1927 British Menswear IN COLOR

[Marc Chevalier]

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Below are some color pages from a 1927 Welch, Margetson & Co., Ltd. London department store catalogue (not mine). "Welch, Margetson & Co. offered very fine quality menswear starting in 1832, and they had a flagship store at Moor Lane, London."


Fascinating to see what was being marketed to London men in the late 1920s ...




Shirting fabrics.

Evening shirts. Surprise, surprise: you could wear a wing collar with a pleated bosom shirt. (Thank the Prince of Wales for that.)

Foulard silk necktie fabrics. Nothing staid about these!

Braces (suspenders). Then as now, London men favored a bit of pink.

Men's sweaters. Like the 1970s, only without the acrylic.

Over-the-calf socks. Make today's choices seem dull by comparison.

Pajamas. Note the variety of styles. Whatever happened to them?

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[kuwisdelu]

Very nice. I want those socks.

 

[Brian Sheridan]

Those are some great images! Thanks.

Just found out there is a Marc Chevalier that lives a few blocks over from me - too bad it aint you.

 

[Guttersnipe]

My god, those tie patterns are out of sight!

there's not a single one that's not amazing!

 

[scotrace]

Fantastic! Thank you Marc, for the reminder that the world wasn't gray, just the film it was (often) recorded on.

Today's sock selection in any department store is dull dull dull. I think the world of the early twentieth century, while recorded in shades of plain gray, was quite colorful. Our world is recorded in billions of colors, yet tends to be quite gray by comparison. Maybe Orwell was right.

 

[griffer]

Our world is recorded in billions of colors, yet tends to be quite gray by comparison. Maybe Orwell was right.

Marc, really interesting source material. Bravo.

 

[MisterCairo]

For the rich only or not, those patterns and styles are out of this world. A suit is often regarded as a form of uniform, but as with military uniforms, there are ways of standing out in a crowd!

 

[Feraud]

Only the rich afforded this type of luxury.

The average man down to the poorest were still very brown, grey and black.

Probably not. I wouldn't consider common everyday items like socks, shirts, suspenders, etc. as luxury items.

Just because people are poor is no reason to assume they lived a colorless life.

There are color videos that have been posted from the war years showing everyday people going about their lives. These regular folks wore lots of great colors in their daily lives.

 

[griffer]

Oh, it isn't a big debate. Yes, there was color. Excellent point, but that catalog is not exactly for the equivalent of K-Mart.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

... that catalog is not exactly for the equivalent of K-Mart.

True. It was a high-priced department store in London, a notch below Harrod's.

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[griffer]

For the rich only or not, those patterns and styles are out of this world. A suit is often regarded as a form of uniform, but as with military uniforms, there are ways of standing out in a crowd!

Indeed, excellent resource, and very beautiful, nonetheless.

 

[Creeping Past]

That's a fantastic set of images. Thanks, Marc.

Griffer, your airy assertion that the past was necessarily grim and washed out seems pretty threadbare set against the high colour of those catalogue pages. Yes, it's just your opinion, but it seems to be based on little more than a sense that the world of synthetics is somehow brighter. And it's a fairly standard monochrome judgement of the past as a muted, faded, less colourful version of the present.

Let's let the past speak for itself.

 

[griffer]

Was NOT trying to be a Debbie Downer. Just thought the catalog was exceptional, not the norm.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Don't know about the British working class, but back then my French working class and 'small town bourgeois' great-grandparents wore a lot of black, grey and brown wool. Very little in the way of vivid colors/patterns, except during certain holidays.


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[Creeping Past]

"The reality was somewhere in between the chimney sweep's world, and the chalk painting scenes in Mary Poppins"

Yes.

"I did study this in college. Costume design and history was my major."

I have a masters degree in history, so I outrank you. But I'm not necessarily more right.

 

[H.Johnson]

I have seen many preserved examples Macclesfield foulard ties, boating and sporting blazers, Fair Isle etc. knitwear, golfing stockings and even shooting tweeds that are as colourful as anything in this catalogue.

Sports and leisurewear (as we could call it today) in Britain in the 1920s and 30s was often called 'loud' (meaning strongly patterned and brightly coloured). Normal street wear (awwcit) was usually plainer.

 

[griffer]

I have a masters degree in history, so I outrank you. But I'm not necessarily more right.

Fine.

 

[benstephens]

First of all, thankyou Marc for posting such a nice resource. They have gone into my archive.

As for the debate about colour.

The use of colour in England to show status goes back many centuries. Colour was always a way to distinguish the wealthy, as garments that had to be hand dyed were always very expensive, so, the working close stable was always drab wools etc, where as the richer someone was, the more colourful their clothing. Also, colourful clothing would fade and have to be replaced more frequently as well.

However, along comes the 20th Century and the ability to mass produce cloth with vibrant colours became much easier. Women, certainly of the lower middle and middle classes began to wear colourful shoes and clothing; this can be seen from the large amount of colour footage taken from the interwar periods, as well as period catalogues. the clothing was a lot cheaper than it had been before, and more accessible to people.

Men swear though, the transition was slightly different. men, in general are much more conservative, and tended to buy to last. So, colours that may have been in fashion one season and may have been discarded the next season would certainly not have been on the lower middle class mans clothing budget. He, in general would have had to conform to the work he undertook, with perhaps a few leisure clothes. As you move up the class spectrum, men were expected to have more clothing and dress appropriately for the greater range of leisure activities they undertook. It is well known that even the Americans in the 1920s found it hard to pallet the British golfers look, as it was seen as too garish. There are many photos of men at the beach in dark grey or blue suits and perhaps a pair of white shoes.

For those who could afford the luxury of full wardrobes, the sky was the limit. Shirts were produced in many bright shades, with bright yellows and greens being very popular, and often socks to match.

However, the majority of the people would have not been in this demographic, and would have been quite drab in their dress. More out of necessity than want. Hence, why the majority of suits found are in dark colours, such as Navy blue. Even nice light grey suits are fairly rare, mainly due to them being considered as weekend suits, which were a luxury.

Here is a nice page from the Simpson’s catalogue.

kindest regards

Ben

 

[dhermann1]

Speaking of color

Just an aside, what really sparked the "color boom" was the development of synthetic dyes, derived from coal tar, starting in in the mid 19th century.

 

[thunderw21]

Great stuff, Marc! Thanks a lot.



Here's a post about color from another thread (showing a magazine from 1929).

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showpost.php?p=753867&postcount=37



The post describes the so-called "Era of Color Enthusiasm" that started in 1924 according to one advertisement (a sales gimmick, no doubt, but perhaps there is some truth to it?). The Great Gatsby describes shirts of incredible colors. The 1929 magazine from the other thread also describes amazing colors.

Ex:

"Fancy colors that make the rainbow pale."

"...this years colorings are cream, silver, bottle, biscuit, sunburn and nutria."

"Pearl and Cedar will be the best shades, it is believed."

"Some of these ties are in bright colors."

This sounds like something Gatsby might have worn:
"An attractive ensemble noted in New York City included: Suit of dark brown, with diagonal stripe, rather pronounced, in white, the jacket double breasted with three buttons...demi-bosom shirt in very fine cross stripes, in peach color; tie of black ground with orange polka dots; hat a cocoa brown Homburg; yellow gloves; socks in vertical stripes of orange and black..."

"Just the right weight, in new Algerian tans, Stone greys and Lovat."

The early and mid-20th century was absolutely more colorful than today with deeper colors and more tastefully constructed patterns. The magazine in this thread as well as the 1929 magazine in the other thread show that we're so dull today.