Silhouette View

A short history of fashion silhouettes

The 1910s to the 2020s, in broad strokes.

Every decade of the last century has a silhouette people can picture in one outline. This is a short walk through them, in broad strokes: the dominant shapes, not every exception. Fashion never changes on the first of January, so treat the decades as rough labels.

The drawings use the same figure as the rest of this site so the shapes can be compared directly; they show the general outline of each period, not specific historical garments.

  1. 1910s: A straighter, higher-waisted line

    In the years before and during the First World War the heavily corseted, curved silhouette of the turn of the century gave way to a straighter, more vertical line with a raised waist. Skirts were long; some styles narrowed sharply toward the ankle. Wartime work pushed clothes toward the practical, and hemlines began to rise from the floor.

  2. 1920s: The dropped waist

    The 1920s are remembered for a loose, tubular dress with the waist dropped to the hips and no emphasis on bust or waist. Hemlines rose through the decade toward the knee, far shorter than in any earlier decade of the century. Pleats, fringes and beading gave movement to an otherwise simple shape.

  3. 1930s: Long and bias-cut

    Waists returned to their natural place and evening hems went back to the floor. Bias cutting, where fabric is cut diagonally across the grain so it drapes and clings, made long, fluid, body-skimming gowns the defining evening look. Shoulders gained a little width toward the end of the decade.

  4. 1940s: Squared shoulders, narrow skirts

    During the Second World War fabric was rationed in many countries, and clothes followed: shorter, narrower skirts around the knee, few frills, and squared, padded shoulders on dresses and suits. The look was practical and structured, with a defined waist.

  5. 1947 to the 1950s: The New Look

    Christian Dior's 1947 collection, quickly nicknamed the New Look, answered wartime restraint with soft rounded shoulders, a tightly nipped waist and a very full, long skirt. The 1950s carried that fit-and-flare line into everyday dresses, alongside its opposite: the narrow, close-fitting pencil or sheath dress.

  6. 1960s: Shift and trapeze

    The waist disappeared again. The trapeze line, launched at the end of the 1950s, and the simple shift dress hung from the shoulders with no waist shaping, and hemlines rose to the mini. The silhouette was young, graphic and easy to move in.

  7. 1970s: Flares, maxis and the wrap

    Trousers became everyday wear for many women, and flared and bell-bottom legs were the shape of the decade. Dresses went long and loose, with empire lines and peasant styles, and the jersey wrap dress, popularized in the mid-1970s by Diane von Furstenberg, became a work staple.

  8. 1980s: Power shoulders

    Shoulders got big. Shoulder pads appeared in jackets, dresses and even knitwear, building an inverted triangle on top of a defined waist and a narrow skirt. Evening wear went for volume elsewhere too, with puffed sleeves and full skirts.

  9. 1990s: Minimalism and the slip dress

    Reacting to the 1980s, the 1990s stripped silhouettes back: long columns, simple sheaths, and the slip dress worn as everyday and evening wear. Straight-leg and relaxed trousers sat alongside lower rises late in the decade.

  10. 2000s: Low rise and bootcut

    Trousers and jeans with a low rise and a bootcut or flared leg defined the early 2000s, usually worn with short, fitted tops. Empire-line tops and dresses and the return of the wrap dress were common in dresses.

  11. 2010s: Skinny and fitted

    Skinny jeans and slim, ankle-length trousers dominated the decade, and close-fitting bodycon and sheath dresses sat alongside skater (fit-and-flare) dresses. Proportions were mostly slim on the bottom.

  12. 2020s: Wide, curved and relaxed

    Legs widened again: wide-leg, straight and curved barrel shapes replaced skinny fits for many people, and relaxed, oversized shapes appeared across categories. Slip dresses and column skirts returned as well.

The pattern behind the decades

Read the drawings in order and a rhythm appears: the waist moves up, down, disappears and comes back; width moves from the hips to the shoulders and down to the hem. Shapes rarely vanish. The trapeze of the 1960s and the slip of the 1930s are both on shop rails today, which is why the vocabulary in the dress silhouette guide is worth learning once.

If you want to try one of these silhouettes on yourself before buying, a virtual try-on is a quick way to see whether a 1950s full skirt or a 1990s column suits you. You can also compare any two shapes on the home page, or see the trouser leg shapes drawn the same way.