Fashion from the Forties? Follow the footsteps of Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller…

The resurrection of Forties fashions has hit its peak with the Autumn / Winter 2011 collections of designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier and Frida Giannini, Gucci. Gaultier’s inspired grey wigs styled into flamboyant up-do’s and Gucci’s oversized lavender fox-fur coat embody the decade in both its extravagance and its simplicity; an era defined by a bizarre melange of the masculine military with the Hollywood glamour.

 Whilst the elaborate and ornate nature of Gaultier and Gucci’s collections are aesthetically engaging, there are ways of pulling off the look without it feeling like you should be dining in the Ritz as opposed to hitting the Festival circuit or picnicking in the park, and for this we look to costume designer, April Ferry.

Ferry, renowned costume designer, most recently hit the jackpot with Forties fashion in the film The Edge of Love (2008), which won her the BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Costume Design in 2009. Lead actresses, Knightley and Miller, wear staple garments from the Forties with elements of both bohemian chic and wartime glamour that give these outfits a real edge. The feminine cuts of tea dresses and pleated midi skirts are opposed by heavy, flat ankle boots, in a way that emulates the original class of Fashion house Dior in the forties, but makes it immediately accessible to a modern climate.

 The Edge of Love shows Forties fashion in all its diversity. From feminine glamour to wartime grunge, the Forties is an era to look to for elegance and class, edge and practicality, and we can take a leaf from the books of Gaultier, Ferry, and Dior when we dress daywear or eveningwear for Autumn / Winter 2011.