Fashion Alchemy

My minimalist side traditionally abjures prints and patterns, but my maximalist side squealed with delight when I flipped a page in a reference book and my eyes beheld this marvel of Forties novelty. Fluffy lambs gambolling in a field! Clouds (also fluffy) and birds! A cloud-shaped appliqué collar – scalloped sleeves! The wonders of this dress seem as endless as the horizon.

What seeming novelty arose from wartime rationing. ‘The United States Wartime Protection Board, in 1943, imposed various restrictions on clothing manufacture and the use of fabric considered essential for the war effort.’ All silk was certainly verboten, as it was used to make parachutes. Fancy trims were restricted too, and sequins and embroidery were banned (I wonder if that applied to the home seamstress recycling second hand items even then?); and glass beads, formerly imported from imported Czechoslovakia, were also unavailable.

This 1945 dress by Gilbert Adrian (1903–1959) instead utilises perspective in an imaginative print, rather than the more usual repeat pattern, and is inspired by Surrealism. The follow-through in the detailing on sleeve and collar is particularly lovely.

The fabric is rayon acetate – remember, rayon is made from purified cellulose, or plant fibre, so though it must go through a virtually alchemical process to be transmuted into fabric, it is natural in origin and so not as repulsive as say, polyester.

What is wonderful is that out of such severe restrictions, Adrian managed to produce fashion gold. One could only dream of coming upon this in a thrift store!

From Fashion and Textiles in the International Collections of the National Gallery of Victoria, by Robyn Healy, National Gallery of Victoria, 2003.