Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introducing Picture Post

1. Beauty's Blueprint
2. Fashion Stories from Everyday Life
3. Picture Post shows Life on Less
4. Britain and the First Fashions of War
5. Practical Living with Picture Post
6. Picture Post reports on Wartime Clothing Initiatives
7. Making and Looking After Clothes
8. A Fashion for Fitness
9. Epilogue: Picture Post Reports on Fashion News from France

Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Promotional Information

The first dress history of the pioneering photojournalism in the magazine Picture Post, examining changing representations of women through dress during the Second World War

About the Author

Geraldine Howell is an independent scholar based in the UK. She formerly co-ordinated the dress and art history programmes at the University of Westminster, UK, is the author of Wartime Fashion (2012) and has worked on WW2 dress exhibitions.

Reviews

Women in Wartime is successful in demonstrating the value has as an academic resource. Furthermore, it is relevant to studies of the Second World War, beauty, gender, and material culture. While the themes within this work may not be novel for a seasoned fashion researcher, the source material is fresh, and the extensive use of images makes it a serviceable resource for those interested in visual culture. Most of all, this book leaves the reader curious, with a desire to explore the archive for themselves.
*Journal of Dress History*

Women in Wartime is a fascinating and sometimes surprising survey of fashion during the 1930s and ‘40s. Using Picture Post as a unique window into the period, it reveals the changes that war brought to women’s everyday lives. Howell’s deep understanding and exhaustive knowledge of her source material help her show how the magazine captured the look of this era in all its contradictions and contrasts.
*Amanda Mason, Senior Curator, Imperial War Museums, London, UK*

This wonderful, engaging and lively book discusses the full range of dress history in the Second World War from couture to rationing, from high fashion to living with poverty, from practical clothing to home sewing. With its impeccable scholarship, it is essential reading for fashion and social historians, and for anyone interested in the visual culture of this vital period in British history.
*Sue Malvern, University of Reading, UK*

As a museum curator, it is wonderful to have a book about fashion in real life across all levels of society. The Picture Post is a unique resource and makes this a truly insightful read for anyone studying fashion history.
*Natalie Raw, Curator of Dress and Textiles, Leeds Museums and Galleries, UK*

This fulsomely illustrated book opens up a mine of fresh research into the study of dress and social history. It throws a unique searchlight on the popular Picture Post magazine 1938-57, specifically on its detailed coverage of the daily lives, aspirations, problems, work, beauty and fashion interests of women all ages and classes but especially of the everyday women of this period. Howell sets all of this, significantly, in the context of the progressive and anti-fascist ideals of the journal’s editors, journalists and documentary photographers – fascinating reading indeed.
*Lou Taylor, University of Brighton, UK*