--- title: Fall Fashion Flashback: Plaids, Calfskin, Platforms Held Sway in 1938 description: LIFE revisits some of the most promising themes and accents of a long-ago season -- 1938 -- when fashion stylishly repeated itself. canonical: https://time.com/3711108/fall-fashion-flashback-plaids-calfskin-and-platforms-held-sway-in-1938/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-02-06T17:28:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:05:37.034Z og:title: Fall Fashion Flashback: Plaids, Calfskin, Platforms Held Sway in 1938 og:description: LIFE revisits some of the most promising themes and accents of a long-ago season -- 1938 -- when fashion stylishly repeated itself. og:url: https://time.com/3711108/fall-fashion-flashback-plaids-calfskin-and-platforms-held-sway-in-1938/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57cdd31bb1fc3bcc/69877f760b72e3dbb56ddb5e/140206-fall-fashion-1938-08.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: 1938 Fall Fashions og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Fall Fashion Flashback: Plaids, Calfskin, Platforms Held Sway in 1938 twitter:description: LIFE revisits some of the most promising themes and accents of a long-ago season -- 1938 -- when fashion stylishly repeated itself. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt57cdd31bb1fc3bcc/69877f760b72e3dbb56ddb5e/140206-fall-fashion-1938-08.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Fall Fashion Flashback: Plaids, Calfskin and Platforms Held Sway in 1938 > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Feb 6, 2014 5:28 PM UTC  Fall fashion, 1938. Fall fashion, 1938. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Feb 6, 2014 5:28 PM UTC When LIFE magazine published a fashion article on the trends that were expected to reign in the autumn of 1938, the editors focused much of their attention on one particular aspect of the coming season’s styles: namely, the indication that straight lines seemed to be giving way to a softer—or, at the very least, a somewhat less rigid—silhouette. “Shoppers will find saleswomen swooning over romantic evening dresses,” LIFE assured its readers. “It seems the western fashion world is emerging from the second tubular cycle . . . into a bell-shaped cycle.” “This July,” the feature continued, “buyers from all over the U.S., on their annual pilgrimage to New York showrooms, were amazed at the number of hoopskirts shown by Kallman & Morris, evening-dress specialists. Here were aristocratic hoops for the masses. Here was fashion repeating itself.” _Hoops for the masses._ Not a bad rallying cry. But in pictures made by LIFE’s [Alfred Eisenstaedt](http://life.time.com/alfred-eisenstaedt/) for that year’s fall round-up, other equally clear trends emerged: plaids, co-ed sweaters, calfskin _everything—_and in his inimitable, warm style, “Eisie” made them feel as vital as anything that the vaunted “bell-shaped cycle” could deliver. Here, in photos that were published in LIFE in September 1938, as well as pictures that never ran in the magazine, we revisit some of the most promising themes and accents of a long-ago season, when fashion again repeated itself—yet still managed to feel utterly new. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at_ [_@LizabethRonk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Fall fashion, 1938. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fall fashion, 1938. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fall fashion, 1938. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fall fashion, 1938. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. The wool plaid and the cut of the sleeve make this $22.50 Star-Maid dress new. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. The sleeve, a modified dolman, has deep armhole forming part of shoulder and waist. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fall fashion, 1938. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fall fashion, 1938. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fall fashion, 1938. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fall fashion, 1938. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Calfskin, used for the collar, cuffs, pocket outlines and as a waistband, is one of the new notes in this coat designed by Clare Potter for Charles W. Nudelman Inc. Also new are the high side pockets. The hat, wrist-length gloves and bag are all made of calfskin. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Fall fashion, 1938. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Suede, silk and wool combined in a sport suit. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Shoes by Palter DeLiso, 1938. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Co-ed sweaters are feminine like one above with bow. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Sleeves on the new dresses are either dolman or wrinkled below the elbow with high roll shoulder. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Plaids are the big news of this fall. . . . Note how the skilled cutting of the back brings the square blocks into points at the waistline, thus achieving a thinning effect. 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