Symbolism in
W.W. II Fashion

“We asked [Elizabeth Hawes] if she could name for us any obvious evidence of the war as shown by clothes.”

“Well, the clothes the leaders wore”, she said thinking, “Roosevelt’s cape was military and that sort of tunic of Stalin’s, and then there was Churchill’s siren suit. That last was most typical of all because he didn’t keep on wearing it. Only as long as things looked tough. While the war was in the balance, he wore the siren suit…But as soon as it began to be pretty certain that the axis was losing… back he went into the old familiar, conservative statesman’s dress of trousers, shirt and coat.”

The article was written by Al Hine, who would in later years make a splash in Hollywood and the publishing fields.

More about W.W. II fashions can be read here.

Click here to read about fabric rationing during W.W. II.

Click here to read about the woman who dictated many of the fabric restriction rules on the American home front.

From Amazon: Fashion is Spinach by Elizabeth Hawes