embrace of medieval times whether real or fantasy fiction does capture a certain spirit of this era. >> if using this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention. >> they say a wall is medieval. so is a wheel. a wheel is older than a wall. a wheel works and a wall works. >> that's going to do it for me. thank you for being here. the premier of "american style" starts now. how you live and what your values are, that's what style is. >> style is is how you surround yourself. >> it's each generation finding their identity. >> have you ever broken any rules? >> i'm looking at the '40s and '50s. there's a tremendous amount of change.

>> the bikini was the biggest thing since the atom bomb. it's scandalous. >> hollywood has always been so influential in how women view themselves. >> i mean, katherine hepburn made pants happen. >> going against the grain had become its own unique identity. >> what are you rebelling against? >> '40s and '50st were america finding itself. a voice for american style. ♪

>> in the beginning of the the 1940s, american style was very simple without a lot of adornment. >> coming out of the '30s, consumption was not something you did. we all hear stories after grandparents saying hold on, i'm going to save that tv dinner foil. i'm going to use that again. that's the mentality growing up in a depression. when you don't have stuff, you work with what you have. >> most women learned how to sew at an early age and they would

make their own shirts and dresses and whole wardrobe. >> my mother had a sewing machine. i was constantly telling her what i want wanted and she would constantly tell me it would have to be something else. >> it was a different mentality. an everyday man would own one suit and one hat. >> my grandfather would take my mother to baseball games. he was always in a suit is and tie and often a vest. on the hottest day, my mother who loved to go with him would say why are you wearing a suit. he would say, you know, i'm taking a lie lei day out. i always wear a suit. >> there wasn't a lot of engent knew ty going on in fashion. >> america was still a remarkably provincial country. the leading emphasis in fashion and art was in france. >> americans felt very second

rate when comparing ourselves to europe. we have always seen europe as the leaders. >> americans looked, i think, to europe as aristocratic. we had europe as the icon of style. >> before world war ii, we were a nation of copiers. we have been a nation of copiers. >> december 7th, 1941, a date which will live in enfamy. the people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. >> during world war ii, everyone was involved this that war effort. >> number two, 180 million of

them rolling off the presses. coupons that represent the future purchase of rationed goods. >> the government rationing that happened as a result of the war dramatically impacted style. >> check styles are not being use d it for apparel purposes, t least on civilians. everything is is being channel ed to the war efforts. >> during the war extraneous waste of materials like extra pockets would be forbidden by the new rationing rules. >> men's clothing, which used to be identified by having jackets with lapels and pants with cuffs and pleats, all that access fabric goes away. >> you could not have flaps on a jacket pocket. en pants could not be wider than 19 1/2 inches. >> women were asked to give up their silk stockings to be recycled war purposes.

>>. off with the stockings, girls. they are due for the discard and the war effort needs them. the stockings will be used in pak iing making powder bags for firing heavy guns. >> the scarcity of things pushed people to be more creative like women drawing on the liback of their legs to imitate the seam of their stockings. >> it's a trick with the eyebrow pencil. it's all the same. >> girls would turntable cloths into skirts, for example. >> people were very much behind the war effort. it was something that create d sense of community and pulling together. it made people feel involved because it literally hit them in every aspect of their home and domestic life. >> pre-war women were still predominantly in the household. it was crazy before to have women in the workplace. certainly, not even considered that women would be something

like a welder. but when world war ii hit, all of a sudden, women flooded the workforce. >> but it's really not good to wear a big, puffy skirt when operating heavy machinery. so utilitarian needs required women to suit up and hit the factories. >> the age of rosy the riveter changed how they express eed themselves. >> it was a change in the lifestyle of the woman, and i think that affected what she was exposed to. she had new influences, new environment, new stimulus. as a child, i was fortunate to have young aunts. they went o to work, and they really paint the picture of how life had changed drastically because of the war.

>> it was an emancipation for the woman. they had that strength that women have when things are tough. >> wearing the pants and taking on male roles had a subliminal message that there could be a toughness about women that was never identified before. that changed everything. >> for men certainly in the '40s, it was considered not a manly thing to be even thinking about wardrobe. you just wore clothes. >> but there was a style that start itted for med for men and very different, very colorful style. >> a very extravagant way of dressing that was embraced by minorities.

♪ >> zoot suits were worn by african-american men. >> people who were sort of on the outside edge. >> the suits were long jackets and very full trousers and had various accessories like a watch fab on a long chain, et cetera. it was one of the first youth cultures. >> some might see the zoot suit as flashy, and perhaps it was, but these are the most margin marginalized people in society. even though they were treated as second class citizens, they suddenly had an identity. they suddenly could see themselves in a different light.

>> the '40s were a period when there was tremendous panic, paranoia about youth cultures and particularly when they were minority youth cultures. so there were a lot of racist reactions against zoot suitors. most notoriously in the so-called zoot suit riots in los angeles in 1943. crowds of white men and servicemen were beating up will t latino and black men for wearing zoot suits. >> soldiers who were on leave seeing these guys and saying, you're unpatriotic, they defied the war rationing efforts.

>> the pride of these individuals wearing the suit was offensive to a lot of conservative white males who were not comfortable with men of color asserting themselves in any way, even in the way that they dressed. >> the zoot indicasuit came to lightning rod of fear and racism. it was the symbol of conflict in the united states. uh-oh! guess what day it is?? guess what day it is! huh...anybody? julie! hey... guess what day it is?? ah come on, i know you can hear me. mike mike mike...mike what day is it mike? ha ha! leslie, guess what today is? it's hump day.

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hollywood, city of lights and fantasy. hollywood, glorified, fascinating, mythical kingdom. hollywood, the glamour capital of the world. >> before world war ii, we would head to the paris collections, we would sketch, photograph them and bring back all of those ideas and copy them here. the only place in this nation where anything was happening that was creative and innovative in fashion was holly wod. the school of design launched the first program in fashion in 1906. where did the early gararaduate go? they went to the up and coming and then burr gonening film industry in hollywood. >> hollywood has always been

america's dream factory. and that was especially true, i think, before the rise of other media like television. americans looked to hollywood movies and saw the kind of lives they wanted to live. the cars they wanted to drive, the clothes they wanted to wear. >> film was very escapist. people went to see fred and ginger rogers because they wa wanted to escape the misery they were living in during the war. >> people went to the movies. it was exciting. >> it also sees the emergence of glamorous new idols. >> hollywood was it. these were the gods and god decembers around whom america formed their dreams and ideals. >> back in those days, there were movie magazines, portraits of movie stars one after another. they are the ones that are

projecting style. so you had somebody like rita hey wart, ava gardner. they represented sort of the icon iconic. >> everyone wanted to look line joan crawford. everyone wanted to look like audra hepburn. >> she owned the crisp. white shirt and capri pant and the flat. and your hair back and possibly a little scarf. so many people loved that style because you don't even have to say anything when you walk in the door. you look sophisticated. >> my mom did a film where she wore very short hair. and that hair, she told me, she had heard about women going to the hay dresser saying i want the ingrid haircut. very short hair. >> today when we think about the '40s, we think about big

shoulder pads. >> '40s was the age of the shoulder pads. >> she had hips the same width as her shoulders. she was never going to be a glamorous goddess without a little bit of help. but the costume designer at mgm said rather than try to hide her broad shoulders, let's accentuate them. so he creates the shoulder pads. she comes into a room and it's a powerful entrance. because she's got these big masculine shoulders. it helps establish her image as a powerful woman competing head to head with men and usually wins. >> he's she's a working woman and she is a pioneer. it's a woman who is in charge and it's a woman who is independent. that's what american style is about. >> he creates it for a movie,

this dress. it's got big, puffy taffeta on the shoulders. what it does is create this is illusion that joan has tiny little waist and tiny little hips. this glamorous impression of joan crawford that goes on to become the first hollywood design that is copied and mass produced and sold in department stores across the country. >> so they would have it in the window with a picture of joan crawford, which sold tens of thousands of copies. >> hollywood has had an ifect on the public wanting to live that lifestyle or wanting to emulate the stars. >> the same as joan crawford wears? >> it's styled the same and it definitely reflects the hollywood influence. >> may i have it? >> it's yours. >> i thought the '40s were a gorgeous period of time to watch. they all talked very fast and

had that voice. i don't know what it was, but i like d it. >> have you ever broken any rules? >> shall we make an exception. >> why don't we make up a rule of our own. >> katherine hepburn was a gender outlaw from the time she said being a little girl is a torment and she insisted that everybody call her jimmy. she wore boy's clothes and that was the world view she had when he went to hollywood. she didn't want to start playing the game of hollywood where you put on the prettiest dress. >> katherine hepburn made pants happen. >> it was seen as being tomboyish look often with mannish jackets. so it was a glam ryization. >> she didnlook as though she w trying to be a man and fool all of us. she was katherine hepburn and she's saying, here i am and i'm me, and i love that about her.

>> there was a huge pushback against hepburn wearing pants. columnists would write about how she wasn't living up to the standards of what they expect a woman to act. >> it certainly gave women who had never worn pants and thought this was something i can't do, it gave them confidence about this is okay. i can do it. katherine hepburn does. >> she successfully stood up to what hollywood expected her to be and she won. i don't keep track of regrets. i never count the wrinkles. and i don't add up the years. but what i do count on, is staying happy and healthy. so, i add protein, vitamins and minerals to my diet with boost®. boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals your body needs. all with guaranteed great taste. the upside- i'm just getting started. boost® high protein

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and get to the store by five. on it. yes girls, i'm totally free this thursday. tell kat, to call carla, to confirm katrina is still coming. olly. the world still looks to paris as the source of creative fashion, a position it's maintained for centuries. >> before the war, american fashion wasn't even registering on the map. there were only two magazines that controlled fashion in america for women and it was harpers busineizarre and vogue they didn't care about american fashion. it was very boring for them. but eleanor changed everything. >> eleanor lambert was a trailblazer. she saw an opportunity for american fashion. she was really the first american fashion publicist. >> an incredible public relations power house. >> eleanor was an art student at

chicago art institute. she came to new york and got a job working for a publicist. opera stars were the biggest stars of the day and she was promoting them. her boss noticed she was a good publicist. so he said i will give you a desk and a phone, but you can't represent are opera sungers. you have to find another kind of client client. she said what should i do? she said i love art. she within the up to 57th street and signed up five artists and became a very successful publicist for artists. she was the first publicist for artists. adele simpson, who was a fashion designer, came to her and said, hey, american fashion is really strange because the garment manufacturers don't promote the designers. they don't even know their names. we need to be promoted too. and the french designers get a the lot of attention, but we

don't. it gave her an idea. her idea was contact the publishers from newspapers across america, invite them to new york to write about collections of these designers. the publishers sort of pushing bad and said we don't have fashion writers. he said send your writers writers and just like that eleanor lambert created the first fashion week that took place in new york city during wartime. >> twice a year the dress institute welcomes to new york the visiting editors ask writers of 150 leading newspapers. on parade during press week are the clebss of every noted designer in the wholesale market. >> the first fashion week it was just american designers. >> how she's handling her evening gowns are reported by. ladies of the press. >> the fact that fashion week started in the midst of world war ii is shocking. it shows you the escapism

aspiration of fashion. >> editors from across america didn't have to write about cooking and cleaning anymore. they got to write about fashion. >> of course, it was a slam dunk and changed everything. and eleanor lambert became the most powerful person in fashion. she used that power to raise the visibility of american designers. like lilly dash, hathty, netty rosenstein. >> one of the most exciting prints we have ever seen is designed by claire mckartel. >> her making separates and ready to wear, not couture. >> she want. ed to design for the every woman. outdoors, athletic, function was very important. the dress had to work with a

woman's lifestyle. >> she used common gingham, calico and they were very affordable for women to buy. >> she was champion of denim. a tex style that is associated with all things america and she brings them into the fashion arena. >> fashion was take iing a shif from what are the europeans wearing to the fashion industry is now designing for me. >> it was a startling moment for america. it was a big deal. >> claire led the way for many american designers. ann cline, donna karan, michael kors, they all have this

american style. >> claire stopped going to the european shows and said i'm not going anymore because my creativity has to be original. she never went back to europe. she was making stuff in america for americans. >> you see this independence in america carving out its own unique identity. >> sportswear became the defining style of the united states. our dad was in the hospital. because of smoking. but we still had to have a cigarette. had to. but then, we were like. what are we doing? the nicodermcq patch helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. nicodermcq. you know why, we know how. from capital one.nd i switched to the spark cash card i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. and last year, i earned $36,000 in cash back.

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throughout the world, people hail the end of the war. five years and more since hitler marched into poland. >> reporters rush out to relay the news to an anxious world and is the off secelebrations aroun the country. >> the dawn of peace, new yorkers jam times square. >> all the pent up emotions of three years, and to the victors. peace is wonderful. >> there was a real optimism after the war ended. people were excited about what was to come. >> welcome home. >> women certainly enjoyed the

end of the war. and all that that meant from a fashion standpoint. >> well, cut off my legs and call my shorty. look what's here, girls. nylon. for four years you have been waiting for nylons. four years of painting legs, tattooed legs and mosquito bites. all that and the war is over. see? don't they look like the real thing? the nylons, the legs are the real thing. gentlemen v you seen a lovelier smile? >> when rations were lift ed after the war, there was an inching forward towards normalization. >> now all of a sudden women had options. so if they wanted to dress in the girliest of girly ways, they could do so. >> the bikini in the words of

the great fashion editor deanna breland was the biggest thing since the atom bomb. >> it was named after the bikini where we tested the atom bomb. >> the french fashion designer created this in 1946. and this midriff was never exposed before. it's scanndalous. in fact, he had to find a woman of the night to wear it because regular models wouldn't touch it. they thought it would ruin their career to be seen in this biki i bikini. >> it didn't really catch on for a long time in america because it was too shocking. people were arrested on american beaches for wearing bikini-like two-piece garments. >> at that point we have to remember women never even show ed their ankles. >> it's a huge, huge phenomenon. its influence on customs and

perceptions of what's socially acceptable is profound. >> since the war 10 million families have moved into new homes in the suburbs. after a hard day's work, the man looks forward to a home he can be proud of. >> the transition from '40s to the '50 was the move from post war recovery. >> during the war people worked six-day weeks. then all of a sudden, life changed. they were living in the suburbs for the first time. >> you had vacations for the first time. >> the economy was booming and there was a lot of disposable income. >> let's buy stuff.

>> we start to become a nation of consumers. >> when we start buying televisions and stereo systems and even a car or two, shocker. >> car culture was important, especially in the suburbs. you needed a car now. just even the artistry of the cars, the paint job and the the lines. those cars became really a symbol of america's prosperity and american style. >> once people started buying things, then you have to design things and the whole industry is built around that. it grows very quickly. these exploding catalog businesses, department stores, jcpenney. >> keeping up with the jones became a new defining your identity through the material goods you possess.

>> it's great times and people are buying a lot of stuff to buy a lot of stuff. >> after the war i think is perhaps more confidence and a better understanding and identification of what qualifies as american. >> art, for example, the abstract expressionists revolutionized ideas of modern art. popular music, jazz, the invention of fast food. american architecture, the shopping mall, it was american cultural dominance on a global stage. >> but there's this tension of the 1950s. there's more prosperity and optimism, but there's this sinister undercurrent going on.

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at home and an emphasis upon conformi conformity. >> if i had my way, they would be sent back to russia. >> communist was a label that was thrown around to label anything foreign and strange and threatening. anybody who was dressing different, if you were wearing your dark glasses, somebody was going to be accuse you of being a communist. >> so there was this attempt to make everyone in the society act the same way, talk the same way and dress the same way. >> clothing was paranoid. they had things like, dress carefully, you can't afford not to. people are are watching you. >> when men came back after the war and went back into business, they adopted the gray flannel

suit. it was a new uniform. they had their army uniform or navy uniform and now they had their business uniform. >> the image there is someone who is just dressed for the corporation, the machine and his role as a cog in the machine. >> business attire began to get very specific rules at what you could and couldn't wear. >> guys all wore a very similar style lapel on their suits. they were gray nanl, skinny ties, a hat, hats were huge at that period of time. if your boss was wearing a gray flannel suit and white shirt and red tie, you should probably do the same. >> you didn't want to rock the boat. that meant very limited clars, limited patterns. it was about fitting in. everyone wanted to look the same. >> but if men had a job where the gray flannel suit was part

of their everyday lives, they were grateful. >> the soldier version of masculinity shifted to the suburban father/breadwinner. >> it was seen as a good thing to be part of that great endeavor, which was rebuilding post-war america and the prosperity of those years that followed. >> women were strongly encouraged to go back to the home in the 1950s. some of the women wanted to keep working, but then some of the women did want to go back and just be mothers again. for men, it was like, okay, things are back to normal. your executive husband is back home now. you need to become the housewife. >> to have been included in the workplace for a time and then

being kicked out, this is is a hard thing to digest. >> it was almost un-american for them to think they should keep their job when servicemen were coming home. >> their style of dress was then tailored to what was thought to be appropriate for a housewife. there were books like ann to gerty's wife dressing, how to dress to help your husband succeed. >> whatever we cook inside, whatever we cook outside you always do it. how come? >> it's sort of traditional, i guess. you know, they say a woman's place is in the home. i suppose as long as she's in the home, she might as well be in the kitchen. >> oh. >> you had to wear nice clothes so your children, particularly your daughter, would model on a feminine mom.

you shouldn't vacuum wearing blue jeans because your daughter would get the wrong idea. >> there was much more pressure in society to make sure that the family looked perfect. >> it became a time where that very white bread conservative nuclear family ruled. we see it on television. this was the kind of leave it to beaver family that becomes the image that popular culture is trying to say is is the image we need to aspire to. but in fact, there was a movement in the 1950s who rebelled against that and said, you know, this is not natural. this is not the way people live. this is an artificial construct you're try ing ing to put on us try to live up to when no one can live up to that kind of focus. >> the '50s came to ahead when the kids started to rebel against the structures of their parent's generation.

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won't diminish in popularity, what sustains its popularity? >> sir, rock and roll has been around for many years. i personally don't think it will die completely out because they will have to get something mighty good to make it place -- >> what about taking the wiggle out of it? >> you take the wiggle out of it, it's finished. >> the '50s sees the birth of the teenager as a phenomena. >> during the great depression, if kids could be working, they were working. >> in the '50s, most teens did not have to work. >> they had allowances. there was idle time, time to get in trouble. >> the '50s had a radical side inasmuch as young people started to start their own culture. you had dating, which was a

super phenomenon with less supervision. >> along came, like, rock 'n' roll. >> rock stars like elvis were seen as being terrifybly sexual. >> suddenly, movies and these voluptuous women like marilyn monroe, and sex becomes front and center. >> the role models they had were vastly different than their parents. >> the beats were starting to come up, poets, actors, james dean. >> you have ever been in a drag race? >> are you kidding me? >> there were a lot of different influences inspiring kids to break away from their parents.

>> the embrace of new iconic figures represented that moment when teenagers defined themselves on their own terms and not their parents. >> you see, we just like to live and have a good time. we don't find why the parents should find it so mysterious. >> they were starting to affect and determine style. >> from tough boy denim to black leather jackets, they were looking towards blue collar workers for their inspiration. >> before cowboys wore jeans and people in factories wore jeans. >> teenagers were being inspired by motorcycle culture. >> teenagers were influencing the movies and the movies were reinfluencing a broader culture across america as well. >> when teenagers started to rebell against the rules they started to grow up this, you see

this tension between doing what you are supposed to do and being, you know, brenda. >> on the weekend we go out and have a ball. >> what do you do? do you just ride around or go on some sort of a picnic or something? >> a nipicnic, man, you are too square. i will have to straighten you out. you don't go anyone place, that's corn ball style. you just go. >> and brando came and was rebelling against the 1950s. he was fortunate that he had two roles at the start of his career to allow him to be who he was, so we see him in a "streetcar named desire," and then in "the wild one," and that's where the young woman says to brando, what are you rebelling against? he says, what do you got?

>> brando iconized the t-shirt. >> he starts to wear the white t-shirt in public and the sales skyrocket. >> he made it okay to wear a t-shirt as a top and it was not underwear anywhere. >> it became much more about what their image was when they walked out on the street. >> brando, his clothes seemed effortless. >> i think it's interesting that the three iconic male sex objects of the 1950s, brando, james dean and elvis presley are similar on one level, in that they are all rebels and all defiant of social norms, and they also have a vulnerability,

a real feeling of needing to be taken care of. there's that softness within the gruff exterior. that helped define how we saw masculinity going forward. i think the three characters in the 1950s set the trend that has gone on every since. >> in the '40s, america had an infear or tea complex about their style. >> it was the rise of the american designers. >> individual style started to emerge. >> there was a lot of discovery. "american style" became globally significantly and globally influential.

>> the '40s and '50s are as timeless as you can imagine. even today every red carpet is rooted in that period. >> we had europe as the icon, but we were developing our own thing. >> old rules were breaking down so what was once seen as completely unacceptable now suddenly they are rethinking that. >> the big change is that people stopped hiding what they wanted. >> the '50s came to a head when the kids started to express their independence and sexuality, and there is a tension is what created the '60s. >> by the '60s, there are a lot of people in america who are no longer interested in conforming. >> the '60s turned a switch and

that switch just changed everything. great style is something that is grown from within. >> style is culture. style is expression. >> that is nothing more than a shout of victory. >> stand up and say, no more. >> i don't believe there has been a fashion decade as tumultuous as the 1960s. >> basically, they are great. they really are. >> people celebrated their bodies literally by showing their bodies. skirts went up. >> the birth control pill is effective if taken as dird.