The production of propaganda textiles featuring slogans and imagery relating to the war allowed civilians to support the war effort in yet another way. Interestingly, these textiles were not produced by governments, but by independent manufacturers. In the United States and Britain, propaganda textiles featured familiar slogans such as “V for Victory” and “Keep it Under Your Hat,” a reminder that casual conversations could inadvertently reveal confidential information. Other designs featured brightly colored patterns of red, white and blue, the colors of the Allied flags. The FIDM Museum propaganda textile dress seen here features a pattern embedded with the slogan “There’ll Always be an England,” after a British patriotic song of 1939.
This collection of textiles was intentionally printed with reversed “mirror-writing,” which can be read properly only when reflected in a mirror… The mirror-writing also had an immediate effect on the wearer; every time she glanced in a mirror, she was confronted with a cheerful, fashionable reminder of her patriotic duty.
WOAH YOU GUYS. WOAH.
