These old pictures perfectly depict the 1950s attire and attitude of the teenage girls. Fashion at this period was more gender-specific and restrictive than it is now. In all except the most laid-back situations, teenage girls were expected to dress in skirts and dresses.
Americans began referring to young people in their society as “teenagers” in 1944. From the start, it was a marketing word acknowledging teenagers’ spending capability.
The fact that young people had grown to be a market meant that it had become a discrete, different age group with own peer-generated rituals, rights, and demands within a society that considered business in terms of national identity and individual freedom.
Teens started either working part-time or receiving a monthly allowance to spend on non-essential items like clothes since they no longer had to work to aid their parents.
Film, television, and magazines greatly impacted teenagers and induced them to spend their money on non-essential items deemed needs rather than wants.
American teenagers had consumer products that were denied to a war-torn Europe, thus they started a consumer boom.
These young people with paid employment soon had their own clothes, music, cafes, milk bars and by the end of the decade even their own transportation—fueled scooters.
Teenagers soon ruled fashion in clothes, hair, and even trips overseas. When teens started to reflect the image of their peers instead of their elders, a generation gap started to show between parents and teen daughters.
Fashion designers offered stiff petticoats and voluminous skirts, or a super-slim skirt and jumper with bows. After seeing a picture of Marilyn Monroe sporting a pair, tight-fitting pedal pushers or capri pants—which in the 1950s were known as dungarees—were becoming accepted as leisure wear.
Young men well pressed slacks, wearing a shirt and a tie. On the other hand, if you were the rebellious kind, you constantly wore black clothing, avoided ironing anything, and were just overall looked tough on intent.
One 1950s trend for girls was donning a man’s shirt outside her pants. In high school, a soft jumper worn with a collared blouse looked great.
For formal functions, people most certainly put on extra effort. Young women donned elegant gowns similar to their mothers for proms and weddings. For informal school dances, though, wardrobe choices were rather different.
Many young girls liked voluminous skirts, some with 4-inch hemlines. Often composed of wool felt fabric in vivid colors, these skirts included the well-known poodle skirt.
One wore the 1950s circle skirts with tightly fitted blouses tucked in. Usually it was kept together with flat-heeled shoes, a broad belt, and bobby socks or anklets.
(Photo credit: Pinterest / Reddit / Retrowaste, 1950s Teen Fashion: Styles, Trends & Pictures / Britannica / Medium: Teenage Fashion in the 1950s by Sarthak Jain).
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