1950's including prices Men's, ladies and childrens fashions

Women's Role: Fashion, Body Image and Consumerism

Because of the end of World War II and the economic boom, men were sent back to work in record numbers. This meant that two of the primary driving forces behind the consumerism of the 1950s were housewives and the baby boom. In nearly all of the department store catalogs used to compile this section on fashion of the 1950's marketing was geared towards women. Descriptions of clothing included subtle cues that certain clothing and fashionable looks would help women either please their husbands or help them find a husband. Even the descriptions of men's clothing indicated that women would most likely be choosing and purchasing the clothing for their husbands. There was also a certain way that women were expected to look.

Fashion started to emphasize conformity in the way people should look. Women were sold on a certain body shape that would best fit the latest fashions and that shape was a thin waist with defined hips and a larger but very defined and shapely bust. Compared to today's standards that feature extremely thin and very tall models, that image might seem more attainable and more natural for most women, but it still placed a lot of pressure on women and girls during the decade to conform to an idealized beauty standard. Corsets, controllers and bustiere tops were standard beauty fare and latex and nylon slimmers were heavily marketed towards women. Bras and bust paddings that helped achieve that defined and almost cone-like shape for busts were also in abundance. The choice and variety of clothing made in "stout" sizes and for older women also started to fade into the background.

Fifties fashion also helped to define a woman's place in society, especially for wives. Five different types of outfits began to emerge for women during the decade, each with a definite and rigid purpose. Women's clothing could for the first time be easily sorted into clothing for housework or lounging around the home, going out to run errands or conduct business, maternity wear, party-appropriate clothing for social gatherings, or, for women of a lower socio-economic station than the emerging middle class, work uniforms. These different styles were meant to impress and please others including husbands, neighbors, friends and employers, with much less emphasis on whether these fashions expressed the individual identity of the women who wore them.