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History of  Makeup The Evolution of Beauty Through TimeHistory of Makeup
The 1940s Era

1940s Makeup: The Face on Duty

Never rationed, always short: a decade in which lipstick was defended as good for morale, stockings came out of a bottle, a uniform set the colour of a mouth, and peace brought new skirts and a foundation in a stick.

The essayThe Face on Duty

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A 1940s collage: a small black-and-white studio photograph of a woman with softly rolled hair, defined brows and a dark-lipped mouth, among a worn metal lipstick, one with a white plastic cap and one in a cardboard tube, a bottle of leg makeup with a dark pencil, a stick foundation, an open compact and a torn fashion drawing of a full-skirted suit.
Commissioned illustration
1940 – 1949Morale & Make-Do
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The 1940s Era: The Chronology

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In short

In the 1940s makeup was never rationed in Britain, nor lipstick in the United States, but both were made under wartime shortages — in smaller quantities, in cardboard and plastic — and defended as good for morale; peace brought Dior’s New Look in 1947 and Max Factor’s Pan-Stik foundation on general sale in 1948.

The 1940s Era at a Glance

  • Never RationedMakeup stayed on sale, scarce, and was defended as good for morale.
  • Stockings in a BottleLeg makeup stood in for the nylons the war took.
  • A Regulation RedWomen Marines matched their lipstick to a red cap cord.
  • A Stick FoundationPan-Stik ended the decade the cake had begun.

In the 1940s Era

Morale & Make-Do

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