Summer style: Women's movie fashions through the 20th Century

Leggings, neon colours, chunky belts and ra-ra skirts – don’t be fooled. These fashions might be very 2009, but likewise they were very oh so very 1980s. We all know that fashion is cyclical, that Justin Timberlake was onto something when he sang that “what goes around, comes around”, however that does nothing to dilute how strange it can feel to see someone from years past, whether in a photograph or a movie, dressed how you are today. And we’re not talking about those that rifle through vintage stores or deliberately recreate bygone eras; rather that fashion is recyclable (quite literally these days!) and yet it hasn’t always been this way.

All ideas were new once and capturing each and every trend has been the film camera, taking it all in and feasting on our fashions. And so we take a look back at how cinema represented and reflected our clothing crazes throughout the warm sunshine months of summer.

The turn of the century continued the feminine hourglass shape of the late 1800s with everything designed to reflect opulence and grandeur. Women of smart society couldn’t simply dress themselves, requiring an extra pair of hands to smooth away that last inch as they squeezed into corsets, the “health corset”, which created an S-shaped silhouette finding particular popularity. Styles were not hugely affected by seasonal changes, perhaps a lighter colour or fabric, but the commitment to grand ornamentation thrived (think Gillian Anderson in The House of Mirth).

The coming years saw the rise of Parisian haute couture and soon the hourglass silhouette was replaced with clinging long sheath dresses. Fabrics became much lighter and Orientalism was the new craze, both ideally suited to summer dress. See Jane Seymour in time travel romance Somewhere in Time. All paving the way for “the roaring twenties” – the era of the flapper.

Hemlines went up (all the way to the knee!), waists dropped to the hips and a boyish silhouette became desirable. Dresses were often sleeveless (perfect for summer heat) showing off embroidered shawls and when it got too hot for the cloche hats, head-dresses provided the glamour. Stars of the era, such as “It girl” Clara Bow and Louise Brooks shone in their jazz age clothes, while the trends have been evoked in the likes of The Cat’s Meow and Thoroughly Modern Millie.