On February 12, 1947, French designer Christian Dior presented his first collection in Paris. The silhouettes of the dresses were unlike anything seen before—tiny waists, large busts, and volumes of fabric in the ankle-length skirts. It was dubbed the “New Look” by Carmel Snow, Editor-in-Chief of Harper’s Bazaar. Although Hollywood had spent the prior two decades battling the dominance of Parisian designers, studios found themselves once again producing films with fashions that looked out-of-date by the time they were released. Costume designers raced to incorporate post-War European influences into their designs.
As Hollywood watched its box-office receipts shrink in the early ’50s while families stayed home to watch television, it tried to give moviegoers what they could not get at home. New theatrical processes were invented, such as Cinerama, which used three synchronized projectors to create an illusion of depth in widescreen. Hollywood also attempted to lure patrons away from their televisions by ramping up the sexual heat in movies. When Joseph Breen retired from the Production Code Administration in 1954, censors began to wield less power. Further, studio personnel who had been released from their contracts in budget-saving moves found more personal expression out from under the thumbs of studio executives. Directors like Otto Preminger, not wanting to be restrained in the way they approached adult subject matter, released their films without the Production Code’s approval. By the 1960s, the public once again clamored for effective regulation. On November 1, 1968, the Motion Picture Association of America film rating system took effect.
Meanwhile in fashion of the 1960s, Paris lost its stronghold to swinging London. For the first time, various skirt lengths all came into style at the same time. Pages of fashion magazines were filled with the battle between the mini, the midi, and the maxi skirt. A “new” modern era had emerged.