Cold Rayon & 1940's (plus a novel review!)

1940’s Cold Rayon

While other dress historians despise rayon for its inability to hold onto its color over time, I absolutely adore rayon.  That’s right, and I’ll shout it from the rooftops: I LOVE RAYON!

Now, don’t get me wrong: rayon is not an easy fabric to work with, it behaves very much like the silkiest silk you have ever used, and this makes perfect sense, since it was fabricated to take the place of silk, particularly during WWII.

Rayon was developed in the early 20th century and hit the garment making scene in the 1920’s as the poor cousin of silk. It’s a semi-synthetic fiber made from regenerated cellulose from natural materials such as wood. The process of regenerating these natural materials requires the use of a chemical solution (science is not my forte, but if you’re interested: cuprammonium was used first, followed by alkali and carbon disulfide which is still used along with amine oxide).

What’s so fabulous about rayon is that it feels like silk but is not an animal protein like silk. It’s plant-based and chemically altered. A quick search and some wikipedia results mentioned a study in 2004 that found rayon is actually more biodegradable than cotton (go figure?). 

During WWII silk was not readily available for textiles as it was primarily used during the war effort to fabricate silk parachutes for soldiers. The 1940’s was rayon’s shining moment, women wanted the slippery feel of silk, but the lack of its availability and therefore extremely high cost for what was available made rayon the fabric of choice for many garments. 

Known as cold rayon, for its cool slippery feel, you can still find many dresses, garments and deadstock fabric made from cold rayon. In May 2024, while on a trip to Portland, Maine (I have to be honest, Portland is the mecca in the northeast for anyone interested in sourcing vintage and antique clothing), I purchased one of my favorite dresses that I wear year round: a cold rayon 1940’s dress. Some of the seams needed repairing and reinforcing to this handmade dress, but overall the condition is pretty pristine and it’s in a fabulous cold rayon with a blue and white pattern (a favorite of mine… can’t pass up a good navy and white pattern!).

Loving the drape and feel of this dress, I started researching rayon dresses from the 40’s and have added a few to my collection, but mostly in a rayon crepe.  This differs from cold rayon as it doesn’t have that cool slippery feel, but mimics more of a slightly heavier silk crepe. Most of these dresses are black, such as in the example below. This dress, while sold to me from the 1920’s I actually am dating to the late 1930’s/early 1940’s as it follows that turn of the decade shift from deco-inspired design to the introduction of shoulder pads and a more structured silhouette and a straighter skirt in an effort to conserve fabric choices. I don’t think this dress is homemade, but certainly handmade (remember, all clothing is handmade). There are two metal zippers at the back and on the side. I purchased the dress for $35 because it had some serious rips in the skirt which I repaired as best I could with fusible interfacing at the back to keep the threads from fraying, followed by some quick hand mending. It’s not super noticeable because of the black color, and it makes the dress wearable (and I absolutely wear it!  Just wore it yesterday, in fact!).  It also had some mold stains which a vinegar rinse removed beautifully. 

But back to cold rayon. I was able to purchase some yardage on Etsy of vintage cold rayon in a navy and white polka-dot pattern. I bought about 2 yards and made up this favorite skirt pattern of mine (I’m pretty sure all my skirts are from this pattern) pulled from McCall’s archive.

It’s a good skirt for those interested in 1930’s -1940’s pre-Dior’s New Look (more on that another day, but suffice to say I have never been a fan for a variety of reasons). Overall the material was super slippery and challenging to work with, particularly the hem! And don’t get me started on cutting it out (my least favorite part of any garment making project).  But overall, I love the effect and how it’s a vintage pattern made with vintage deadstock fabric - certainly feels like I’m wearing history!

It was also a coincidence that as I was sewing up this skirt, immersed in 1940’s WWII-era fashion, I was also reading Good Night, Irene by Luis Alberto Urrea, set in WWII England. This fiction novel is based on the actual crew of Red Cross women volunteers known as the Doughnut Dollies. Have you ever heard of them? These women volunteered to drive vans known as clubmobiles TO THE FRONT and served American soldiers in Europe hot coffee and doughnuts during the war. I kid you not, these women made doughnuts and coffee for soldiers on the front, being sent all over Europe to give American soldiers a taste of home and boost their morale.  If you’re curious about my review of the novel, read on.  If not, then feel free to stop here!

Good Night, Irene

By Luis Alberto Urrea

In truth, I purchased this novel about a year ago at my favorite little bookshop in New York City: The Corner Bookstore on Madison Avenue. As someone who is interested in women’s history during WWII, I was intrigued by the novel’s premise. I had never heard of the Doughnut Dollies, but was already familiar with the Women’s Land Army, both in England and in the United States during WWII.  These women demonstrated, and during a time of crisis, how women had the same hardworking capability, skillset and determination that men who previously held their jobs had shown. Their courage is unparalleled in my opinion, not just for throwing themselves into new surroundings or into battle to serve coffee (I mean, seriously!), but also because they had the bravery to dismantle gender stereotypes that a woman couldn’t do a man’s job as well as he could. In fact, when reading about the Women’s Land Army (WLA), farmers found that the women sent to work for them in place of hired hands that went to war were often more hardworking and capable. The fact that we don’t learn about the Women’s Land Army or the Doughnut Dollies and American Red Cross volunteers is incredulous.

Anyway, you can imagine my enthusiasm at buying a novel about two women who become doughnut dollies for the American Red Cross. Urrea bases the novel on his mother’s service as a doughnut dolly, using her experience as inspiration for the book. The story unfolds fairly slowly, and I admit it took me some time to get into it as the rhythm felt a bit bland and prolonged. However, as I jumped into the meat of the novel about 1/2 of the way through, I understood why Urrea takes his time with the prose. Our protagonist, Irene, sets the rhythm of the book. The melancholic beginning and sarcastic observations feel purposeful for the reader. Time moves slow at the beginning for Irene as she’s not quite aware yet of what she’s getting into, and what her partner, Dottie, is going to be like. As in life, friendship and its truth take time to build, and this novel honors that bond. It’s about the characters more than the narrative itself. The characters and their various experiences ARE our story and you don’t actually realize that until you’re almost done. I was sort of left with a “oh, THAT was the narrative” at the end of the book - and this realization was really beautiful, distilled into a delicate moment of discovery and recognition. Their emotions, as they change and evolve with the war are appropriately paced as the reader understands the significance of Dottie and Irene’s friendship and their shared experience to the point that their service as red cross volunteers driving to the front, surviving bombs and battle become the defining experiences in their lives. It’s really moving, and I admit that the last two chapters I cried more than once as the novel slowly blossomed into this incredible story about female friendship and bravery. At the beginning, I had no idea the story would be about Dottie and Irene, I was always waiting for a love story to take center front, but no. This novel is about the women. It’s about their service in the war, their bravery, and their PTSD. It’s about the love they held for one another as companions. It is a novel that speaks to the bedrock of how love is defined through the moments we share with each other. Take your time with this novel, it’s long, and you’ll be thrust into bomb explosions, hot doughnut grease and warm cups of coffee for lonely soldiers, but like Irene and Dottie you’ll forge forward to see the beauty in what becomes unearthed.