Glamour, Incorporating Charm: Two Fashion Magazines for Working Women 1939-1959

Chelsea L Payne
Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice

About this Item

Title
Glamour, Incorporating Charm: Two Fashion Magazines for Working Women 1939-1959
Contributor Names
Payne, Chelsea L (Author)
Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York. Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice (Degree granting institution)
Robertson, Nancy MacDonell (Thesis advisor)
Date
2021
Degree Information
M.A. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York 2021.
Department: Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice.
Advisors: Robertson, Nancy MacDonell.
Abstract
Attitudes about women in the workforce shifted drastically after the Second World War. During the War, women were encouraged to work as a patriotic duty. Afterward, there was a renewed emphasis on home life; however, millions of women continued working to pursue their careers. In the 1940s and 1950s, Glamour and Charm were two American publications that took working women seriously at a time when there was an expectation for women to embrace domesticity. Magazines are shaped by their editors in charge. While both magazines initially struggled to strike the right tone with their readers, eventually with Elizabeth Penrose at the helm of Glamour and Helen Valentine at Charm, the two made strides in addressing some of the issues unique to modern working women while presenting stylish yet affordable clothes. Often using the same photographers, artists, and models as Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, the magazines' editors elevated fashion for the masses and fueled the American fashion industry's increasing postwar success. Glamour and Charm have a unique place in fashion history. With their widespread audiences, democratic pricing, and the progressive topics covered, they are relevant primary sources for understanding how fashion and women's evolving roles were presented to the average American woman. Eventually, through mergers and acquisitions, the two magazines would become Glamour, Incorporating Charm in 1959.
Subject
Women in journalism
Women journalists
Clothing and dress--History--20th century
Clothing trade
Fashion--History--20th century
Rights
In Copyright
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Identifier
FIT Repository ID: etd_000867
pqdiss: 28540914
ISBN: 9798515202408
Related Materials
Also available from ProQuest
Type
Text
Thesis
Language
eng
Publisher
Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Citation

Payne, C. L. (2021). Glamour, Incorporating Charm: Two Fashion Magazines for Working Women 1939-1959 [Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York]. FIT Institutional Repository. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/3921
Payne, Chelsea L. Glamour, Incorporating Charm: Two Fashion Magazines for Working Women 1939-1959. 2021. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, Master's thesis. FIT Digital Repository, https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/3921
Payne, Chelsea L. "Glamour, Incorporating Charm: Two Fashion Magazines for Working Women 1939-1959." Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, 2021. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/3921