Description
Physical description
Girdle
Girdle made of pink fabric.
Label
With the Nation's resources committed for a prolonged war, industry and food production were stretched and focused on the war effort. Feeding and clothing the civilian population therefore was achieved by strict government control, in the form of rationing. In the first year of hostilities alone, the price of clothing rose by 73%, therefore the Board of Trade debated the possibility of creating clothes that whilst basic were also of a good standard quality. In 1941 designers such as Hardy Amies, Norman Hartnell, Digby Morton & Edward Molyneux were approached by the Board to submit designs for male and female clothing that were suitable for mass-production and at the same time hard-wearing. The first prototypes were unveiled in 1942 and by spring the following year were widely available, all garments bearing the trademark, 'CC41' - short for Civilian Clothing 1941. Known thereafter as Utility clothing, these items may have been economical in terms of style, there being no unnecessary excesses, but they were of good quality and of a fair price and popular.
History note
With the Nation's resources committed for a prolonged war, industry and food production were stretched and focused on the war effort. Feeding and clothing the civilian population therefore was achieved by strict government control, in the form of rationing. In the first year of hostilities alone, the price of clothing rose by 73%, therefore the Board of Trade debated the possibility of creating clothes that whilst basic were also of a good standard quality. In 1941 designers such as Hardy Amies, Norman Hartnell, Digby Morton & Edward Molyneux were approached by the Board to submit designs for male and female clothing that were suitable for mass-production and at the same time hard-wearing. The first prototypes were unveiled in 1942 and by spring the following year were widely available, all garments bearing the trademark, 'CC41' - short for Civilian Clothing 1941. Known thereafter as Utility clothing, these items may have been economical in terms of style, there being no unnecessary excesses, but they were of good quality and of a fair price and popular.