These picture came from www.1940s.co.uk and www.google.co.uk
In 1940 women were called to help support the war effort. This meant fancy clothes were not suitable for the role that women had taken on. Clothes were also part of 'the ration'. This meant that many ordinary items of clothing were difficult to get.
Nylon stockings were virtually impossible to get and so women used to dye their legs with gravy browning and draw a seam with an eyebrow pencil.
The women in the services such as the ATS, Auxiliary Territorial Service, and the WRNS, Women's Royal Navy Service had to wear skirts, sensible flat shoes and a squared flat jacket. This was called utility fashion. The women who dominated the male areas, manning aircrafts driving trains and tractors, wore dungarees instead of skirts. A scarf was tied around the hair to prevent it from getting caught in the machines.
Women's magazines even came up with tips on how to convert their husband's suits into ladies suits to wear themselves.