The interwar years saw a profound shift in the cultural values of the Western World. Women's fashion was particularly affected, with formality taking a backseat to practicality and comfort. Gabrielle Chanel was among the first designers to not only understand this cultural shift, but to capitalize on it and build an empire in the process.

While Charles Worth and his ilk had monopolized the heavily adorned and radically contorted body cuts, a backlash was brewing. Industrial elite members of the "Grand Denial" sought a more discrete luxury and sober distinction in their fashions. Moralists felt that the modern fashions were shameful and ostentatious, and they sought a return to "worker-friendly" produced clothing that was natural and free from dyes. In addition to radicals, social reformers and feminists, doctors and hygienists also supported the Dress Reform Movement, warning against the hazards of corseting and "artificial" textiles.