The Rules of Matching

[texasgirl]

In my daily wardrobe, I try not to get too matchy-matchy. But when I do reenacting, I try to get as accurate as I can. In the past, I've mainly done black. Easy to match But I've gotten a couple new hats, a red one, as well as a burgundy and a kelly green. So what's a girl to do?

Do you match everything to the hat? I'm thinking there are 4 main accessories: the hat, gloves, handbag, and shoes. Should all 4 match, or can you combine? I mean, I've seen red shoes from the 40s, but it seems like the 30s were mainly black, brown, white/ivory. And I'm talking about regular day wear shoes, not satin evening shoes.

I usually do 30s reenacting, but I have been known to do 20s and 40s too. So I thought this might be helpful for all of us.

I'd like to gather the rules of matching in one place for all of us to reference. Thanks!

 

[SayCici]

I think complimenting colors is better than matching. Matching can get costume-y if you're not careful, or depressing if you're in head-to-toe black.

For example: I can see a kelly green hat looking great with white, purple, cool gray tones, black, or even some shades of blues (like navy). Burgundy is another color that goes great with whites and grays.

Are you asking more of how people would have color-coordinated in the past? Because I highly doubt things were somehow different then from how they are now in that respect - it's all about personal style and taste.

 

[ShoreRoadLady]

SayCiCi's advice is good. You want colors that coordinate with each other. Brown would work with all three hat colors. I would suggest only matching three of the accessories, at the most, but matching gloves + purse + shoes sounds a bit much. Let's say you have brown gloves and brown shoes; you can match the purse to the hat, or go with another neutral shade in the same color family.

 

[Fleur De Guerre]

There was a thread about this not so long ago I think, but I still have the same opinion, I like to match my accessories. Maybe not all the way, as suggested, two or three out of 4 sounds about right to me. eg. I recently wore a black straw vintage hat to an event, but that matched with my dress, which had a black background and large flowers of white, grey, pink, red and green leaves. I wore red shoes but carried a black bag. I also like to wear an emerald green headscarf when I wear my emerald green shoes, but the bag I carry with that outfit has emerald green as only a small part of it, but not solidly as it would indeed appear too costumey otherwise (IMO). I only have winter gloves, so they tend to match my scarf!

I think matching a hat with your shoes is fine, but then I'd match the handbag and gloves to something else in the outfit. Or hat and bag but not shoes and gloves, etc etc.

 

[Fleur De Guerre]

This is the thread I was thinking of:

http://thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=38419&highlight=matchy

I regularly do what Lizzie Maine says in the thread: If I wear a headscarf it must match something else in my outfit, but actually putting one on that matches something else in your outfit is a brilliant way to pull an otherwise unremarkable ensemble together, I find.

I have to admit, I am actually really anal about matching, not only with shoes and scarves and stuff, but my jewellery always coordinates with my outfit, and with itself, I have worked on matching bakelite bangles and earrings, and buying vintage clipons that match my favourite outfits!

 

[texasgirl]

What I'm really after is not so much how we do it now, but how they did it back in the day.

I'm thinking Miss 1929 had posted something in a thread, but I can't find it?

 

[Fleur De Guerre]

Well alright then, I don't think you were being clear enough, otherwise CiCi wouldn't have asked, and we wouldn't have responded the way we did. So thank you for clearing that up, and apologies for talking about myself.

OK, just from the front of the 1930s edition of the Sears clothng books, there are 3 ladies on the front. One lady with red hat, gloves and shoes and a navy handbag. One with green hat and gloves and black shoes and handbag, and one with blue and red hat, red bag and red scarf, and blue shoes and gloves. So all this says to me is that, much like today, and much like CiCi said, it depends on your own personal taste.

 

[Fleur De Guerre]

Here is the pic, although the colours are darker on my copy, the middle shoes definitely look black

 

[texasgirl]

No, that's fine. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. I said reenacting, I shouldn't have assumed. It just seems like to me there would have been more "rules" about matching back then, but maybe I'm wrong. I'll take a look through my catalogs, but most of the pages are b/w.


Also I found the post by Miss 1929

Gloves should match something

If you look at the four main accessories to an outfit, hat, bag, shoes, gloves, then they used to say it looks overdone for all to match, better two and two. So with a black bag and shoes, a different color hat and gloves...
I personally think that rule applies to all colors, not so much to neutrals like black, brown and navy.

 

[texasgirl]

Here is the pic, although the colours are darker on my copy, the middle shoes definitely look black

That's a great picture- thanks!

 

[Miss Sis]

Just to confuse the issue, here's some advice from Miss Modern (Jan, 1936):

"Never wear an outfit until you have collected everything, yes everything, to go with it - hat, shoes, gloves, handbag, scarf and even a special umbrella to match."

This is quoted in a book called 'Keeping Up Apperances' by Catherine Horwood and is one of the best books I have ever read about fashion and why things were worn as they were. It is British, but I think that advice was seen as pretty universal at the time.

HOWEVER, I do think it wasn't adhered to that strictly. It wasn't always practical to have everything to match, then as now. I know the pain of the plum hat that doesn't match anything - sometimes you have to tone them with another neutral base colour and I'm sure women did the same then to get maximum use out of items. I'd say try to match at least two accessories so it doesn't look just plonked on as an afterthought, so gloves and hat, or shoes and belt to match, for example. Best thing is to try on everything and look in a full length mirror to see if all the items work together.

I have pondered this with sewing pattern illustrations as well, as they often show contrasting accessories, but that could just be artistic licence, rather than what women were actually wearing at the time. [huh]

 

[Viola]

Well, and the quote "Never wear an outfit until you have collected everything, yes everything, to go with it - hat, shoes, gloves, handbag, scarf and even a special umbrella to match." could have a lot of leeway as far as match (and is that MATCH colour or just "both some shade of..."?) or coordinate. Does a dark green umbrella go with a light green dress? Etc.

I am currently going mad because I have no cream or gray (not bright silver) shoes. I can't find gray shoes in the stores! Do I have to wait until September? It's messing up a lot of coordination where I COULD use black but would look so much more matching in gray.

I think I would go completely 'round the bend worrying about exactly matching shades of red, especially.

 

[Miss Sis]

Well, as Texas Girl said, she's talking about accessories back then, rather than now, so from a re-enacting or living history point of view, yes, you'd probably have to wait! lol.

I think the quote I made above means matching things within the colour range, so yes, dark green accessories would enhance a light green dress, and say the scarf would have to encorporate one of the shades of either the accessories or the main item.

I have just today got a pair of shoes in the post to match a purse and pair of gloves I have had for at least 2 1/2 years. Nothing else went with them, so I had to wait to wear them!

 

[SayCici]

"Never wear an outfit until you have collected everything, yes everything, to go with it - hat, shoes, gloves, handbag, scarf and even a special umbrella to match."

Yeesh! Then or even now you'd probably have to be upper-middle class to be able to afford that! If by 'match' they do just mean all one color.

But, I definitely stand by my comment that it's always going to be a matter of taste, though I guess some social conventions have a part - like wearing black to a funeral, or while you're mourning. We have been wearing clothing for a long, long, long time, so I'm sure even in Ancient Greece someone could have walked down the street and heard snickers about how they wore their peplos.

I guess if you're not confident though, you could always look at vintage pattern covers, they always pair colors in interesting ways.

 

[Grant Fan]

I happen to be a huge fan of making things go together not match, so really I guess that would mean complementing eachother. If I had a green had I would wear it with pink, navy, red(if I actually was ok with me wearing red), white, and black. I an my shoes may be a different color. I'm ok with things not all being the same color as long as they look good together.

 

[Foofoogal]

Then or even now you'd probably have to be upper-middle class to be able to afford that! If by 'match' they do just mean all one color.

I remember all these type ladies matching everything back then. All one color. It is what I think of when I think vintage. I am sure many did not but out of necessity. I guess it would depend on where one lived also at the time.
Back then they didn't even have a bridge party without everything matching.
http://www.sandysfancypants.blogspot.com

 

[texasgirl]

Thanks everyone for your input!

Some interesting research I have found from “Collectible Fashions of the Turbulent 1930s,” Ellie Laubner- this is a must have book if you don’t have it. I’ll make some scans and post

Fashion magazines encouraged readers to color coordinate their ensembles by wearing a hat, handbag, and shoes of the same color to complement a coat, dress, or suit.

Handbags:
Standard colors during the first half of the 30s- black, brown, navy, white, red, and tan. Later, more sophisticated colors were added such as, marine blue, purple, burgundy, olive, rust, and American Beauty, a shocking pink. There was a custom handbag department in most fine department stores where a customer could special order a bag to match a particular dress or ensemble.

Hats:
It was considered quite chic to accessorize a dress or coat with a hat, handbag, shoes and gloves all the same color. Many fashionable women of mean went directly to a milliner to have a one-of-a kind hat custom designed so she could select the perfect style and color to coordinate with a particular ensemble.

Shoes:
Standard colors for shoes during the first half of the 30s- black, brown, navy, white, red, and tan. Later, more sophisticated colors were added such as, marine blue, purple, burgundy, forest green, rust, and American Beauty, a shocking pink. Burgundy and navy was a popular color combination. One fashion magazine suggested: “For those who must buy carefully, it is in perfect taste to wear brown or black with the new wines or greens.” Matching handbags occasionally accompanied shoes in mail-order catalogs of the period.

Gloves:
Typical colors for gloves were beige, brown, black, gunmetal grey, coco, sand and eggshell. In 1939, Sears added the new shades of wine, grape, russet, winter green (olive), and royal blue.

Coats:
Common colors for coats were tan, black, oxford gray, guardsman blue, navy, beaver brown, dark green, copen blue(medium blue), and copperglo (reddish brown). During the late 30s, more sophisticated colors like wine (burgundy), American beauty (shocking pink), nuberry (dark purple), russet (rust), teal , laurel green (dark green) and skipper blue (royal blue) were introduced. It was fashionable to wear a hat, handbag, shoes, and gloves all the same color to complement one’s coat. Popular color combinations during the second half of the decade included gold accessories with a laurel green coat, teal with nuberry, nuberry with skipper blue, gold with rust, American beauty with light blue, wine with navy, and rust with teal.

 

[Miss Sis]

I never thought to check that book for info. :eusa_doh:

I still like contemporary info though.

 

[crazydaisy]

texas girl, all this info makes me want that book even more lol

 

[texasgirl]

It really is a great book. I like it better than the Sears books because it has a lot of pictures, but it also has a lot of information! Really reading through it now makes me want to get the 20s one!