1930s British men's fashion - a few gleanings from a contemporary source

[Anthony Jordan]

For Father's Day, my daughter bought me a modern reprint of the 1932 edition of G.R.M. Devereux's "Etiquette for Men". It was a fascinating read for a number of reasons, but the admittedly brief sartorial section was particularly interesting. Here are a few nuggets of information which caught my attention, and hopefully may be of wider interest:

"Morning dress": now, I thought I knew what morning dress meant - i.e. tailcoat, striped trousers, etc. - but here from the context and parallelism ("...in most theatres ordinary morning dress may be worn ... In important London theatres, however, evening dress is more usual...") it can I think only mean what we might otherwise call day suit/lounge suit, or the "business dress" described below.

Business dress - "coat" and "vest" is used as opposed to "jacket" and "waistcoat" - the former is unsurprising, the latter perhaps more so. The choices given are a black coat and vest with striped trousers or a lounge suit, with the implicit expectation that one will have one suit for business wear (light coloured material is advised against as soon beginning to look shabby "unless... worn in exchange with one or two other suits"; dark suits are more economical as, presumably, stnding up to constant wear better). What is interesting is that as late as 1932 there is acceptance of wearing a wing collar with a lounge suit, and implicit encouragement to wear one ("more "dressy"") with a black coat. Soft collars should not be worn during business hours.

Week-end and holiday wear -grey flannels are still very popular but sports jackets have "lost favour" in favour of an "odd lounge jacket" or blazer (strictly with white flannels only)

More anon if anyone is interested!

 

[Two Types]

Always interested to read such details.

 

[Tomasso]

Thanks for posting this. I'd like to read more as well.

 

[esteban68]

Perhaps this could be a thread aimed at vintage British fashion generally? Good find BTW.

 

[Broccoli]

How much clothing ettiquette are there in the book? Do you recommend it?

 

[Anthony Jordan]

Thanks for your kind comments, all. Some more shortly, I hope.

Broccoli - the coverage of clothing is limited to one six-page chapter plus sporadic mentions elsewhere so I wouldn't recommend it specifically for that, although a good book overall.

 

[Anthony Jordan]

Perhaps this could be a thread aimed at vintage British fashion generally? Good find BTW.

Excellent idea, and thank you!

Further snippet:

Black/white tie:

Interestingly, as late as 1932 it is still stated that with the swallow-tail (tailcoat) not only a black waistcoat but also a black bow tie (!) may be worn in place of the usual white. For a dinner jacket a black bow tie is de rigueur and whilst a white waistcoat is permissible, efforts to popularise this "have not met with much success" and one is advised to stick with black. For dinner jackets soft-pleated, silk or boiled-front shirts are all permissible. Cream silk shirts may not be worn with a white waistcoat. No rule is given for the number of studs to be worn. Lace-up shoes are recommended, pumps not being mentioned. Gloves are mentioned as being rarely worn.

 

[Anthony Jordan]

Final instalment:

Weddings:

Two options are proposed, depending upon the clothes of the bride. Most formally, the outfit comprises morning coat, striped trousers and a silk hat. Interestingly, and this is one of the few sources which I have seen recommend this, the recommended footwear is patent leather shoes with white spats (whihc have clearly not yet undergone their calamitous fall out of fashion.) Alternativvely, and less formally, is proposed an outfit consisting of black [lounge] coat and vest, striped trousers, black leather shoes and bowler hat. In either case a single white flower for a buttonhole, white pocket handkerchief and grey suede gloves (to be carried) are all recommended. It is implied, although not discussed, that a lounge suit may be worn.

Funerals and mourning:

Unsurprisingly, a dark (if not black) suit, boots (shoes are not mentioned), hat and gloves are recommended,, with a black tie and white linen.
A small patch of black material replaces the mourning arm-band, whilst mourning bands for hats are going out of use and black-bordered handkerchiefs are no longer used. Therer is still an expectation that mourning clothes will be used, albeit for a short time, in the case of immediate family bereavements.

And on that cheerful note...

 

[Two Types]

With regard to funerals: I am surprised that it doesn't mention black jacket & waistcoat with striped trousers, i.e. the outfit now commonly worn by undertakers. I would have considered this to be traditional funeral wear.

 

[Anthony Jordan]

By way of context, I recall reading in - I think -Dornford Yates' "Berry and I Look Back" or "As B-B-Berry and I Were Saying"* that around this period gentlemen were accustomed to wear their evening dress trousers with a morning coat to funerals in order to achieve the requisite all black. Remarkable Iknow, but I believe that my memory is correct on the point, and there make even be a thread on AAAC to prove it...

*Both books which, whilst literary curiosities (being a combination of the author's own reminiscences and those of the fictional characters of which he writes) would repay some sartorial quarrying in their own right

 

[Evan Everhart]

By way of context, I recall reading in - I think -Dornford Yates' "Berry and I Look Back" or "As B-B-Berry and I Were Saying"* that around this period gentlemen were accustomed to wear their evening dress trousers with a morning coat to funerals in order to achieve the requisite all black. Remarkable Iknow, but I believe that my memory is correct on the point, and there make even be a thread on AAAC to prove it...

*Both books which, whilst literary curiosities (being a combination of the author's own reminiscences and those of the fictional characters of which he writes) would repay some sartorial quarrying in their own right

I think that the stripes on the trousers (festivity), and the incorrect use of evening wear during the day would not have been condoned or performed by the classes who generally owned Morning Coats and Even Coats. That said, I have a digital collection on somewhere on one of my hard-drives of images taken at, prior to, are after funerals from the Victorian era through to the 1930s, and standard Morning wear with the exclusion of any sort of flashy or colorful detailing or accessories is the standard and norm for Mourning and funerary wear throughout, though, actual members of the immediate family were known to over-dye trousers if in a rush to acquire black trousers, if they were not of means, if the immediate family were of means (and did not already have some funerary wear), they could always contact one of the funeral tailors (a real thing, seriously!), who actually had some RTW clothes even going back to the 19th century for emergency Mourning situations, and could also furnish the immediate family with full suits of clothing in Mourning appropriate fabrics, styles, & etc., on a rush basis, so as to pay due respect to the recently dearly departed. Just sayin'.