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As Vogue celebrates its 125th year, we look back at the history of fashion, and the magazine, in a series of “five points” videos by decade, narrated by the stylish Sarah Jessica Parker.
The ’50s in Vogue could almost be summed up by the image of Jean Patchett’s sweeping eyebrow or the concave curve of Sunny Harnett’s vanishing waist, as current events and designers’ dreams changed the way the world, and women, looked.
COUTUREIt was the Golden Age of Haute Couture, a time when the fashion legacies we reference today were established by then-new designers—Christian Dior, Pierre Balmain, Hubert de Givenchy, and Cristóbal Balenciaga—and Coco Chanel who returned to the fashion world after an extended sabbatical. On assignment for Vogue in 1950, Irving Penn photographed the couture collections for the first time. His pictures, graphic and pure, continue to inform how we view and appreciate the art of fashion.
SHAPEThough hyper-feminine and often embellished, waist-whittling fashions were primarily about shape. Two silhouettes prevailed, the New Look hourglass that featured a full skirt and stem-like middle, and a glove-fitted slim line that emphasized a tiny midriff.
These were shapes that were, generally speaking, not found in nature and mostly sculpted using elaborate underpinnings. “Controlling interests,” such as corsets, waist garters, and girdles, were the tools women used to reconfigure their curves.
DIETDieting was another way women achieved “the shape of the new fashion.” The magazine continued to adapt its proprietary “Diet X,” first introduced just before the mid-century, as well as hyping regimes like the “new cottage cheese,” “psychological,” “deuces wild” and “grape” diets. Vogue also gathered a panel of experts called the Diet Authority to weigh in on healthful approaches to weight loss.
COLLECTIONSAs waistlines grew slimmer, postwar expansion continued. The scope of the fashion world was becoming bigger and better as well; the first organized fashion shows were arranged in New York City and Italy, and Vogue reported on presentations in Spain, Belgium, and Ireland, too.