New Look

An ultra-feminine style of clothing that accents the silhouette: a wasp waist, modeled bust, high chest, round hips, wide and fluid skirts that hang to 20-30 centimeters above the ground. Already before World War II it had attracted the interest of great creators such as Balenciaga, Fath, and Balmain. But the term was invented by Carmel Snow, American editor of Harper’s Bazaar, to describe the first, revolutionary collection by Christian Dior on February 12, 1947. Indeed, the figure of Dior’s woman could not have been more innovative, as it did away with the square shoulders, orthopedic heels, and tight skirts of wartime dress. Dior’s reaction to the dark years was a return to the past, both for its sculpted beauty and also for its use of rigid underwear that had previously been abandoned, such as basques, whale-boning and corsets, not to mention the rigid tulle organza linings used to underpin meters and meters of fabric in the long pleated skirts, so that they rustled and moved. The New Look had a great following but also provoked countless polemics. The most active women considered the style to be reactionary, even offensive, almost an invitation to return to nineteenth-century roles. The textile producers were happy, the tailors a little less so, as they had to acquire Dior’s patterns. But the clamor resulted in free publicity and the style continued, until the mid-1950s, when the H line, the antithesis of flowing dress, was followed by the A and Y lines, liberating the waist and hips.