Statutory clothing

: The impact of British government intervention on the design, manufacture, acquisition and quality of women’s clothing 1939-1952

Abstract

This thesis investigates the impact of British wartime policies on the quality of women’s clothing from 1939 to 1952. It explores the dual aspects of aesthetic and functional quality of clothing design; the technical quality of clothing manufacture; the quality of fit related to standard sizing; the impact of cloth qualities on clothing manufacture; quality related to durability of clothing and the symbolic quality of clothing relating to social status.
An interdisciplinary methodology combines dress history with political, social and economic history. Evidence is drawn from close examination of extant wartime cloth and clothing, alongside a critical examination of government records, trade publications, oral history and Mass Observation reports to provide a rigorous analysis of the materiality of wartime clothing within a broader cultural context. Tacit knowledge, skills and experience in pattern drafting and garment construction, acquired through a career in costume and dressmaking, expands upon this research by seeking to understand how the official Orders were applied in practice.
This thesis challenges the assumption that civilian women had access to their ‘fair share’ of clothing, in terms of quantity and quality and argues that clothing was not standardised. This thesis goes much further than simply analysing the style, or aesthetic silhouette of the period, it proves that there were indeed material differences in women’s clothing resulting in differentiation of social classes, rather than democratisation. Further, it disproves the myth that yardage was prescribed for all Utility garments and proves that the wartime schemes contributed to an improvement in quality through standard sizing and prescribed methods of manufacture. Notably, it connects interdependent aspects of the clothing industry that are hitherto uncommon in wartime dress history scholarship: design with manufacture, production with consumption, and fibre and fabric with garments to reveal deeper knowledge in this field.

Date of Award	Jul 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Brighton
Supervisor	Charlotte Nicklas (Supervisor) & Harriet Atkinson (Supervisor)