Uniforms of the WAVES: The Advertised and Hidden Meanings of Mainbocher’s Design

Main Bocher, a Chicago born fashion designer, established his own couturier house in Paris on the eve of the Great Depression. In 1940, Main, known as the singular “Mainbocher,” escaped the raging war in Europe and re-established his couturier house on New York’s 57^th Avenue next to Tiffany & Co. As the war continued, America needed 10, 000 personnel – women - to do administrative work, thus freeing the American men to fight. To support this, Josephine Forrestal, wife of the Undersecretary of the Navy, asked Mainbocher to design the uniforms for the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES), declaring, “...nothing is too good for our girls.” With a strong patriotic commitment, Mainbocher applied his incredible talent designing for exclusive clients –garments produced in singular copies at three and four digit prices – to design a uniform for all body types, produced in the thousands, for only $25 apiece. His approved Service Dress White and Service Dress Blue uniforms were worn by all women in the Naval service from 1942 to 1996 with little change, except for color. I argue that there were obvious and subtle meanings in the color choices and design elements chosen by Mainbocher. Additionally, the necessity of mass production and easy-care lead to multiple redesigns of particular garments while the overall “Mainbocher” look remained untouched for decades.

Analyzing uniform regulations, contemporary newspaper articles, oral histories, and the personal papers of the designer, I was able to weave a story of the importance of aesthetics, social identity, and eventual acceptance of women in the Navy from World War II to present. Using material culture methods, I was able to analyze the female uniform collection at the National Museum of American History to understand the couture design elements, construction techniques, and mass production distribution of thousands of uniforms in a short period of time. The combined research allowed me to answer the following research questions: 1) Why was it important to have Mainbocher as the designer? 2) Were there hidden meanings in the aesthetics? and 3) How did mass production affect Mainbocher’s vision?

I contend that the image and aesthetics of the first women’s Navy uniform were invaluable for public acceptance of the idea of women in the military and recruitment of women. Mainbocher’s design philosophy of creating long lasting, wearable, and pleasing silhouettes allowed for a uniform to be worn for five decades with minimal changes. Any changes were directly linked to the acceptance of women in the Navy. The poster will present a brief background of Mainbocher, methods used to answer the stated research questions, and data collected. The answers to the research questions will be told using photographs and sketches – overall and detail – of Mainbocher’s original designs as found in the National Museum of American History collection. Additionally, copies of citations from letters and awards to Mainbocher from the U.S. Navy, as well as newspaper articles of the time, will be used for an overall presentation of research.