| Jihad Against 'The New Look' (See Magazine, 1948) A former fashion model, Bobbie Woodward, was outraged when she awoke that morning in 1947 to find that the hidden hairy hand that decides which direction the fashion winds will blow had given the nod to some snail-eating Frenchman who stood athwart fashion's unspoken promise to continue the skirt hem's march ever-upward. Wasting no time, she quickly marshaled other equally inclined women and formed The Little Below the Knee Clubs, which spread to forty-eight states (as well as Canada) in order to let the fashion establishment know that they would not be forced into wearing this fashion juggernaut known as "The New Look". The attached SEE MAGAZINE article serves as a photo-essay documenting the collective outrage of these women and their doomed crusade against Christian Dior. One 1947 fashion critic believed that the New Look suffered from a split personality. Click here to read her review. Down With Christian Dior and His 'New Look'! (Rob Wagner's Script, 1947)The California fashion critic who penned the attached article believed that the fashions of Christian Dior stood firmly in opposition to the optimistic, Twentieth Century casual elegance of Claire McCardell (1905 – 1958) and Adrian (1903 – 1959), preferring instead to spin "the feminine figure in the unconventional manner, trying to make her look good where she ain't. He seeks the ballet dancer illusion - natural, rounded shoulders, too weak to support a struggling world...Her waist is pinched in an exaggerated indentation, the better to emphasize her padded hips...There are butterfly sleeves, box pockets, belled jackets, and barreled skirts, suggesting something like a Gibson girl, or whatever grandmother should have worn."
Click here to read a 1961 article about Jacqueline Kennedy's influence on American fashion. *Watch A Film Clip About Cristian Dior* Foundation Garments for 'The New Look' (See Magazine, 1948)Since The New Look sought to overhaul the fashion silhouette of the female form it was quickly understood that women would need different foundation garments to complete this look. Fashion's cry has always been: "When nature doth deny, let art supply" - and the rocket scientists of the ladies underwear subculture did just that. The attached photo-essay from SEE MAGAZINE shows three pictures of the new under-lovelies. •New-Look Underwear Can Be Seen in this Informative Short Film• British Girls Loved 'The New Look' (See Magazine, 1948)"Weary of restraints imposed by more than a decade of war followed by the austerity program...British women have now cast aside the old look, are stampeding West End shops for the built-in New Look." Yves Saint Laurent Takes Over the House of Dior (Coronet Magazine, 1958)When Christian Dior died quite suddenly in 1957, the eggheads of the fashion world got their knickers in a twist as they wondered who would serve as the creative force for the great fashion house that he had established just ten years earlier; all eyes turned to his very young assistant, a 21 year old man named Yves Saint Laurent (1936 – 2008).
In the years since this article was first read, Yves Saint Laurent has been categorized ten times over as one of the grand masters of fashion - but that was not quite so evident at the time. This article will succinctly reveal what was known about him and the cultivation of his various talents.
Click here to read a 1961 article about Jacqueline Kennedy's influence on American fashion. | 
