Fri, 19 March 2010
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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.
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