Common Threads: Dress, Identity and Art in the Twentieth Century
March 31-June 15, 2001
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art



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1939-1945

At the end of the thirties the outbreak of World War II led to a more tailored silhouette. Shoulders and sleeves become more prominent, offering a more dramatic, often more military look appropriate to the times. The stronger silhouette also reflected the fact that women were moving to the workplace, replacing men called away to the war.