Is fashion anything more than a frivolous activity, changing with each new collection? Apart from the continual changes that, until World War Two, primarily affected the wardrobes of the elite, and are mainly remembered as a female phenomenon, is fashion not also significant for being rooted in the social context? To what extent does it offer the historian a field of study? These questions deserve to be considered seriously.
As per the history of the fashion, fashion is an expression of every aspect of life; it is a way of existing and behaving, and is, in fact, an observation point from which to view the political, economic and cultural environment of an historical period. The dark years from 1940 to 1944 offer ideal terrain for carrying out this sort of research because they cover a short, eventful period: they provide the best opportunity to discern the correlation between 'the phenomenon of fashion' and political upheavals, between ways of dressing and the adoption of attitudes induced by the extraordinary events affecting the country.
The arrival of the Germans in the summer of 1940 radically changed the overall picture. The end of the Third Republic, its replacement by the Vichy government, and the appearance of new economic and political structures had unprecedented effects even in the field of fashion. One of the first consequences of the defeat and occupation was to move the country from a situation of plenty to one of organized scarcity. In the space of a few months it became difficult to obtain items such as woolen cloth and leather shoes except at high black-market prices.
Moreover, French life was subjected to a system of ration cards and coupons, and ruled by red tape. The Vichy government regulated every aspect of life, trying to place its imprint on everything. Regional and folk costumes were brought back into fashion, some couturiers making them the focal point of their collections. Several women's magazines held up as an example the image of the traditional homemaker, as opposed to the model of an over-Americanized French woman.
