Propaganda Prints

Few fabrics tie as directly to the events of their own decade as propaganda prints. During the war, textile printers on both sides of the Atlantic produced scarves, dress fabrics, and handkerchiefs covered in patriotic motifs - flags, military insignia, Allied leaders, maps, V-for-Victory signs, and slogans borrowed straight from the posters on the walls. The idea was simple: keep up morale and remind people what they were supporting, in a form they'd wear every day.

The most celebrated examples are the silk scarves made by Jacqmar, a London fabric house, whose wartime designs were printed with phrases, symbols, and scenes from the war effort - some cheerful, some pointed, and many of them now serious collector's items. What makes the scarf such a clever format for propaganda is that it sits outside most of the ordinary rules of wartime clothing. A square of printed silk or rayon uses very little fabric and cost few coupons, so it was one of the only ways to add a bit of colour and novelty to a wardrobe that otherwise had to last for years. You could knot it at the neck, or wear it as a turban or headscarf, and your patriotism was on display either way.

Dress fabrics followed the same logic with smaller motifs: tiny aeroplanes, anchors, and V signs scattered across cotton or rayon, and red, white, and blue colour schemes everywhere. I find these prints a slightly strange thing to look at from today - they're charming and bright and full of design wit, but they're also government messaging, worn on the body. I think that tension is exactly what makes them worth studying. They show how completely the war reached into everyday life, right down to the scarf in your handbag.