Make do and mend: clothes rationing during WW2

Clothes rationing was an all important part of the British war effort and rationing books and the make do & mend campaign dominated the 1940s. Hannah Eichler has caught up with her grandmother Hilda Kaye to get a first-hand account of what life and fashion were like during World War II.

At the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the British Government initiated a strict rationing program which was to affect the lives of everyday people for years after the war had finished. Britain was weakened by the War, imports were reduced, whilst home grown and manufactured commodities were in short supply. All resources were being used for the war effort, and so everything from clothes to food had to be rationed, to ensure that everybody was able to receive equal amounts of raw materials.

Wartime took away the fun and brought Britain back to a heroic sentimentality. The War required such a gargantuan national effort, every English woman was a sensible English rose buckling to, doing her bit. Class barriers fell and even high society had to be seen to dig lettuces. In the black and white pages of Vogue, Lady Diana Cooper was pictured in a headscarf, feeding the pigs.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

Tags: 1940s fashion, Britain world war 2, clothes rationing, eye witness, Make do & mend

Category: 1940s, History, Vintage news