People began to embrace a refined dressing since the late of 1940s and 1950s. It was a time when people were more sensitive with fashion—just like how we observe today's men and women fear of looking shabby. From the head to toe—their looks were so smart and in style. However, the choice of headwear is our main agenda.
The second world war (1939—1945) saw simple hat becomes a statement piece. The trend was observed by Christian Dior (1905—1957) who took inspiration to develop his famous clothing line, called "The New Look" which he introduced in 1947.
Dior's sophisticated hats featured embellishments, wide brims silhouette and elaborate veils that instantly added a luxury touch to a woman. While the version of simple hats featured pillbox silhouette, smallish or brimless round hat. Hat were a never miss wardrobe piece—in fact, an average American woman had four hats in her wardrobe in the 1959s—the case isn't measured for luxurious and fashion-forward woman.
Fashion magazines such as Harper's Bazaar and Vogue were the trusted source of information that hunted hairtrends. Hairdressing was in demand job because of significant number of women who checked hairdressers frequently in order to keep themselves in fashion. Hairdressers technically volumized hair using products like hairspray and sticky spray.
The late 1950s saw a huge obsession with two big hairstyles called, Beehives and Bouffants. Hairdressers developed their methods in order to adapt with those two beloved styles including the good use of curling irons and hairsprays.
Likewise in men—hat crafted with materials like felt or straw became a centerpiece in man's closet. The most noticed men's hats were the Homburg hat, the Panama hat and Porkpie hat. To keep the headwear items in demand, the styles of hats changed with time. Changes were reflected details like color or width.
Men's hairstyle was defined by a crew cut—the style derives its inspiration from military. However as time goes on—men favored voluminous long hair with a good application of products like hair gels, hair perfumes or sprays. Other hairstyles for men were jelly rolls or a ducktail.
REFERENCES:
Corson, Richard. Fashions in Hair: The First Five Thousand Years. London, England: Peter Owen, 2001.
Jones, Dylan. Haircults: Fifty Years of Styles and Cuts. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1990.
Schoeffler, O.E., and William Gale. Esquire's Encyclopedia of 20th Century Men's Fashions. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1973.
Steele, Valerie. Fifty Years of Fashion: New Look to Now. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997.