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You are here: Home Life in Lifestyle Wartime chic? Fashion finds from occupied Paris

07/06/2009Wartime chic? Fashion finds from occupied Paris

For the first time, a Paris museum is offering a glimpse at the world's fashion capital during World War II through some 400 accessories: handbags, scarves, shoes and even telltale buttons from those troubled years.

Nazi-occupied Paris conjures up images of food rationing and scarcity in a climate of fear and repression. It was also a time of garish hats and clunky wooden-heeled shoes.

For the first time, a Paris museum is offering a glimpse at the world's fashion capital during World War II through some 400 accessories: handbags, scarves, shoes and even telltale buttons from those troubled years.

The exhibition opening Wednesday tells the story of women struggling to maintain a sense of aesthetics during trying times, said Fabienne Falluel, chief curator at the Galliera museum of fashion in Paris.

"Each of these objects bears witness to history," she said of the collection that the Galliera museum has been acquiring since 1981.

Thriftiness

Thriftiness was the order of the day, with women making use of old fabrics or leftover strips of material that were restyled, such as a Duvelleroy handbag made in 1942 from old cashmere shawls supplied by customers.

After the Reich requisitioned leather and wool, shoe manufacturers turned to wood and cork for soles or easy-to-come-by rabbit fur for winter boots.

AFP PHOTO JACQUES DEMARTHON
"Wartime chic? Fashion finds from occupied Paris"- View taken on 20 May 2009 in Paris shows clothes, pictures and various items presented during an exhibition gathering accessories used in Paris during World War II

Struggling fashion houses made creative use out of all sorts of materials: a brown coat with matching vest made from worn-out upholstery, a hat from wood shavings, dog hair mixed with synthetic fibres to make gloves.

In terms of trends, the minimalist style of the late 30s gave way to extravagance -- big hats, big bags -- partly to compensate for the misery of the times.

"There was this exaggeration that became quite gaudy," said Marie-Laure Gutton, one of the curators at Galliera. "But at the same time there was a quest and a desire to be beautiful, to overcome the constraints of the time."

Turbans -- easy to wear, warm and practical -- became all the rage.

With beauty salons running out of products, the turban was the perfect accessory to cover up an untidy mop of hair, said Gutton.

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