the 30s

The decade of the 1930s saw dramatic changes in men’s fashion.  It began with the great Wall Street Crash of October 24, 1929.  By 1931, eight million people were out of work in the United States.  Less or no work meant little or no money to spend on clothing
.  The garment industry witnessed shrinking budgets, and going-out-of-business sales were prevalent.  The Edwardian tradition of successive clothing changes throughout the day finally died. Tailors responded to the change in consumer circumstances by offering more moderately priced styles.

In the early part of the decade, men’s suits were modified to create the image of a large torso.  Shoulders were squared using wadding or shoulder pads and sleeves were tapered to the wrist.  Peaked lapels framed the v-shaped chest and added additional breadth to the wide shoulders.

This period also was a rise in the popularity of the double-breasted suit, the precursor of the modern business suit.  Masculine elegance demanded jackets with long, broad lapels, two, four, six or even eight buttons, square shoulders and ventless tails.  Generous-cut, long trousers completed the look. These suits appeared in charcoal, steel or speckled gray, slate, navy and midnight blue.
Posh boys guffawing at boating events, overweight scruffy politicians, nightclub bouncers and pinstriped bankers power-dressing in the 1980s: the double-breasted suit was always going to have its work cut out to stage a revival. But there are growing signs that the jacket style is quietly making its way back into fashion.

The double-breasted jacket has an unlikely pair of celebrity ambassadors in Prince Charles and David Beckham. Charles, who has long favoured the look, has recently been parading around Morocco in one. Beckham, undoubtedly the most sartorially scrutinised male celebrity in the world, has also been photographed several times this year wearing double-breasted suits. In February, to attend a fashion week party in London, he sported a well-cut grey pinstripe six-button DB, styled with pocket-square, white shirt and tie. On red carpets in Hollywood, leading men have been early adopters: Jake Gyllenhaal worea black Ferragamo tux for the Oscars while Ryan Gosling opted for a grey Gucci DB suit for a premiere.

Experimenting with a DB a year ago, I felt like a quiz show host who had borrowed Joan Collins's shoulder pads. But it was the catwalk, where the look has slowly been gaining visibility since 2008, that convinced me to try the look again – specifically the autumn/winter 2011 Lanvin show, where sleekly tailored DB jackets were shown with both lean and wide trousers
.

Jeremy Langmead, editor-in-chief of Mr Porter, warns that the DB is not a forgiving look, but the new crop of jackets are much improved from bulky 80s styles. "Fashion designers have made everything slimmer," he says. "The jackets are cut shorter and that makes it feel younger and fresher. It really is all about the cut with a DB." Stacey Smith, menswear buyer atMatches, advises: "The jacket should skim the body, not hug it. And to make sure the silhouette looks modern, the shoulders should be soft and tailored – not too sharp."

High-street design teams are tweaking the fit for a new generation. "To avoid the dad's tuxedo connotation," says John Mooney, head of menswear design at Asos, "we simplified the cut and used a single fastening to keep it modern and a little rock'n'roll."

Gordon Richardson, design director at Topman, thinks the double-breasted blazer could, like the cardigan, be a catwalk curveball that eventually wins over the mainstream. The Topman Design autumn/winter 2011 catwalk show in February opened with a DB suit. At Marks & Spencer, sales of DB suiting are up 30%, while separate DB blazers are up 60% on last year. Tony O'Connor, head of menswear design, is a fan. He attributes the new confidence in dressing up to influences such as Mad Men.

The double-breasted trend is part of a new, gentlemanly mood in menswear, an antidote to the young, slender rock'n'roll look that dominated in recent years. The current Beckham-in-glasses cover of Fantastic Man and Tom Ford's influential menswear point toward a glossy, tailored look. In London, there is a new breed of British labels, such as E Tautz, putting a smart sensibility with Savile Row roots back into menswear.

Langmead says the return of the double-breasted look is part of a bigger revival of preppy classics, such as chinos, blazers and button-down collars. "That Kennedy-era look has been adopted by a whole new generation," he says, "and it looks damn good."

The easiest way to sample the DB, advises Richardson, is to wear a blazer with chinos – 2011's answer to the suit jacket with jeans. Robert Johnston, associate editor at GQ, agrees. "Double-breasted works best as separates. A really slouchy double-breasted linen jacket with chinos can be a really good look. I also like a double-breasted blazer with gold buttons, which you should wear with white trousers – really nautical, really St Tropez." For daytime, O'Connor recommends "a patterned tie with a striped shirt so it looks a lot more decadent – definitely dressed out with a pocket square. You need that fully furnished look to make it work."

The trickiest DB issue is less about styling and more about sitting down. Unlike a single-breasted jacket, there is more fabric flapping around. Richardson says you must persevere and keep it fastened. Johnston concludes that the DB simply looks better in motion. "In fact," he says, "they look best with one hand in the pocket, which is quite Prince Charles-ish."

Dark fabrics were enhanced by herringbone and stippled vertical and diagonal stripes.  In winter, brown cheviot was popular.  In spring, accents of white, red or blue silk fibers were woven into soft wool.  The striped suit became a standard element in a man’s wardrobe at this time.  Single, double, chalk, wide and narrow stripes were all in demand.

Plaids of various kinds became popular around this time as well.  Glen plaid checks, originally known as Glen Urquhart checks from their Scottish origin
, were one of the more stylish plaids.  Glen plaid designs are sometimes referred to as “Prince of Wales” checks.  Initially the design was woven in saxony wool and later was found in tweed, cheviot, plied and worsted cloth. (See glossary for definitions of these terms.)

In 1935, as a result of President Roosevelt’s New Deal, signs of prosperity returned.  The rebounding economy demanded a redesign of the business suit, to signal the successful status of the man who wore it.  This new look was designed by the London tailor, Frederick Scholte and was known as the “London cut”
.  It featured sleeves tapering slightly from shoulder to wrist, high pockets and buttons, wide, pointed lapels flaring from the top rather than the middle buttons and roll, rather than flat lapels.
  Shoulder pads brought the tip of the shoulder in line with the triceps and additional fabric filled out the armhole, creating drape in the shoulder area.  As a result of this last detail, the suit was also known as the “London drape” or “drape cut” suit.

Other versions of the new suit included four instead of six buttons, lapels sloping down to the bottom buttons, and a longer hem
.  This version was known as the Windsor double-breasted (D.B.) and the Kent double-breasted (D.B.), named after the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Kent respectively.  Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Fred Astaire and Cary Grant were a few of the Hollywood stars who lent their endorsement to this style by wearing the suits in their movies.  From there it became popular in mainstream America.The only restriction  in favour of the double breasted suit pertains to the quality of the cut. Indeed, if one item of the masculine vestiary should never suffer approximate cutting, it is the double breasted suit. When not properly fitted, it can quickly lead to visual disaster. Meanwhile, as the interest of ready-to-wear labels for this type of suit seems to be gaining momentum, it is undoubtedly becoming possible (with a good tailor, but except in high-end houses, especially not the shop tailor), to adjust the line and fitting of your suit. According to Boyer, only men with exceptionally wide hips ought to avoid the double-breasted suit.

So, for once, go ahead and bypass the so-called rules barring a little bit of extra-weight to venture with this type of cut, and let your eyes (for the line) and feel (for comfort and stance) do the judging when you don your first double-breasted suit.

This strong return of the DB suit calls for a few pointers that will help you decipher the various ways of wearing it. Here again, contrary to widespread belief, very many models of double breasted suits exist, although all were not created equal. What differentiates them is most often the number of buttons and, most importantly, the number of so-called functioning buttons.

Personally, I have a strong preference for the classic 6 on 2 button stance, with 2 functioning buttons out of 6, as shown below.

The famous “Palm Beach” suit was designed during the 1930s.
  It was styled with a Kent double or single-breasted jacket, and was made from cotton seersucker, silk shantung or linen.  (See glossary for definitions.) Gabardine was also used to make this suit.  It quickly became the American summer suit par excellence and was touted as the Wall Street businessman’s uniform for hot days.

During this time, blazers became popular for summer wear

.  Blazers are descendants of the jackets worn by English university students on cricket, tennis and rowing teams during the late nineteenth century.  The name may derive from the “blazing” colors the original jackets were made in, which distinguished the different sports teams.  The American versions were popular in blue, bottle green, tobacco brown, cream and buff.  Metallic buttons traditionally adorned the center front of the jackets, and they were worn with cotton or linen slacks and shorts

A discussion of men’s fashion during the thirties would be incomplete without recognizing the gangster influence.  Gangsters, while despised as thieves, paradoxically projected an image of “businessman” because of the suits they wore.  However, they didn’t choose typical business colors and styles, but took every detail to the extreme.  Their suits featured  wider stripes, bolder glen plaids, more colorful ties, pronounced shoulders, narrower waists, and wider trouser bottoms.  In France, mobsters actually had their initials embroidered on the breast of their shirts, towards the waist.  They topped their extreme look with felt hats in a wide variety of colors:  almond green, dove, lilac, petrol blue, brown and dark gray.  High-fashion New York designers were mortified by demands to imitate the gangster style, but obliged by creating the “Broadway” suit.

In 1931, “Apparel Arts” was founded as a men’s fashion magazine for the trade. Its purpose was to bring an awareness of men’s fashion to middle-class male consumers by educating sales people in men’s stores, who in turn would make recommendations to the consumers.  It became the fashion bible for middle- class American men.

Over the next three decades, American garment makers rose to a new level of sophistication, successfully competing with the long-established English and French tailors.  However, the eruption of war at the end of the decade brought an abrupt halt to the development of fashion all over the world.

On September 3, 1939, England and France declared war on Germany for invading Poland, and refusing to withdraw troops.  Once again, men’s fashion would change as a result of historic events.

1930 GLOSSARY OF TERMS

 Cheviot:  A British breed of sheep known for its heavy fleece.  Cloth produced from this wool is a heavy twill weave.

Gabardine:  A firm, tightly woven fabric of worsted, cotton, wool or other fiber with a twill weave.

Glen plaid:  Vertical and horizontal stripes intersecting at regular intervals to form a houndstooth check.

Herringbone:  A pattern consisting of adjoining vertical rows of slanting lines suggesting a “V” or an inverted “V”.  Also known as chevron.

Houndstooth check:  A pattern of broken or jagged checks.

Saxony:  A fine three-ply yarn.  Cloth produced from the yarn is a soft-finish compact fabric.

Seersucker:  Originally from India and named after a Persian expression, “shirushakar”, meaning milk and sugar.  It is a rippled or puckered cloth resulting from the vertical alternation of two layers of yarn, one taut and one slack, which also creates the characteristic stripe.

Shantung:  A plain weave silk cloth made from yarns with irregular or uneven texture.

Tweed:  A coarse wool cloth in a variety of weaves and colors originally from Scotland.  (Many tweeds are multi-color and textured.)

Twill weave:  One of three basic weave structures in which the filling threads (woof threads) are woven over and under two or more warp yarns producing a characteristic diagonal pattern.

Worsted:  Firmly twisted yarn or thread spun from combed, stapled wool fibers of the same length.  Cloth produced from this yarn has a hard, smooth surface and no nap (like corduroy or velvet).