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Forums - Modelling / Figures |
The figures forum is for the discussion of construction and painting of figures and the tools and materials used. |
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| Subject: | Re: Fashion in WW2 |  |
| Date: | Jul 22, 2006 |
| From: | Chris Oldfield | |
Hi All,
Try seeing if you can get hold of copies of the following:
Osprey Elite 109 British Home Front 1939-45
Osprey Warrior 102 Hitler Youth 1933-45
Both these contain many illustrations of civilian & adapted clothing, & I believe later this year Osprey will be publishing a title on the Volksturm, which will no doubt contain more civilian photos & paintings.
Another title I've always found useful in this respect is "The World War II Tommy in Colour Photographs" published by Crowood Press, as this contains many photos of actual examples of British civilian clothing from the period plus items of uniform which were tailored by service personnel (quite illegally) to make them conform more to then-current fashion styles. These include putting an insert into the lower legs of battledress trousers to give them a mean-looking flare which wouldn't have been out of place in the 1970's!
Also, bear in mind that the UK was almost bankrupted by WW2 & there were clothing shortages for many years afterwards. Returning ex-service personnel retained items of uniform as workwear, because they were hard-wearing. My own father returned from war service in 1947 (he was part of the Occupation Forces in Germany) & promptly resumed his pre-war trade, he was an apprentice-trained bricklayer (construction worker in US/Canada). He had 2 leather U-Boat suits, which he'd taken from a surrendered U-Boat in Antwerp, & wore these on the building site until they fell apart. When I told him how much these were worth to present-day collectors he nearly cried!
To sum up, I would imagine that civilian fashion across Europe around that period was very similar in many respects, suits & hats being the norm. Another useful source of period photos is the old Purnell weekly magazine "History of the Second World War" published in the 1960s - bound copies of these can still be found second-hand & they are a treasure trove of information for all aspects of WW2, especially the home fronts & economies of many countries. Other media are good too, notably the 1970s documentary "The World at War" by Thames Television, which is available worldwide in both DVD & video formats via the Web.
Anyway, I've waffled on enough. Hope this is of value to some of you.
Cheers, Chris. |
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