New exhibition FASHION ON THE RATION: 1940s Street Style

Despatches£4 Free to Friends of IWM Author Julie Summers writes about the background to her book and IWM ’s exhibition FA SHIO N ON T HE RAT ION 1940s Street S tyle

When I was asked to write an article for The Listener magazine and who kept a on the world stage, as was Despatches , I thought it might be diary throughout the war, wrote of her under occupation. Held in 1941 and interesting to take the title of this book stockings on 27 November 1942: ‘Many of showcasing Britain’s finest couturiers, it and exhibition very literally and talk about them I would have thrown away three was an outstanding success. ‘fashion’ and ‘ration’. Fashion, in this years ago, but today their price is above It is recorded in the History of Civil instance, is represented by the outerwear; rubies’. Industry and Trade by Hargreaves and and ration by the government’s But was fashion really ‘out of fashion’? Gowing that Britain’s fashion exports limitations on all clothing, once Utility was I was not so sure, and it was with a sense of increased well over five-fold during the introduced in 1942, but particularly excitement that I discovered the opposite Second World War, from £98,000 in 1938 underwear. to be true, even if the British public could to £507,000 in 1946, which latter amount As I began working through the fashion not benefit from it in the way that they is equivalent to approximately £20 million magazines of the 1940s, it became might have expected. Given that one’s in 2015. The designers came together at evident that some editors regarded the impression of the government during the the suggestion of Harry Yoxall, the war years as stagnant for clothing design. war is to some extent of a huge managing director of Condé Nast and the ‘Fashion… is now out of fashion’ wrote the bureaucratic machine that had original founder of British Vogue editor of Harper’s Bazaar in the summer of unprecedented control over people’s lives, (established in London in 1916), to form 1942, and the following year the focus for two somewhat surprising things happened the Incorporated Society of London women’s magazines was the mid-way through the conflict. Fashion Designers (IncSoc). IncSoc’s aim government’s ‘Make Do and Mend’ The first was that London’s top designers, was to support and promote British fashion campaign. The emphasis was on patching, which by the end of 1940 included some of abroad and was considered a success by improvising and making clothes last. those who had been working in Paris in the the fashion press, but was nevertheless Coats could be altered to become dresses 1930s, were invited to design a collection unpopular because the clothes were not and pyjama tops to become blazers. for a fashion show in South America. The available to the general public. r e h

p In April 1943, Vogue advised its readers reasons for this were first to bring in much- The introduction of clothes rationing in a r g

o to purchase a grey flannel suit which could needed foreign currency, but secondly to June 1941 was followed in 1942 by Utility t o h

P be dressed with scarves and different showcase British fashion in the absence of and then austerity restrictions on design,

n o i

s blouses to make nine different outfits: ‘of which led the fashion editor of Vogu e to i v i D course, for it’s Utility, if not austerity, all the remark in the November 1944 issue: ‘One o t o

h way now’, the editor rued. It was inventive, Fashion on the Ration has only to see a collection designed for P

n o i but not necessarily stylish. For women by Julie Summers, export, and the same collection toned t a m

r who were tired after four years of war, it published in down to comply with austerity at home, to o Four young f n I

f must have at times been depressing not association with IWM, realise how much fashion value has been

ladies enjoy a o

y r stroll in the t to have been able to refresh their is available from lost in the process.’ s i n sunshine along a i wardrobes as they would have wished. IWM Shops, £ 16.99. Two years earlier, members of IncSoc M

shopping street 7

3 Counting precious clothing coupons Friends receive a were engaged by the Board of Trade to 9

in the West End 2

D of London and mending clothes became a way of life. 10% discount. design clothes for the Utility programme M

W ➜ during 1941. I Muriel Redman, who worked for the BBC’s www.iwmshop.org.uk that was rolled out over that year (and

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➜ e only ended in 1952). In what can only been prohibited since May 1942. This was got used to the idea of Utility clothing, they advertised in Vogue in July 1940, made h middle years who relied on corsets to p a r be described as a highly imaginative done to save an entirely justifiable waste too were generally happy with it. extravagant claims to be ‘so incredibly real g keep their figures in shape. The War Office o t o move, designers (who of cloth. In making this and other clothing While the outerwear available under the in its likeness to the sheerest, most h announced in 1940 that women who had P

n o had escaped from France in 1940), Hardy regulations I was advised by the trade. The Utility scheme was by and large luxurious stockings that only touch can i enrolled in the Auxiliary Territorial Service s i v i D

Amies, , Bianca Mosca economy of materials due to the acceptable, undergarments and stockings reveal the illusion!’ Others opted for (ATS) ‘must be corseted and corseted o t o

and others were each asked to create four prohibition of turn-ups runs into the were a problem. In fact, the silk stocking, home-made solutions such as tea or gravy h correctly’. This applied to women in the P

n

garments to be unveiled in the autumn of millions of square feet per year. Even if the banned from sale to the public in October to stain their legs. o Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), the i t a

1942. saving were less than it is, it would still be 1940, became one of the most missed Not everyone was prepared to be broad- m Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) and the r o f n

These outfits would have to conform to articles of women’s dress during the war. minded about bare legs. The chancellor of I Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS,

our duty to make it. f o

y

the strict limitations set by the Board of The fashion editors were pleased with The rayon stockings which replaced them Leeds University told the trade r known popularly as Wrens) as well. t s i n Trade for the length of skirts, the number the Utility range designed by London’s were never produced in sufficient publication The Drapers’ Recor d in June i Frederick R Burley was asked to design a M

6 of pleats and buttons, the amount of finest couturiers. The Daily Mail cheered: numbers and the lisle Utility stockings 1941: ‘There is a strong feeling that 7 corset that would, as the Picture Post 1

D material for men’s shirts and socks, and ‘Suburban wives and factory girls will soon were hardly a worthy replacement. These women students should not be permitted reported in March 1940, ‘preserve the M W even down to the detail of turn-ups. The be able to wear clothes designed and were loathed with a vengeance. Rose to attend the university without I feminine line, and at the same time be banning of the latter was exceptionally styled by the Queen’s dressmaker.’ The Cottrell, a young woman working in stockings’. A year later, Hugh Dalton was practical under a uniform’. The new unpopular and Hugh Dalton, president of News Chronicl e was equally impressed: London, wrote to her sister in Switzerland in more conciliatory mood. He had ‘Berlei’ design dispensed with metal and the Board of Trade, found himself ‘Before long the society woman who pays in December 1941: received a letter from the Archbishop of was made of elastic, firm lace, net, satin defending trousers without turn-ups both 30 guineas for a frock will share her dress The papers warned us that they would Canterbury, William Temple, complaining and cotton batiste to give directional in parliament and in the press: designer with the factory girl who pays wrinkle round the instep, would not be that there had been a two-thirds control. This was an ideal undergarment Permanent turn-ups on trousers have 30 shillings.’ Once the general public had fashioned and what not else. I saw some of reduction in the amount of material for those young women whose uniforms them on a model in Medhursts and my supplied to the church furnishing houses. An ARP ambulance had skirts.

r word they are awful. If they can’t look nice Dalton agreed to look into the problem if volunteer applies It also had the added benefit of a pocket e h

p her lipstick between a on a stocking model in a shop window, you the archbishop in turn would agree to where loose change for a bus fare or a r

g emergency calls. o t can bet they don’t stand much chance on a announce that women could go to church handkerchief could be kept. Women in o h P ‘without impropriety, hatless and the services were not allowed to carry

n leg. o i s i

v Lisle stockings were the bugbear of stockingless’. handbags, nor were they allowed to wear i D

o

t women all over Britain. They sagged at the This was a major concession, and to get jewellery or accessories to enhance their o h P

ankle and lost their shape at the knee. Flo some idea of how sensitive a question it uniforms. It was not considered safe to n o i t

a Hyatt, another correspondent whose was, a civil servant called Metford Watkins carry loose change in jacket pockets as m r

o letters to her aunt are stored in IWM’s was named in the as ‘The Man they could be easily picked, especially in

f Daily Heral d n I

f

o Documents Section, wrote in September Who Upset Whitehall’ because he advised the blackout, so the pockets were popular

y r

Although certain design t s

i 1943: ‘Utility stockings make you shudder. government departments in the autumn as they were hard to reach without the n details were forbidden as i M They bag everywhere they shouldn’t and of 1941 that they should allow their wearer noticing. they were a waste of 0 2 8

valuable raw materials, 4 the heels have a habit of showing a line women staff to wear slacks ‘so that they The main issue for the manufacturers of 1

D wartime austerity where the lisle joins the rayon of a lighter could economise on stockings’. corsets was that they required a skilled M

fashions were not drab, W I shade which gives a very ugly effect.’ That the government should take such workforce, many of whom had switched as this purple, green and mauve dress (which The influx of American servicemen an interest in what people wore under to war production in areas such as required seven clothing bringing gifts of nylons later in the war next to their skin is extraordinary. But the parachute manufacture. Furthermore, coupons), designed by helped some way in assuaging the thirst fact is that there were civil servants tasked three of the constituent materials for Norman Hartnell, testifies. The model is for silken elegance, but they never met the with specifying weights and corsets –rubber, steel and cotton –were standing on a windy needs of every woman who required measurements to the most precise rendered rare by the exigencies of war. rooftop in Bloomsbury, them. The number of tales of woe degree. William Buller Fagg was a civil The issue of corsets was not resolved until London. Senate House, recorded in diaries, letters and memoirs servant at the Board of Trade with almost the end of the war and was almost the headquarters of the Ministry of Information, is attest to this. It is hard to imagine from responsibility for the distribution of 200 as knotty a problem for women as clearly visible behind her. today’s perspective what an enormous million clothing coupons in 1941. His stockings. impact the lack of stockings had on remarkable archive and personal Underwear was regulated and exact women at almost every level of society. To correspondence, which is now in the care ‘It is hard to imagine from proportions of leg width, gusset and go without, initially at least, was deemed of IWM’s Documents Section, shows the today’s perspective what design were carefully specified, whether shocking in the same way as trousers for human face of the monumental an enormous impact the for French knickers or close-fitting briefs, women were considered eccentric. bureaucracy around clothes rationing and bras or corsets. By 1942, women’s However, the fashion editors soon underwear in particular. lack of stockings had on underwear producers were permitted to realised that the shortages meant that a One of his files deals with the question of women at almost every work on only six templates for knickers creative solution would have to be found. corsets. These were a constant source of level of society. To go every year, and although colour was not Vogue magazine, in an article entitled shame and concern for the Board of Trade. without, initially at least, restricted, economies of scale meant ‘Sock Shock!’ advised women it was Only 9 to 10 million were manufactured was deemed shocking in there was little choice other than peach, acceptable to go bare-legged and wear per year during the war, while by the cream, white or green for briefs and ankle socks with flat shoes. Some women board’s own figures at least 18 million the same way as trousers uniform shades such as khaki, blue or grey bought creams advertised in the women’s women in the country wore corsets. It was for women were for over-knickers made of wool or flannel. press. One, manufactured by Cyclax and not, as one might imagine, just women of considered eccentric.’ These last were hated by the young ➜

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➜ women in the forces, many of whom Below: This R Making your own clothes A

photograph, taken N was usually cheaper and admitted only wearing ‘passion-killers’ for N in 1943, shows a U needed fewer coupons T

kit muster inspections or their annual W

model wearing a E than buying ready-made R medical check. black woollen Utility D garments. This two- N A dress made by piece suit in a fabric Very occasionally a woman was lucky 3 9

Atrima. Purchasing 3 printed with images of 4 1

enough to acquire a piece of celanese or, this dress required I knitting needles and N U even better, real silk. One such young lady 11 clothing wool was made by a M W was Miss Patricia, later Countess, coupons. I skilled home sewer. Mountbatten. While serving as a nineteen- year-old Wren in 1943 she was given (by a boyfriend in the RAF) one of the silk maps Laura Clouting and Amanda Mason , historians at IWM London, issued in case of being shot down over reveal how this extraordinary exhibition was created Europe. She had the map made up into a bra and pants set, with the Gulf of Venezia on the front of the beautifully hand- stitched cami-knickers. As there was no elastic available, both garments had small cream buttons and a tiny 22-inch waist Creativi ty and coping size. Eileen Gurney made bras for her neighbour and decorated her own in the fac e of adversi ty underwear with bits of leftover lace to make them less Utility. Eileen’s letters to 6 her husband John form an important 2 Second World War clothing provides an new First World War Galleries and It was owned by her great aunt, Marjorie 8 4 1

collection in the Department of D extraordinary insight into everyday life rejuvenated atrium spaces. The intent for Gilman, who worked in an aircraft factory.

M

Documents and give a picture of an W and the struggles of a nation throughout ’s exhibition space The factory’s female workers sought out I Fashion on the Ration industrious and inventive woman typical this turbulent time for the British and graphic design was to create an scraps of plastic to turn into accessories. of many of the era. She wrote on the day population. This is the focus of IWM experience that rudders the narrative and With a dash of panache, Marjorie’s that clothes rationing was announced in London’s headline exhibition objects in a bright and energetic approach. husband Jack later replaced the rivet June 1941: for the spring and summer, The curatorial team delved through detailing with glass stones and she wore I’ve got heaps of materials and all sorts of Fashion on the Ration: 1940s IWM’s incredible collections, most the bracelet into the 1960s. old things I can renovate. Although I can’t Street Style . Through the especially our vast store of uniform and The exhibition follows the development be as well dressed as a girl who spends prism of clothing, the civilian clothing. Only a small portion is on of fashion from the war’s beginning lots of money on her clothes, I’m exhibition gives a fresh take on display across our branches at any one through to its end, split into six main areas. second to none when it comes to what life was like for those at time, so this was an excellent opportunity The first of these, Into Uniform , shows how dressing for nothing, and looking work or at home during the war, to surprise our visitors with the richness Britain’s visual landscape immediately well turned out in renovation, or for those in the military or of what we have. The collection changed as people took on roles within wangles and oddments civilian voluntary services. continues to evolve and IWM will display Switch Off That the military, auxiliary and civilian voluntary pinched from your old suits. Fashion on the Ration explores the highlights of a notable donation of Light . A home front- services. New roles meant the issue of This spirit of inventiveness intensely personal of aspects of wartime civilian clothing from the themed Jacqmar uniforms to signify responsibility, from full and determination not to be wartime life: what did people collectors Frederic and Jean Sharf, never scarf, featuring just regalia to simple armbands. some of the many defeated by the limitations of wear and how did it shape their before seen on public display. messages and The style of military dress was of clothes rationing was the clear sense of identity? How was The exhibition makes the most of our instructions aimed interest to the fashion conscious. Of the message that came through all the fashion constrained by war? documents, photographs, oral history at the British public women’s services, the Women’s Royal diaries, letters and memoirs I read for How did men, women and and film archives, together with an array during the Second Naval Service uniform was the most World War. Fashion on the Ration . I came to the children cope with the of library-held fashion magazines as well admired and this no doubt helped conclusion that if fashion on the home demands and deprivations of as our art section’s paintings and posters. recruitment. Petty jealousies erupted, front stagnated during the war, creativity shortages and austerity? It may Audiovisual elements provide a striking with a soldier’s practical but dowdy did not; and creativity is the spirit of come as a surprise to see how visual dimension to the story of wartime uniform comparing unfavourably to the fashion. fashion survived and even flourished clothing. RAF uniform with its dash of style. Airmen I enjoyed researching and writing this in wartime, as British people Fashion on the Ration also draws upon were dismissively known as the book. I had very generous help from IWM demonstrated remarkable ingenuity in several loan items from institutions like ‘Brylcreem boys’, thanks to their lavish and also from the donors of important renovating, recycling and creating their the V&A, with its prestigious collection of use of the hair product. collections to the archives. Without own clothes. Creativity and coping in textiles, to private lenders with deeply For those not in uniform, the war still these vitally important diaries, adversity are integral to Fashion on the personal stories revealed through changed how they dressed at work and at letters and documents, the Ration ’s narrative. clothing or accessories. Our Director- home. Functional Fashion reveals that 5 7 9 social history of the Second Work began behind the scenes in late General Diane Lees has also passed on a practicality was essential for wartime H P E

World War would be very 2013 and continued at pace throughout family treasure in the form of a bracelet clothing, but also how it was still possible M W much the poorer. 2014 as IWM London reopened with our made in the spirit of ‘Make Do and Mend’. I to retain an air of elegance. A range of ➜

18 ■ Despatches Summer 2 015 Summer 20 15 Despatches ■ 19 0 D 9

R A woman models 7 A 4 N

a Utility outfit in 1 N D

U this publicity T M

W W I

E photograph. R D N A 5 5 7 2 1

I N U

M W I

➜fashionable luminous accessories were could now only buy the equivalent of rubber, with many bemoaning the 1943 quickly produced so that people could be around one new outfit a year. The ban of elastic in all garments except seen and safe in the blackout, which had allocation reduced as the war went on. women’s corsets and knickers. caused a sharp rise in collisions. Handbags Rationing forced people to be painfully In wartime Britain it became with compartments to carry a respirator mathematical in working out how to unfashionable to be seen wearing were produced as a stylish solution to the spend their clothing coupons – and to clothes that were obviously showy. Yet grave threat of gas warfare. find shrewd ways to avoid doing so. there was also real concern that a lack of Deadly aerial bombing raids claimed The ‘Make Do and Mend’ campaign interest in personal appearance could be the lives of 43,000 people during the Blitz encouraged people to make their a sign of low morale. The exhibition area of 1940 and 1941 alone, injuring many existing supplies of clothes last longer. Beauty as Duty explores the decision to more. Late night dashes to cold garden Imaginative use of materials, as well as continue with the manufacture of air raid shelters could be made more recycling and renovating old clothes, cosmetics, though in much-reduced comfortable in an all-in-one garment meant people could save their precious quantities. With a made-up face and a called a ‘siren suit’. At home or in clothing coupons. Old blankets and smart hair style, a woman could still feel industrial workplaces, overalls and unrationed blackout curtains were well-dressed and stylish, even if her housecoats were worn to protect clothes Above: The Women’s transformed into dresses. Suits left clothes were last season’s, her stockings Royal Naval Service that people wanted to keep in good officer’s uniform was a behind by serving soldiers became their darned and accessories home-made. condition. The trend for functional source of envy and wives’ skirts and jackets. People found other ways to show support fashion led to increasing numbers of considered more When people did go to the shops to buy for the war effort through personal style attractive than those women wearing trousers and turbans. of the other services new clothes, from 1942 they were by wearing fabrics and scarves featuring Fashion clearly responded to the war’s like the Auxiliary presented with a range of efficiently patriotic slogans and motifs. Below: Men released Territorial Service, explicit dangers. But clothing, and from military produced, quality- and price-controlled IWM London marks the seventieth which was branded peoples’ entire attitudes towards dress, service were clothing. The exhibition section devoted anniversary of the end of the Second waists and long, full skirts, the style was at ‘hideous’ by the entitled to a new set changed on a sweeping level as the war novelist Barbara to Utility Fashions is dominated by a World War in 1945 with the Fashion on odds with continued austerity and it of coupon-free invaded aspects of everyday life. The Cartland. dramatic open-plinth display of a colourful the Ration exhibition. This significant immediately divided opinion. But clothes as part of exhibition section Rationing and Make Do the demobilisation array of this attire. The aim of the Utility milestone reminds us of a profound eventually the New Look transcended and Men d explores how government process. This is a scheme was to improve the efficiency of moment of transition between living the British high street as civilians, irritated intervention became far-reaching, in typical example of a clothing production, and to make price- under the shadow of war and the and exhausted by austerity, sought order to commandeer resources for the man’s ‘demob suit’. regulated clothing from a range of strictly- promise of peacetime life ahead, which escape from fashion on the ration. D R war effort and to protect the supply of A specified fabrics affordable for all. is explored in the final area, Peace and a The exhibition ends on a note of N N civilian essentials. This included the U There were fears over the inelegant- ‘New Look’? reflection. Experts on fashion and the T

W clothing people wore. E sounding Utility. But leading designers By 1945, British people had grown tired history of dress give their thoughts on R D

Fabric was appropriated for the fighting. N like and Norman Hartnell of rationing and ‘Make Do and Mend’. the legacy of 1940s fashion in a large- A

4

Its many uses included serge for 6 were recruited to design prototype Advertisements promised new styles, but scale audiovisual film. The designer 9 2

I uniforms and ubiquitous cotton for items N ranges. Celebrity endorsement was lent often shops remained bare. Production Wayne Hemingway and the BBC’s Great U

as varied as tarpaulins and tyres. The M by the likes of Deborah Kerr to prove how of clothes and other civilian goods did British Sewing Bee judge Patrick Grant W government wanted to reduce the I stylish and varied these clothes could be. increase, but most of what was made was are just some of the talking heads who production of civilian clothes to Its key selling point, however, was its exported. Clothes rationing – albeit in discuss the legacies, similarities – and safeguard raw materials, and to release durability and robustness at a time when reduced form – continued until 1949. some of the stark differences – between workers and factory space for armaments clothes had to last. The best-dressed were those leaving the fashion then and now. This feature marks or aircraft production. Winston Churchill Arguably, the clean, simple chic of military services. Demobilised men were the end of an exhibition that shows how was initially hostile to the idea of clothes 1940s clothing – the popularity of which issued with a full set of clothes – the wartime clothing can tell us so much rationing, imagining people dressed in endures today – owed its existence to ‘demob suit’. Reactions varied. Although ‘This exhibition shows about what it was like to live through one ‘rags and tatters’, but the scheme scarcity of supplies. Designers had to there was some degree of choice, and how wartime clothing of the most challenging and trying times commenced on 1 June 1941. work within austerity regulations that quality could be very good, many simply can tell us so much about in British history. New clothes now had to be bought with restricted the amount of fabric that could felt that they had swapped one uniform what it was like to live coupons as well as money. Garments and be used in any garment. This limited the for another. Fashion on the Ration: 1940s Street Styl e is footwear were allocated a points value use of pleats, pockets, trimmings and In 1947, the fashion world was shaken through one of the most at IWM London until 31 August 2015, open set by how much material and labour trouser turn-ups. Men particularly by the launch in Paris of Christian ’s challenging and trying daily (except 25, 26 December) 10am to went into their manufacture. Every adult suffered as a result of scarce supplies of ‘New Look’. Epitomised by tiny corseted times in British history.’ 6pm, Lambeth Road, London SE1 6HZ.

20 ■ Despatches Summer 2 015 Summer 20 15 Despatches ■ 21 Left: View of the Below: A British outskirts of Kabul, mentor teaches the capital city of troops of the Afghan

IWM DC 3867 IWM Afghanistan, 2014. National Army (ANA) how to use mortars at Camp Shorabak, Helmand, 2013. IWM DC 2696 IWM

The end of 2014 marks the withdrawal of Afghanistan at this transitional point. From 2006 to 2012, the war increased in British and international combat troops The war in Afghanistan began in 2001, violence. For British troops stationed in Afghanistan: from Afghanistan after thirteen years of following the 11 September attacks on Helmand Province in the south of the war. While this is a significant step, it does the USA carried out by al-Qaeda terrorists. country, many of the places they served – not mean a neat conclusion to the The initial aims were to target al-Qaeda Sangin, Musa Qala, Now Zad, Nad Ali, conflict or the end of British and and remove the extreme Islamist Taliban Lashkar Gah – became bywords for a country international involvement in the country. regime in Afghanistan that harboured intense fighting. For British troops on the Instead it represents a transition, as them. Both of these were achieved in a ground, this often involved patrolling Afghanistan takes more control of its own rapid military campaign by coalition areas threatened by Taliban fighters who affairs. The future of the country is troops, predominantly from the USA and could seemingly melt in and out of their in transition delicately poised, with uncertainty over Britain. However, expanded NATO (North surroundings, as well as encountering the Afghanistan’s continued stability. The Atlantic Treaty Organisation) involvement hidden dangers of improvised explosive latest War Story display – the third in a in the conflict meant a longer-term devices (IEDs). Since the beginning of the IWM Historian Matt Brosnan gives an overview of War series exploring British experiences in commitment to Afghanistan and soon conflict over 450 British service personnel Story: Afghanistan 2014, a new exhibition at IWM London, Afghanistan and the nature of the after the regime was removed, Taliban have died in Afghanistan, the majority with pictures by IWM Photographer Richard Ash. conflict – provides a snapshot of insurgents began to regenerate. killed during this intense period. ➜

2 ■ Despatches Winter 2014 Winter 2014 Despatches ■ 3 Cadets of the Chinese National

IB 2798C 2798C IB Revolutionary Army parade at the Central Military Academy, CECIL Chengtu, Szechuan, China, 1944. BEATON THEATRE OF WAR Sir is best remembered as a portrait and fashion photographer, but during the Second World War he was one of Britain’s hardest working war photographers. Hilary Roberts previews a new exhibition at IWM London which looks at the work he produced as an official photographer for the Ministry of Information.

‘This war, as far as I can see, is something

specifically designed to show up my 12612 A inadequacy in every possible capacity. It’s doubtful if I’d be much good at camouflage – in any case my repeated requests to join have been met with, “You’ll be called if you’re wanted.” What else can I do?’ Cecil Beaton, September 1939

Cecil Beaton (1904-1980) was a British designer, writer, cartoonist, diarist and socialite who loved theatre in all its forms. However, he is best remembered as the leading British portrait and fashion photographer of his day. Beaton’s glamorous, elaborately staged photographs of royalty and twentieth century celebrities reflected his theatrical tastes and were published in magazines, newspapers and books throughout the world. The fact that he was one of Britain’s hardest working war photographers during the Second World War is less well known. As an official photographer for the British Ministry of Information, Beaton travelled far and wide to document the impact of war on people and places in his own unique style. In later life, Beaton came to regard his war photographs as his single most important body of photographic work. The eldest child of a prosperous timber merchant, Cecil Beaton had a comfortable childhood which was firmly rooted in the Edwardian era. Socially and professionally ambitious, his abilities as a photographer, A Maintenance artist, designer and writer were evident Wren models the from an early age. Beaton himself new WRNS official issue boiler suit attributed the origins of his interest in and turban, photography and the theatre to a ➜ Portsmouth, 1942.

4 ■ Despatches Summer 2012 Summer 2012 Despatches ■ 5 The dome of Shahid Mosque IWM CONTEMPORARY photographed against a backdrop of oil fires. The fires were lit by Iraqis in an attempt to M I K E M O O R E confuse Coalition bombers. Baghdad, March 2003. Photo: L E E C R AKER Mike Moore. Perspectives on Iraq 1991 – 2011

Curator Hilary Roberts on a new exhibition at IWM London showcasing the work of photographers Mike Moore and Lee Craker. MIKE MOORE ©MIRRORPIX / THE DAILY MIRROR. DAILY THE / ©MIRRORPIX MOORE MIKE

6 ■ Despatches Winter 2013 Winter 2013 Despatches ■ 7 The Imperial War Museum was founded to In accordance with IWM’s remit, we set over pamphlets and posters, photographs make sure that we never forget what it is out to answer these questions from a and works of art. We watched hours of film. like to live in a world torn apart by conflict. British and Empire perspective. We were Our curatorial teams offered up Over the coming months and years, with also determined to ensure that the home recommendations and stories to the First World War Centenary upon us, front story was woven into the narrative. streamline and guide our thinking. The IWM will be in the spotlight as never before. After all, this was a conflict that was fought final selection which you will see in the Our visitors and the media are keenly by whole societies – not just by soldiers, galleries comprises 1,300 items from our anticipating what form the galleries will but by the men, women and children at collections. They range from military take, what objects we will show and what home who supplied and supported them. hardware, uniforms and equipment to we will say about them. I know that IWM Over many weeks, we considered what intensely personal items. Some objects Friends will be particularly eager to learn form the story should take. The fruits of will be familiar to you, many of them not. what you can expect to find and I would our debates and deliberations were What they have in common is that they all like to take this opportunity to give you an translated into the fourteen main Story have powerful stories to tell, not only of outline of the galleries as well as an insight areas in the new galleries, each of which destruction and loss, but also of into some of the thinking behind them. has a number of Substories. A board of endurance, innovation, courage, duty and We began working on the galleries over distinguished academic advisers, chaired devotion. four years ago, when a small team of IWM by IWM Trustee Professor Sir Hew As we looked at the objects, we also had historians and curators was brought Strachan, helped us to chart our way to think about how and what we would say together to see the project through from through some of the more difficult waters about them. We had to bear in mind that concept to realisation of the galleries. Our as we refined and polished our narrative. these would be the first galleries at IWM to first task was to map out a storyline for When we had agreed upon a framework show events outside living memory, and them, to give the most devastating for the galleries, we began to carry out a to consider what that meant for our conflict in Britain’s history a fresh trawl of the collections and to plot objects audiences. When the Imperial War perspective which has historical integrity large and small into the spaces. As you Museum opened in June 1920, King and is relevant, engaging and illuminating know, IWM’s First World War collections are declared that the new museum for all our visitors. Audience research unrivalled in their breadth and depth and would remember ‘common effort and showed that we needed to answer four the selection process was challenging. We common sacrifice’. For the first visitors to important questions: Why did the war looked at weaponry. We examined the new museum, the war was not history begin? Why did it continue? How did the uniforms and equipment. We read but the recent past. The exhibits needed Allies win? What was the impact of the war? thousands of letters and diaries. We pored little interpretation because those ➜

Save the Wheat and Help the Fleet, Hazell, Watson and Viney Ltd, litho, London, 1917. Commemorating German U-boats threatened to starve Britain of food and supplies. the First World War IWM London’s new First World War Galleries will open to the public on 19 July 2014. James Taylor, IWM’s Head of Research and Information, describes the journey from their inception to completion.

First World War ‘On War Service’ badge issued by the Ministry of

Munitions. IWM INS 7767

8 ■ Despatches Summer 2014 Art. IWM PST4470 Summer 2014 Despatches ■ 9 The aim of 14-18 NOW is to open up discussions about the First World War beyond those individuals who are A lasting already interested in that conflict and the ceremonial aspects which surround it. Perceptions of the war have been shaped to a great extent by the artists of the time, including impact poets, writers, painters, sculptors, photographers and film-makers, many of whom served, and who 14-18 NOW is a major reflected on the war and its effects. cultural programme taking Their work had a profound and lasting impact. So it seemed appropriate to place across the United invite contemporary artists from the Kingdom to mark the UK and around the world to explore the resonance of the First World War centenary of the First World one hundred years later, as culture War. During the summer of and the arts played such an important role in recording and 2014 it launched its first interpreting the extraordinary and series of events. 14-18 devastating events of the war. Working with cultural NOW’s Director, Jenny organisations across England, Wales, Waldman, reflects on the Scotland and Northern Ireland, the aim was to commission special programme so far. projects, selected to encourage people from every community to reflect on how the First World War has shaped today’s world and our attitudes to conflict now. We could not have anticipated such an overwhelmingly positive response or such original and diverse ideas from these artists which revealed both familiar and new stories. Many different forms of expression were represented in the programme, including art, film, performance and poetry. ➜

1 spectraby Ryoji Ikeda, 2014, view from Primrose Hill by Thierry Bal. Produced and presented by Artangel, co-commissioned by 14-18 NOW and the Mayor of London.

10 ■ Despatches Winter 2014 Winter 2014 Despatches ■ 11 Mary Poems from the Front Borden Shakespeare and Byron both had to wait Professor Paul O’Prey though as the war progressed he over a hundred years before they had a on the poetry of the developed a more personal and thoughtful memorial stone in Poets’ Corner, which tone. Wilfred Owen put it a different way, shows just how remarkable it is that Robert First World War. saying that all a poet in his situation could Graves was honoured there while he was do was ‘to tell the truth and to warn’. still alive. In November 1985, a month the poets most likely to be studied by British Poets like Graves, Owen and Sassoon are before Graves died, the then Poet schoolchildren, they look bemused. I think sometimes accused of having an undue Laureate, Ted Hughes, unveiled a some of them assume that I’m going to talk influence on shaping the way we now view memorial stone on which is carved the about patriotic celebrations of great the First World War. It is a commonly-heard names of sixteen poets who served in the heroism; or maybe they have in mind lament that schoolchildren seem more First World War. Graves was among them, something like Tennyson’s ‘Charge of the inclined to listen to the poets rather than along with his friends Siegfried Sassoon, Light Brigade’. When we come to read the historians, who in turn argue that the Edmund Blunden and Wilfred Owen. Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg and others, war is more complex and more subtle than The fact that they’re surprised to find that these poems the one decried by Siegfried Sassoon, with couldn’t wait for the last of them to die have the power to fire their own his mutinous contempt for buffoonish before installing the memorial is an imaginations and demand their full generals. indication of how the poetry of the First attention. Graves would no doubt be surprised to World War has established a unique hold Graves said that he wrote his early war hear that the poems he and his friends on our collective imagination. In the words poems to show the ‘ignorant’ people back wrote in the heat of battle are still of a more recent Poet Laureate, Andrew home in Britain what the war was really like. considered problematic with regard to Motion, the poetry of the First World War Frustrated by what he read in newspapers how ‘official’ Britain considers the war in has become an almost sacred national (‘rosy official accounts of execrable which they fought. But he would also, I Mary Borden, extract from ‘Come to me quickly...’ text. battles’) and irritated by the unthinking think, have some sympathy with Jeremy When I have lectured about war poetry support for the war that he encountered Paxman, an historian of the war who also I am suffocating – abroad in places such as China or parts of when he went back home on leave, he loves its poetry, who recently warned that I cannot get away – Europe, students are intrigued by what they wanted to shine an ‘unofficial light’ on the a diet that consisted only of Owen and They cling to my skirts, my arms tend to see as a uniquely British literary horrors he saw in the trenches. His initial Sassoon would focus too much on a My hands – phenomenon. When I tell them that, after response to the war included a rather narrative of horror and pointless sacrifice They clutch at my strength Shakespeare, the war poets can be among graphic poem describing ‘A Dead Boche’, at the expense of any wider and more balanced interpretation of the conflict. They call my name – They keep calling me. The answer to this is not to stop teaching They cry to me to undo their pain and let them free – I cannot set them free. or reading Sassoon and Owen, but to They throw themselves onto my breast, to die – establish a wider and more balanced view I cannot even let them die – of the poetry written during the war, as well Come to me for one hour, strong, clean – whole – as a greater understanding of the men and

IWM Q101780 IWM Their wounds gape at me – women who wrote it. The attitude to the Their stumps menace me – war expressed in the best poetry written at Their bandaged faces grimace at me the front is wide-ranging, complex and frequently ambiguous. In other words, it Their death rattle curses me – reflects the varied range of experience of a Give me rest – Make me clean – great many of the people who were there. I am stained – I am soiled – COURTESY OF THE ROBERT GRAVES ESTATE GRAVES OF THE ROBERT COURTESY Some of the poets were officers, while I am streaked with their blood – others were privates, nurses, medical I am soaked with the odor of the oozing of their wounds – orderlies and chaplains. They saw the war I am saturated with the poison of their poor festering wounds – from very different angles, though there I am poisoned – I’m infected – I shall never wash it off – are some common themes in the poems But you are clean – they wrote to describe their experiences. There is, for example, no hatred of the Your face is cold and fresh and wet by the rain – enemy; rather a deep bond of compassion Let me drink the fresh moisture of your face with my lips – and humanity with others caught up in the Your garments are electric with the wild blowing wind – war. There is a great yearning for peace, Put your gallant cloak about me – friendship and the consoling beauty of the Siegfried Robert Let me breathe, Let me breathe. Sassoon Graves natural world. ➜ David Jones, for example, served as a Aylmer © Patrick

12 ■ Despatches Summer 2014 Summer 2014 Despatches ■ 13 Art and conflict in a media age

COLLECTION IWM © STEVE MCQUEEN. PRESENTED BY THE ART FUND Curator Sara Bevan gives an insight into a new exhibition at IWM North, showcasing IWM’s contemporary art collection

What do artists contribute to our expectation of immediate access to perceptions of war and conflict in a time events as they unfold, our new exhibition when our general understanding of Catalyst: Contemporary Art and War conflict is increasingly shaped by the takes works from IWM’s unique art

media and the internet? collection and explores the rich, varied IWM © ANNABEL DOVER COLLECTION Working outside the pressures of and moving artistic response to conflict journalism, artists can propose ideas, in a media age. urging the viewer to think deeply about what war is, about its immediate impact, Catalyst: Contemporary Art and War is on its long-term repercussions and how we display until 23 February 2014 at IWM remember it. They invite us to consider our North, The Quays, Trafford Wharf Road, definition of conflict in a time when war no Trafford Park, Manchester M17 1TZ. Open longer has easily-defined geographical daily (except 24, 25, 26 December) 10am limits. Often taking their personal history as to 6pm (1 March to 31 October) and 10am a starting point, many artists navigate this to 5pm (1 November to 28 February) broad-ranging subject matter as observers, activists or philosophers. Opposite page: Above: Right: Photo Op, Queen and Cyanotype [RAF At a time when there is a growing kennardphillipps, Country, Steve Sock], Annabel emphasis on the media spectacle and an 2007. McQueen, 2006. Dover, 2010. COLLECTION IWM © KENNARDPHILLIPPS 14 ■ Despatches Winter 2013 Winter 2013 Despatches ■ 15 Join us today Become a Member and help us record and share people’s experiences of war. Members receive a wealth of great benefits, including free entry to charging exhibitions, a Members’ magazine and more. Member Benefits: ACCESS MORE ● Unlimited free entry to IWM London’s charging exhibitions ● Free entry to IWM Duxford* ● Unlimited free entry to Churchill War Rooms ● Unlimited free entry to HMS Belfast EXPERIENCE MORE ● Despatches , our Members’ magazine, delivered direct to your door ● Exclusive events SAVE MORE ● A 10% discount in IWM’s shops, cafes and online shop ● A 15% discount at the BALTIC Restaurant** ● Exclusive shopping event

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