W.A.V.E.S.

Mainbocher

In 1937, Chicago-born couturier Mainbocher designed Wallace Simpson’s iconic wedding dress for her marriage to Prince Edward. Another of his clients was the wife of the undersecretary of the US navy, and when Mainbocker returned to the states in 1942, she requested he design the uniform for the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service or WAVES.
The uniform became a recruiting tool since, for most women, this was their only chance to ever wear couture.
The four-button blue wool jacket has a collar with soft, rounded ends over peaked lapels accented with the WAVES emblem. Included is a black silk tie to knot under the collar, and garrison cap with WAVES pin. The six-panel A-line skirt has two inset pockets.
There’s color loss to the silk tie when it’s laid flat; I’m not sure why it was such a large piece of fabric.