examples of black suits in the golden age

[ShoreRoadLady]

I was at the library today, and remembered to pick up the 1930s "Everyday Fashions" book. Most of it was women's clothing, but there were a few suits. Here are the colors (some were with stripes, some without):

1930:

Medium brown glen plaid
Brown
Gray glen plaid
Gray
Dark Oxford gray
Dark Oxford blue
Dark Blue
Blue serge
Light brown

1931 (summer sports outfits):

White
Various tans (light, medium, etc.)
Various grays
Blue
Light Brown
Navy Blue serge

1933 (slacks for college students):

Medium Dark Gray
Medium Brown
Brown
Gray
College Blue (??)
Burgundy Brown
Camel Tan (corduroy)
Royal Blue (corduroy)

1937 (no description, but looks like warm-weather suits):

Medium Dark Brown
Medium Dark Blue
Navy
Very Dark Oxford Gray
Medium Light Gray
Medium Brown
Medium Light Tan
Light Gray

I suspect most of the selections were warm-weather suits, but regardless, I saw no black listed, anywhere. (Pun completely unintentional! :eusa_doh: ) I recommend a look at some primary sources, since the book was obviously highly edited in favor of women's garments.

IIRC, the 1920s book *might* have had more suits.

 

[vitanola]

Black sack suits were quite common, particularly amongst the lower middle class through the 'teens here in the 'states. By the 1920's, black suits may have appeared to be outmoded, and old-fashioned. I note that in the Sears and Montgomery Wards catalogs of the 1920's, the number of balck suits offered dwindled as the decade of the 1920's ran on. By 1928 or so, these catalog companies would generally offer only one or two black suits, generally of economy grade, and in a very conservative cut, perhaps aimed at the same sort of man who still wore shoes, rather than the fashionable, low-cut oxfords. Suits cut for stout men were among the last of the black offerings that I note in catalogs of this period.