, soon reduced to 300 million francs per day, and in 1942 France was fully occupied by the German army, and the cost of occupation also rose to 500 million francs per day; The amount given to Germany by the fallen France should not be underestimated, with an annual supply of 485,000 tons to 715,000 tons of grain and 146,000 tons to 253,000 tons of meat, and one-third of the products produced in France were supplied to Germany.
Not only that, Germany also forcibly conscripted the prime of France as the labor force of German factories, resulting in the lack of labor and productivity in France, and people suffered from hunger and material scarcity. At that time, France would not be able to secure its position in the international arms race if it did not increase production, and the forty-hour working week was modified for national defense purposes.
Because of the brutality and persistence of war, French women in charge of family life experienced first-hand the sudden catastrophe. The lack of goods caused them a headache. After the establishment of the Vichy regime in France, due to the shortage of labor, the government forced single women aged 21-35 in France to perform compulsory labor.
French women in the war
In the 1800s, the types of work available to women increased, and the corresponding number of jobs increased. Many of these positions are related to social and public affairs, such as some women from wealthy families who participate in charity work, and through these work, they have come into contact with different social classes, see the real world, and have their own thinking.
At the beginning, these women did not participate in the work for the purpose of getting monetary remuneration, nor did they think of doing a career, they just wanted to dedicate their love, and in this way break free from the shackles of the family, learn to integrate into society, and find themselves in charity and other public affairs that they can have other life values in addition to contributing to the family, they can also assume more social responsibilities outside the family, and experience a sense of accomplishment, so step by step, middle-class women gradually become the same as men, not dependent. Do not rely on others to support, get rid of the traditional female lifestyle, go to work, to realize self-worth.
After receiving a certain amount of remuneration, women become more financially independent, using the accumulated funds to invest independently, manage their finances, or engage in business activities. Later, with the further development of the capitalist economy, more and more jobs and types of occupations could be undertaken by women in society, which made a larger number of women work out of the shackles of the family.
In social life and public affairs, men have always been in an absolute advantageous position, they find jobs, have a career, social communication are all normal things, and even some professions seem to be born for men, and have nothing to do with women; They create wealth for society on the one hand, and a future for themselves on the other.
They are paid financially for their efforts and talents, which gives them the supremacy of the family and the pillars of the family, while women without financial income can only be subordinate to a subordinate position, and the role of women is only an aid and supplement to the part of the man's power.
Historically, French women have participated in the battle to defend the motherland, including Saint-Genaviève in the 5th century, Louis Michel, the revolutionary heroine of the Paris Commune, and the French national hero Joan of Arc in the "Hundred Years' War" between Britain and France, and the resistance movement promoted Joan of Arc as a great precedent for women to participate in the use of weapons in war.
In the past, under the shackles of traditional concepts, they were imprisoned in many ways, many things were not allowed to involve women, and the degree of freedom was much different from that of men, but when the war began, the male members of the family had to leave home and go to the battlefield, and only women in the rear were responsible for the family. During the French occupation, French women were no longer content to do more than just service work, and although they were not welcomed by the military and few were able to become leading figures, they were involved in all aspects of the work of the resistance.
After the movement against the invaders began, many women were able to devote themselves to specific work such as intelligence collection and transmission, concealment of weapons and food, went to places they had never been, saw things they had never experienced, and in the resistance, in purgatory, they came into contact with other women from different countries, different nationalities, and different levels of education.
This also includes prostitutes, who know each other through conversation, which has never been done before in history, who have no weapons, no protection, no training, relying solely on patriotic zeal and dedication to the motherland, and once they start working, they are particularly flexible and adaptable.
This experience of participating in the resistance to the invaders expanded the horizons of French women and made them re-examine the country, society and themselves, which was the greatest gain of the war, and since then, French women have begun a long history of struggle against traditional ideas. Although this brutal war prevented many girls from completing their studies, the resistance to aggression gave them an alternative education, which was also very valuable.
Cruel war, bad living conditions, so that women in the hot war situation see another side of life, understand the difficulty of being a person, and the irreconcilable contradictions between people, they begin to learn to enjoy the freedom of not being constrained by parents and men, find a new career and a new center of gravity in life, and play an increasingly important social role.
In the process, their self-confidence has never been stronger, they are no longer afraid to question family pressure and patriarchal constraints, they have the courage to make their voices heard, and many particularly brave women not only make their own decisions, but also resolutely run away from home, partly because of the needs of the resistance, and on the other hand, because of the inconsistency of ideas that make them unbearable.
Women who have rich experience and have withstood the baptism of war have undergone profound changes in their thinking, and fresh experiences have made them discover what is really worthwhile, what kind of life they pursue, and those who put pressure on them, they can completely ignore it, they can support themselves, and economic independence makes them not afraid to leave the family.
The association of other people's thoughts with women's clothing
Because of the institutional arrangement, men want to go out to work, so men's clothes must be convenient, do not affect their work, and should also be suitable for contact with society and complete the transcendence of self.
Women's clothes, on the other hand, do not need this, they should hinder women from completing their self-transcendence, and at the same time can bind women to the social role they played at that time.
The value of the housework done by women is not recognized by society, so they have to use their clothes and special attire to attract the attention and appreciation of others. This situation has lasted for a long time, even if feminists have stood up for women's employment rights very early, and the internal and external environment for women's employment has gradually relaxed, but because there is no big movement, it has not achieved good results, and has been suppressed by traditional patriarchal and husbandly power.
It is not until women's self-awareness is released from the body that women can truly realize their social value. Just as the First and Second World Wars of the last century were undoubtedly the worst historical catastrophe that France has ever experienced, and the whole country was devastated, it was in the midst of such turmoil that French women were able to gain many job opportunities and thus achieve self-transcendence. They finally got rid of the shackles of their families, integrated into society, had their own careers, and bravely supported their entire lives in the days when men were at war.
Some became workers, some became teachers, some became doctors... At this time, with the profound changes in women's hearts, women's clothing and clothing have also undergone great changes.
Just like Elizabeth . Herlock once said: As long as women remain lower in social status than men, as long as women are only active within the confines of the family, they will inevitably be bound by clothing. In order to wear clothes as light as men, women must go out into society and break free from the shackles of the family.
In the course of the two world wars, French women's dress has changed, towards a more simple and practical direction, women's clothing in the design into the characteristics of many men's clothing, women directly wear men's clothes on the street is no longer a strange thing, because this is the objective requirement of wartime work.
Women have created their own social value through work, and at the same time obtained monetary remuneration and social recognition, and since then their social status has become higher and higher, they have got rid of their dependence on men, completed self-reinvention, cultivated independent personalities, and then have the power to decide what they wear.
In the 1920s, the French clothing industry emerged a group of talented, brave to subvert the inherent tradition of outstanding female fashion designers, they are Chanel, Chaparelli, etc., the era has completed them, they have also created their own era, in a not tense atmosphere, they have completed self-transcendence, but also willing to help other women through clothing to show the beauty of their personality, to serve the complete body of women themselves, to express the wearer's understanding of life, to use clothes to explain who women are not vassals.
The stronger a woman's sense of autonomy, the less restrictive the clothes she wears, and the more types of clothing she can choose from; On the contrary, if a woman does not have a strong sense of autonomy and still positions herself in the family, then she will be subordinate to men, and the decision on what to wear is not herself, and women's clothing has become an obstacle to women's self-independence, and women's clothing and their bodies have become objects to satisfy male desires.
In the 1930s and 1950s, there were two such countercurrents, the trigger in the 1930s was the Great Depression, when all walks of life were hit hard, companies closed or a large number of layoffs were lost, so that a large number of women were unemployed, so they had to go home to do housework, in the process, women's freedom of existence was re-bound, women's sense of autonomy weakened, and they began to rely on men to feed, so women's dress was again based on men's needs. The particularly feminine outfits are back.
In the 1950s, the change of women's clothing and the thirties were generally consistent, in World War II, the process of modernization of women's clothing accelerated, after World War II, conservative family life gradually became the expectation of the whole people, the image of mother and wife was only limited to women, and the public put a series of social ills, such as minors using drugs, illegal acts are attributed to the failure of women's social role-playing, attributed to women no longer stuck in family life, deep into society will produce these problems.
These reasons make it difficult for women to move further into society and engage in inventive behavior. Women's independence was difficult to progress, and gradually, women's voice in social and family life decreased, and from then on, men regained the power of women's clothing reform and returned to a certain Victorian style (pretending, rich accessories are important characteristics). The retrospective of women's 19th-century clothing – the popularity of "new looks" has become commonplace.