1930s Men’s Suits History (The Vintage Dancer)

Today's post 1930s Men’s Suits History from Vintage Dancer.

We are preparing for a few 1930s events year which means doing some fashion research and buying some new vintage style 1930s clothes. My research always begins with my collection of vintage catalogs. For the 1930s, fashion illustrations by Laurence Fellows, are also excellent sources of inspiration.

Today I wanted to share with you some of these color illustrations specifically looking at 1930s men’s suits. (When I have a bit more time I will delve into this topic in more detail. For now here is what we can learn just by looking at pictures.)

1930s Men’s Solid Suits

1937 Men’s Suits for Spring

What I love about men’s 1930s suits were how wide they fit. The illustrations make them appear even wider than in real life but the idea is the same. Men’s 1930s fashion said they all needed to have a strong masculine presence. The athletic form with wide shoulders, narrow waist, and full legs was the style of the decade. Suits were cut to add the illusion of both height and width. Jackets were long with wide padded shoulders and wide lapels. The double breasted suit was especially good at adding width. Both single and double breasted remained popular the entire decade.

Suit pants fit high on the waist, bulged out over the thigh and knee and tapered into the ankle, usually with a cuff. Pleats are the waistband allowed more fabric to drape down creating a baggy effect. A single pressed line down the center of the leg (both front and back) added to the height effect. This style was the opposite of today’s skinny suit.

Most suits came with a matching 6 button vest, with or without lapel. Most were single breasted vests but a few still choose the more formal double breasted waistcoat. They were not required to be worn and typically only were worn by older gentlemen or savy dressers.

1937 Men’s Spring and Summer Suit Fabrics

1930s men’s suits colors favored medium blue, tans, beige, cream, golden browns and many shades of grey in spring and summer. Fall and winter enjoyed navy blue, medium brown, and dark grey tones. Beside color the 1930s man wore suits with distinctive patterns. Bold patterns also contributed to width. Large plaids, windowpane, chalk stripes, checks, and herringbone appeared in every color summer or winter. The difference between 30s patterns and 20s pattens was the overall tone. The 1920s love clashing colors in thier patterns while the 1930s were more subtle with lighter or darker shades off the primary color. For example a light grey plaid suit would have medium grey lines. In the 1920s those lines might have been blue, green or brown.

1930s Men’s Summer Suits

1935 Men’s Windowpane pattern summer suit

1935 Plaid Suit for Spring

1937 Gabardine Suits with Half Back

1937 Windowpane Suit

1937 Wool Serge Suit colors and patterns

1937 Men’s Fall and Winter Suits

Cecil Beaton and Gary Cooper 1930s

The Summer Whites Suit

In summer men still wore suits. They were made of a lighter weight wool or seersucker to beat the heat. White was very difficult to keep clean so most men choose a grey tone instead. Its a very becoming color too. Subtle patterns of windowpane, plaid and stripes were still prevalent in summer colors.

1937 Wool Tropical Weight Suits in light or dark grey

1937 Men’s White and Grey Summer Suits

1937 Men’s Summer Suits with pleated half back

1930s Men’s Miss Matched Sportcoats

There was a break from men wearing matching pants and suits jackets year round. Now men had the choice to mix colors and patterns. It was both for fashion and economy- the depression was in full swing and men needed to make a few suits look like a big wardrobe. Mixing pants and jackets happened in the fall and winter but I see it more in the summer fashions.

The general rule seems to be if you wear a pattern jacket the pants need to be solid and vice versa. An all solid color suit was ok too but less common. Also the darken color goes on top. Pants were always lighter unless the jacket was white in which case the pants are darker. In summer light grey, ivory or light tan pants were the preferred colors. The navy jacket over white pants had been a summer staple in the 1920s too. It was associated with yachting (a rich mans sport) but same to be acceptable general summer time fashion.

Men’s Double Breasted blue plaid suit jacket over grey pants. Variations of the jacket were available.

1930s Sport coat and white pants

1937 Red over white and all beige.

Casual attire- Tan sport coat over light grey pants

1933 Brown double breasted sport coat over black and white check pants

1937- Classic men’s summer yachting look: Navy double breasted coat over white pants.

1939 James Stewart in Plaid Sport coat over dark pants

The College Men’s Style

If there was one source of men’s fashion trends in the 1930s it was from young college kids. The ivy league style was set in the 1920s but was continued well into the 1930s. At first glance the styles for young men and older men don’t seem very different. This is one area I need to do more research in.

One thing I do notice is the pants. They young men favored a wider leg pant with wide waist band. The fit was a straight leg rather than a tapered leg. The overall look was more slender than traditional men’s suits. Perhaps looking too athletic detracted from their youth.

1931 Fall Suits for College Men

1933 Men’s Suits for High School and College Men

1937 College Men’s Suits

1930s Men’s Formal Fashion

1931 Men’s Morning Suit

The most formal day wear was a men’s morning suit. It was a traditional look passed down over the past few decades with its peak hey day in the early 1900s. Very few men continued to wear morning clothes in the 1930s. It was reserved for formal morning or afternoon events, before 6pm, by the wealthy classes. Horse races, as picture here, was one such event. It was also more common in Europe than in America.

The morning suit consisted of striped grey trousers, black tailcoat (morning coat), white wingtip shirt, top hat, patent leather shoes, black tie, white pocket square, white gloves and often a flower boutineer.

Mens Formal Wear- Tuxedo and Dinner Jacket

Men’s evening formal wear was very diverse. Instead of one look worn by every man, as was in the 1920s, the 1930s had several looks. A tailcoat could be worn with black or other dark colored trousers for a formal look. The next step down was the black tuxedo which by now was called a dinner jacket. Worn with black trousers, black vest, white button down wingtip shirt, black bow tie and white pocket square it is and was the most traditional formal wear style.

1930s Clark Gable In Black Tie Formal Wear

Dinner jackets could also come in dark colors, such as this deep red jacket, in single and double breasted styles. The white dinner jacket over black pants was also a new look in the 1930s and one which screams Old Hollywood fashion.

For a very detailed look at men’s formal wear in the 1930s read this guide.

1930s Style Men’s Suit Fashions Today

My advice to myself and anyone looking to recreate a 1930s suit look is to choose the pattern over the fit. It is not easy to find wide suits in a skinny suit world so instead look for a classic fitting suit with a distinctive but not wild in-your-face face pattern. You can go with a single or double breasted suit (I prefer Double.) Mixing jackets and pants will be the easiest look to achieve when shopping at thrift stores. The current modern trend does favor patterned sport coats but rarely matching pants. Luckily all you need is light pair of solid color pants and your be ready for the 1930s.

Here are two looks we recently put together for spring and summer 1930s event.