Couture & Culture

Women volunteer fire-watchers wearing protective metal visors and goggles is an emblem of the London blitz. In 1939. gas masks had already been issued to civilians in Britain and France, in case Germany resorted to chemical warfare. It never happened, but women were soon making a point of style out of the requirement to carry gas mask bags at all times. In France, before the occupation, newspaper headlines declared "Women in Paris will not Forsake Fashion in War!" to form, Parisiennes had begun toting leather or satin-covered gas-mask boxes to match their outfits, while milliner Jeanne Lanvin came up with a chic haute couture cylindrical shoulder-strap Bag for her customers.