20th Century European Dress
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of over 1,000 items of twentieth-century European dress dating from 1900 to 2000. This collection encompasses men's wear, women's wear, children's and infants' wear, and accessories, including several items of very high quality. It represents the best of middle-class Scottish clothing, reflecting the importance of the Strathclyde area as a leading textile manufacturing region during the early to mid-1900s and Glasgow’s dominance as a major regional retail centre, with the majority of the leading department stores represented. There are also key examples of international designers from Jeanne Lanvin (1867–1946) to Issey Miyake (1938–2022).
1901 saw the accession of Edward VII (1841–1910) and the Edwardian period, during which time women's fashions led by Paris couturiers favoured femininity with the S-shaped silhouette and lavish decoration for evening wear. World War One (1914–18) and the Suffrage Movement had a radical impact on women's wear, with clothing becoming more practical as increasing numbers of women joined the workforce. The 1920s and 1930s saw further relaxation of dress codes, with more youthful styles, and the daring introduction of trousers for informal day wear. Brand names began to emerge as couturiers, such as Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel (1883–1971) launched perfumes and accessory ranges. Meanwhile, Paris began to complete with Hollywood when setting fashion trends. World War Two (1939–45) led to clothes rationing and the introduction of the Utility Scheme.
Christian Dior (1905–57) and his New Look collection launched in 1947 re-started post-war fashions, with the 1950s bringing back femininity alongside emerging teenage and subcultural styles. This growing youth market led to the introduction of the mini-skirt in the 1960s and the emergence of British designers, such as Mary Quant (1930–2023) in London and Marion Donaldson in Scotland. Fashions in the 1970s diverged with designers in New York, London, Milan and Tokyo vying with Paris, while Hippies to Punks bubbled up from the streets. This diversity of fashions and styles continued to increase through to the 1990s, along with more dominant brand marketing.
Social changes and technology completed overhauled the fashion industry. Key inventions included a growing number of synthetic fibres, from commercial production of viscose and rayon and invention of polyester and nylon during the interwar to modern materials, such as Lycra®, Gore-Tex and Kevlar® in the second half of the century. Fashion production and markets became global, with manufacturing increasingly outsourced from Britain and Europe to Asia, where less regulation meant that labour was cheaper, but exploited. Towards, the end of the century concerns over the impact of the fashion industry on the environment and human rights began to emerge.
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