Editing 1940s (section)

===Fashion===
[[File:Katharine Hepburn publicity photograph.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Katharine Hepburn]] {{Circa|1941}}, who popularized [[trousers]] for women]]
Because fashion items and fabrics were [[Rationing|rationed]] due to [[World War II]], fashion became more utilitarian. Women's fashion started including suits, which were feminized with straight knee-length skirts and accessories. There were challenges imposed by shortages in rayon, nylon, wool, leather, rubber, metal (for snaps, buckles, and embellishments), and even the amount of fabric that could be used in any one garment.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goles |first=Kelly |date=2023-01-19 |title=What Not to Wear: Clothing Rationing During World War II {{!}} In Custodia Legis |url=https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2023/01/what-not-to-wear-clothing-rationing-during-world-war-ii/ |access-date=2025-04-06 |website=The Library of Congress}}</ref> After the fall of France in 1940, Hollywood drove fashion in the United States almost entirely, with the exception of a few trends coming from wartorn London in 1944 and 1945, as America's own rationing hit full force. The idea of function seemed to overtake fashion, if only for a few short months until the end of the war. Fabrics shifted dramatically as rationing and wartime shortages controlled import items such as silk and furs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How Clothes Rationing Affected Fashion In The Second World War |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-clothes-rationing-affected-fashion-in-the-second-world-war |access-date=2025-04-06 |website=Imperial War Museums |language=en}}</ref> Floral prints dominated the early 1940s, with the mid-to-late 1940s also seeing what is sometimes referred to as "atomic prints" or geometric patterns and shapes. In response to the war effort, patriotic nautical themes and dark greens and khakis dominating the color palettes, as trousers and wedges slowly replaced the dresses and more traditional heels due to shortages in stockings and gasoline. The most common characteristics of this fashion were the straight skirt, pleats, front fullness, squared shoulders with v-necks or high necks, slim sleeves and the most favorited necklines were sailor, mandarin and scalloped.

<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.womeninwwii.com/fashion/1940sfashion.asp |title=1940's Fashion Trends |access-date=2011-03-01 |archive-date=2011-07-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718075216/http://www.womeninwwii.com/fashion/1940sfashion.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref>
{{See also|1930–1945 in fashion|1945–1960 in fashion}}