Look P (Suit, Blouse, Necktie, & Hat)

Description:

After America’s entry into WWII, women joined the workforce and clothing became more practical and austere. Fabric rationing encouraged higher hemlines and streamlined silhouettes. In 1942 the US Navy began accepting women in a new division called WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). Look P is a WAVES summer dress uniform worn by Adelaide E. Briggs, a WAVES Navy Lieutenant who served in the Port of New York Authority. The slim skirt and tailored jacket with curved lapels was a fashionable design by New York couturier Main Rousseau Bocher, founder of fashion label Mainbocher. The jacket design emphasized shoulders, giving them a broader, stronger look, while “torpedo” and “bullet” bras gave the bust a pointed shape. The WAVES uniform tailored the upper body into a powerful and fashionable silhouette.

Attribution:

Main Rousseau Bocher

Date:

ca. 1942-1946

Collection ID:

CCTC #151, CCTC #2017.40.01and 2017.40.02, CCTC #2005.06.62

Notes:

Gift of Adelaide E. Briggs (CU ’37) , Gift of Gladys Godfrey MacKay, Donor Unknown