Although America did not officially enter the war until 1942 Franklyn D. Roosevelt, the best War-time and longest serving President of all time, began preparing the American people for war from the outset.

Industries were harnessed to produce necessary supplies and foodstuffs for a Europe that was sinking under Nazi oppression.

In preparing for war, the home economy began to feel the pinch. Leather and materials began to recede from the marketplace as they were allocated to the war-effort. Boots, uniforms, belts and buttons all required raw materials.

But on the up-side, if such a thing can be applied to this period of history, the fashion industry was still hungry for the new and the different.

As the Paris fashion scene disappeared beneath the Nazi jackboot Canadian and American designers took the bit between their teeth and began to run.

Anything that could possibly lighten the mood and the tension that was building across Europe was a bonus. And it was going to take a lot of lightening . . .