Welcome to HOW RETRO, which is all about the 20th century - films, fashion, TV, people, popular culture and more.
Like Lot's Wife, we just can't help looking back...
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Ruffles and Pussy Bows
A young Joan Crawford in a magnificently stylish pussy bow, circa 1930s
Ruffles and big, exaggerated floppy bows, as an accent on dresses, were very popular in the 1930s. It was the age of the soft Marcel wave and arched eyebrows and the desired look was feminine but sassy. Fluff and frippery around the neck created an effective contrast to the tailored, slimline dresses favoured by 30s designers.
Perhaps in part, the exaggerated fancy accents were a reaction to the austerity of the Great Depression: a little bit of visual escapism from the bleakness of the times. Fashions in the 1920s had tended toward more boyish styles: shorter skirts, loose, dropped waists, plainer necklines and and geometric bobs. In the 30s, waistlines got more defined, hemlines were longer and hair was wavy and feminine - it was a general softening of the look of the previous decade.
Big floppy bows were commonly worn by men as neckties in the Regency period (though probably not as big as Joan's) but didn't really make a big impact in women's fashion until the Edwardian era. They have appeared and reappeared at various times and in various sizes since - a smaller version was popular in the 1970s and in recent times the pussy bow has re-emerged as a style accent.
John Mills (right) as Pip in Great Expectations and looking swish in a big bow-tied cravat.
Real Men Don't Wear Ruffles..?
Ruffles have probably been around since we stopped draping ourselves in animal skins - well not quite but they've certainly been popular both men's and women's clothing for a very long time and have associations with romanticism, the Scarlet Pimpernel, pirates and the court of Louis XIV. Interestingly, in the 20th century men's fashion got de-dandified and anything too decorative was suddenly considered very 'unmanly'. Apart from the odd bow tie, floppy bows and ruffles were now viewed as strictly women's territory.
Is that Ringo in ruffles?
Always a style leader; Mick Jagger in a 60s ruffled shirt.
Adam Ant - New Romantic
It wasn't until the 1960s and the emergence of the imaginative mod movement, which raked through past eras for inspiration, that men would dare to wear the odd ruffle. By the end of the decade there were not only ruffled shirts but velvet jackets and pendants to go with them.
It opened a window of opportunity for male ruffle fans, the residuals of which which remains today as trimming on formal dinner shirts and wedding outfits. In the early 1980s ruffles made a brief comeback via the new romantic/new wave movement (think Adam Ant) but in men's fashion they've never really returned to mainstream popularity.
