Attached is a well-illustrated article from the fashion-packed pages of a 1943 issue of Click Magazine that served to document those style-craving women of the Forties who found button decorated clothing to be the high-water mark of personal distinction during an era when uniforms could be found on every city block:
"Keeping up with the Joneses' wardrobe is no longer a problem. Uncle Sam is standardizing the cut and fabric of wartime clothes. But already the American woman, with her zest for something different, has turned thumbs-down on style regimentation. In a frantic bid for individuality, fad-loving women are rediscovering the decorative button. Buttons are no longer just a practical devices for holding clothes together. They pep-up simplified silhouettes and restyle dated fashions.
On another note: the legendary fashion designer Christian Dior had a good deal of trouble with people who would illegally copy his designs; click here to read about that part of fashion history.
More about W.W. II fashions can be read here.
Read about the 1943 crochet revival
Click here to read about the woman who dictated many of the fabric restriction rules on the American home front.