Annual Clothing Plan and Budget 1947 –
Now see the lavishly illustrated concise history of 1940s fashion !!
A typical yearly clothing plan for a 19 year old San Francisco woman in 1947 for 1940’s dress, hats, underwear, shoes, stockings, gloves,handbags etc. The chief fabric is the new Rayon !
It’s an interesting insight not only into the normal clothes a fashionable young woman of moderate means would wear in the post world war two years, but of the actual cost !
Even with the limited budget, a 1940’s woman still managed to be glamorous
1947 Clothing Plan – Hats and Coats
2 Felt hats
1 Straw hat
1 Winter coat
1 Summer coat
1947 Clothing Plan – Dresses
1 Evening Dress – rayon
2 Afternoon dresses – rayon
2 Street dresses – wool
2 street dresses- rayon
2 house dresses – cotton
Paris Evening Dress – 1946 [ not made from Rayon of course ! ] Many women of a sewing disposition would attempt to copy these with patterns,
Typical Street Dresses from 1947
1947 Clothing Plan – Underwear
2 Slips – rayon
2 Girdles
3 Brassieres
3 Panties – rayon
1947 Clothing Plan – Shoes
2 Pairs of Street shoes – Oxfords
1 Pair of Dress shoes
Henry Fonda started out his film career as a shoe fitter to Barbara Stanwyk !
1 Bathrobe – cotton
3 Pyjamas – cotton
3 Pair of Stockings – rayon
1 Pair of Slippers – leather
1 Pair of Galoshes
2 Set of Gloves – leather
1 Handbag
Total purchase cost annually – $ 112.00
Annual maintenance costs
Cleaning and pressing – $ 2.20 total
Heels – 5 replacements at $ 1.35 total
Toe Tips – 5 replacements at $ 1.70
Half soles and heels – 1 replacement $1.37
Clothing budgets is not a term that modern women in the developed west tend to think about these days, but back in the frugal post depression and war years, it was a necessity. These budgets for women were usually published in magazines by budgeting experts and were for anything from one year up to three years.
That’s all !
Original source material – Clothes for Girls -1927 by Elizabeth Todd
©Glamourdaze 2010
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What an amazing post! Thank you! I look on shamefully at my vastly reduced shoe collection which is still far too large, it does make you realise how little you can actually live with, an important lesson in this tough financial times.