Utility and the New LookAreas to be covered: The Austerity and the Post War Years

Aim: To understand how Austerity affected design in the post war years

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the lecture, you will be able to explain the effect austerity measures had on design in the post war years.

How British people and the government reacted to the austerity measures .

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Definitions...What are the following:

Utility – • The state of being useful, profitable, or beneficial.

• Functional rather than attractive.

• usefulness, use, advantage, benefit, value, helpfulness, profitability, convenience, practicality, effectiveness, efficacy, avail, service, advantageousness

Austerity – • Difficult economic conditions created by government measures to reduce public expenditure.

• Sternness or severity of manner or attitude.

• Plainness and simplicity in appearance.

• RATIONING!RS

1939-1945: ‘War Socialism’ and the Utility Scheme

• On 3 September 1939, Britain declared war on Germany.

• Interrupted shipping meant that materials were immediately in extreme short supply.

• The system of rationing was used for materials that already existed for food.

• This was the reason for production of furniture, clothing and crockery as well as other consumer goods being organized under the Utility Scheme.

• The Utility Scheme was ran by the government to ensure that materials were used most effectively. The scheme gave specific instructions regarding the use of materials. Even going to the extreme of publishing acceptable designs for clothing and furniture.

• The Utility Scheme outlived the war and existed through the austerity years. RS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GKQU1cKJ_c

• Utility furniture was not subject to purchase tax and was only allowed to be manufactured under license from the Board of Trade. Non utility furniture already under construction had to be finished by January 31st 1943.

• Hugh Dalton launched the Utility Furniture Exhibition with the belief that it would establish standards that would outlast the war.

• Use materials effectively with simple designs which were meant to last a long time.

Furniture

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RS• Style – simple style which is easy to manufacture• Use of materials – less materials used which fits in with the austerity measures

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These are the type of designs that were accepted by the government.

‘The wartime picture is one of uniformity and drabness, the atmosphere is austerity and the prevailing attitude is “Make do and Mend”.’ (Dorner J (1975) Fashion in the Forties and Fifties, London: Ian Allan.)

• Government set out a Mass observation survey – semi official, quasi- scientific survey commenced in 1938 to analyse population morale.

• Morale of civilian population (translated into the ‘spirit of the Blitz’.

• Definitions of good design – initially established by the Council for Art and Industry 1934 (Frank Pick).

• Dalton’s Utility Furniture Advisory committee established in 1942.

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• Square padded shoulders were introduced in 1936 and are popularly accredited to Schiaparelli. Drapers Record Centenary Supplement in 1987 describes padded shoulders as the ‘hint of plenty’ in the 1940s Fashion Scene.

• Restraint and practicality were the key notes – box jackets, narrow skirts and a generally severe outline.

• Women in factories wore trousers and dungarees. The turban was encouraged for keeping long hair in place – Jacqmar was the most popular and did a range of dig for victory scarfs.

• Government needed to keep prices down, make sure population was well clad and avoid a waste of scarce resources including manpower and raw materials.

• Civilian clothing and footwear control was introduced gradually and eventually led to the clothing coupon system whereby purchase of goods could be rationed.

• Utility suits for men had shorter jackets, lacked waist pleats (Oxford Bags), breast pocket or buttons on the cuff. Trousers narrowed and had no turn-ups.

• Board of Trade controlled the allocation of resources for clothing and other sorts of manufacture.

Fashion and Clothing under the Utility Scheme.

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British (on the left) and French war-time clothing.

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Christian Dior: the New Look• ‘The New Look’, which was the major shift in post-war fashion in the late forties. The collection was Dior’s first and launched in 1947.

• The New Look is the brainchild of the Christian Dior and was part of a post-war attempt to revive France’s internationally acclaimed fashion industry.

• This 1947 spring/summer collection was originally made up of two lines, ‘Corolle’ and ‘Huit’ however the term ‘New Look’ is said to have came about after Harper’s Bazaar’s editor-in-chief, Carmel Snow, exclaimed “It’s such a new look!”.

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• The signature style was made up of certain key elements; full-skirts, waspy waists and soft shoulders. • After wartime rationing the yards of fabric used in the designs was a refreshing change. • After the war women were encouraged to become homemakers once again, moving out of the workplace, and therefore the feminine, flowery and certainly impractical nature of this fashion was positively encouraged in Western countries.

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• This Bar Suit is one of the iconic images from the collection as it encompasses the central themes of the feminine style. 

• The suit delicately displays the feminine body however the tailored jacket adds just the perfect touch of structure to the overall look. 

The Iconic Piece: the Bar Suit

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• Dior adored being flamboyant when it came to his evening dresses. He could experiment with mass quantities of fabric because this was aimed at a higher market. 

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‘The main outcry against the New Look , not surprisingly was centred on Dior’s lavish use of textiles. In Paris a model wearing a New Look outfit had her dress torn from her back, whilst as far afield as Chicago the designer was met by crowds of angry women bearing placards saying ‘Burn Mr Dior’ and ‘Christian Dior go home’.’

Jackson L, 1991, The New look- Design in the fifties, London, Thames and Hudson.

Dior received significant backing from Textile Manufacturer who gave him unlimited supplies of fabric. RS

The Festival of BritainThe Festival of Britain was a national exhibition held throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. It was organised by the government to give the British a feeling of recovery in the aftermath of war and to promote the British contribution to science, technology, industrial design, architecture and the arts.

http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/mol-82-158-347

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'The Festival is the British showing themselves to themselves - and the world' (Herbert Morrison)

The Skylon was a futuristic-looking, slender, vertical, cigar-shaped steel structure located by the Thames in London, that apparently floated above the ground, built in 1951 for the Festival of Britain.

This was designed by Hidalgo Moya, Philip Powell and Felix Samuely

Atoms and molecules in the Abacus Screen by Edward Miller.http://www.culture24.org.uk/art/art355570

The Dome of Discovery was a temporary exhibition building designed by architect Ralph Tubbs. The dome became an iconic structure for the public and helped popularise modern design and architectural style in a Britain still suffering through post-war austerity.

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Festival pattern ware – for the table by Jessica Tait for Midwinter

Marianne Straub based on the crystal structure of afwillite.

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Insulin by Robert Sevant and Boric Acid by W.J. Odell.

Dot Dash – based on abstract expressionism by Marchington 1954.

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What were the key changes in Women’s role during and after the Second World War?

How did clothing design reflect those changes?

What was the importance of the Festival of Britain to the post war austerity period?

What aspects of 1950s design do you like or dislike? Why?

Task

Time line of events – Austerity and the Post War Years

1930

1935

1940

1945

1950

1955

1960

Record key dates and the events from this lecture