The Thirties

1930 - 1940

1Patricia Sumod

• Despite the Depression, fashion in the '30s maintained a beauty and glamour promoted to a large extent by Hollywood. In the first half of the decade, plunging backs, bias-cut draping, and clinging fabrics transformed the androgynous silhouette of the '20s into a new body-conscious, feminine line epitomized by the on- and off-screen clothing of international stars such as Jean Harlow, Carol Lombard, and Claudette Colbert.

• There was a return to a more genteel, ladylike appearance. Budding rounded busts and waistline curves were seen and hair became softer and prettier as hair perms improved. Foreheads which had been hidden by cloche hats were revealed and adorned with small plate shaped hats. Clothes were feminine, sweet and tidy by day with a return to real glamour at night.

• Until the 1930s wealthy women had not really needed to wear practical day clothes. Although styles had been designated day styles if they were impractical it had not really mattered as long as maids took care of chores. Now women had more productive and busier lives and simpler clothes gave a freedom of movement women relished in daily life. More luxurious gowns were kept for evening. New fabrics like metallic lame were very popular at night and were made to shimmer even more richly by adding plastic sequins and glass beads.

• The Paris couturiers Madeleine Vionnet and Alix Grès were known for their inventive use of diagonally cut jerseys and shiny satins, although the technique was popular with all designers of the period.

The Thirties

1930 - 1940

Small pleats contour the lines of the chest, and the natural flow of the cloth becomes a skirt. This work demonstrates the typical style of Grès. Madame Grèsopened the fashion house Alix in 1934, but was forced to close it in 1939. In 1942 she opened a new house under her husband's "nom d'artiste", Grès. In the mid-1930s she became known for extravagantly arranged clothes made of silk jersey in the classical Greek style and with few visible seams. The dress illustrated here was designed in 1944 for actress Danièle Delorme for her appearances in Jean Anouih's play "Antigone".

2Patricia Sumod

• The French designer Madeleine Vionnet opened her own fashion house in 1912. She devised methods of bias cross cutting during the 1920s using a miniature model. She made popular the halter neck and the cowl neck. The bias method has often been used to add a flirtatious and elegant quality to clothes. To make a piece of fabric hang and drape in folds and stretch over the round contours of the body, fabric pattern pieces can be cut not on the straight grain, but at an angle of 45 degrees.

• It is sometimes said that Vionnet invented bias cutting, but historical evidence suggests that close fitting gowns and veils of the medieval period were made with cross cut fabrics. The Edwardians also made skirts that swayed to the back by joining a bias edge to a straight grain edge and the result was a pull to the back that formed the trained skirt. She popularized it and the resulting clothes are styles we forever associate with movie goddesses and dancers like Ginger Rogers.

• Using her technique designers were able to produce magnificent gowns in satins, crepe-de-chines, silks, crepes and chiffons by cross cutting the fabric, creating a flare and fluidity of drapery that other methods could not achieve. Many of the gowns could be slipped over the head and came alive when put on the human form. Some evening garments made women look like Grecian goddesses whilst others made them look like half naked sexy vamps. Certain of her gowns still look quite contemporary.

• There was a passion for sunbathing. Women tried to get tans and then show them off under full length backless evening dresses cut on the true cross or bias and which molded to the body. To show off the styles a slim figure was essential and that was getting easier for women who were educated and aware as many now used contraception and did not have to bear baby after baby unless desired.

The Thirties

1930 - 1940

3Patricia Sumod

• Skirts were frequently longer at the back than the front. Below the knee pleats and godets fell from panels so gave fullness at the hemline. The hemlines reached the bottom of the calf within a year. Some of the clothes were so stylish that they could be worn today. Part of their appeal was the draping fabric that was further enhanced by cutting fabrics on the true cross or the bias grain also quite fashionable at the start of the new millennium.

• The new improved fabrics like rayon had several finishes and gave various effects exploited by designers eager to work with new materials. Cotton was also used by Chanel and suddenly it was considered more than a cheap fabric for work clothes. But nothing cut and looked like pure silk and it was still the best fabric to capture the folds and drapes of thirties couture. Fine wool crepes also molded to the body and fell into beautiful godets and pleats.

• Rayon dyed well and looked similar to and felt like silk. Often it was used to make lingerie for the cheaper end of the market.

• In 1927 Dr. Wallace Carothers began to research new polymers and eventually discovered polyamide. By 1938 the Du Pont company was producing commercial nylon and by 1939 making knitted hosiery. Later it was given the commercial name Nylon. Nylons were eventually available in 15 denier and these were very sought after particularly in the 2nd World War.

• Nylon hosiery transformed women lives. No more bagging and sagging of stockings and a sheer allure which enhanced their legs. The women of the era must have felt much the same as women of the sixties did later when tights gave a new freedom.

The Thirties

1930 - 1940

4Patricia Sumod

• Clothing styles were less extravagant for the most part during the 1930s. However, you could still tell between the “haves” and “have nots” of this time. Some of the more affluent type of dress was presented by models in issues of the women’s magazine Good Housekeeping with some of the businesslike influence in these simple outfits in the April 1930 issue. Models in some of the photos displayed simple-yet feminine outfits of two-piece V-neck cardigan, simple blouse, and button-down wrap skirts. Other photos showed off long free-flowing dresses with moderately low V-necklines. These dresses are known often as the “1930s Trousseau”.

• These particular outfits are what many people would perhaps associate in times past with tea time or luncheon in high society. These particular elegant yet simple lines of clothing or in the ever-growing middle class social circle. The shapes of these dresses were designed to show off a woman’s most feminine features-tight or snug at the waist and then bowing slightly out. Most of these dresses are either slightly gathered and/or pleated. The pattern for many of the early 1930s dresses that were made is known as the “cross cut bias” style. Some of them are one-piece while others are accented with a short elegant jacket.

• All though women did cut back on the number and style of clothes, Ladies Hats were still an integral part of any Ladies wardrobe.

The Thirties

1930 - 1940

5Patricia Sumod

• The sleeves of most of the 1930s dresses and outfits referenced in this article are of ¾ length or shorter. The Hem line of most of the outfits during this time was cut between the knees and the shin. Colors of fashionable ladie’s wear in the 1930s were of different colors such as red, navy, white, and black.

• One of the most famous fashion influences of the 1930s was Coco Chanel. Another one of this time was Madeleine Vionnet, who was a French Designer.

• In fact, Vionnet was the one who is most known for the “cross cut bias” pattern for dresses, which is a style associated with actress or dancers such as Ginger Rogers. This particular type of dress is very long, and is usually all the way down to the lower back. Women's fashions in the 1930s were a stark contrast to the flapper look of the roaring 20s. Hemlines were lowered and evening outfits became more glamorous and sensual. Fabrics were draped and usually showed off the woman's back. Hollywood was the major contributor on the styles worn, as movie star endorsements of styles and accessories became common.

• Other trends included women's sportswear which became more masculine, hats were worn, but usually at an angle to the face and fur of all kinds was worn extensively during this era including coats, capes and accessories.

The Thirties

1930 - 1940

6Patricia Sumod

The Thirties

1930 - 1940

Amelia Earhart receives major

attention in the 1930s as the

first woman pilot to conduct

major air flights. Her

disappearance for unknown

reasons in 1937 while on flight

prompted search efforts which

failed.

1930, Don English photographs Marlene

Dietrich on the set of Morocco. This movie

paved the way for an androgynous style

amongst stars such as Audrey and Katherine

Hepburn. Hollywood was becoming a

tastemaker to the masses, and Dietrich would

go on to become one of the most widely

emulated stars of the period.

1935 purple satin Jeanne Lavin gown, 1930s

Madeleine Vionnet gown

7Patricia Sumod

• As the decade progressed, clothing gradually became more tailored. As early as 1931, Elsa Schiaparelli extended the shoulder line to give a "masculine" narrowness to the hips and waist. Other designers, particularly in film, eventually followed. Padded shoulders (sometimes with the addition of military-style epaulets) increased in popularity in the latter part of the decade to become the hallmark of the next. New styles included the dinner suit, consisting of a long dress and short jacket for the theater, dinner, or dancing. The "little black dress" was fashionable from the afternoon to the cocktail hour for the latter worn with a small feather or a beaded hat.

• The Italian Elsa Schiaparelli 1890-1973 had a love of rich fabrics and feminine fantasy clothes that frequently had a surreal twist. She mixed with the now famous cubist and surrealist artists Man Ray, Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia. Fabric and accessories were often designed for her by Dali, Jean Cocteau and Christian Berard.

• “Shocking-pink” was Schiaparelli’s signature color. She described hot pink as “life-giving, like all the light and the birds and the fish in the world put together, a color of China and Peru but not of the West.”

• Despite the fact that Schiaparelli had a witty side she was just the fashion inspiration that women who preferred classic styles needed. Those that loathed the swathes of pastel chiffon produced by Vionnet were easily compensated by 'Scap's' couture short fitted suits or jackets teamed with black dresses. She used colors like turquoise or shocking pink or hyacinth blue.

The Thirties 1930 - 1940

The Lobster Dress by Elsa Schiaparelli

Skeleton dress. Elsa Schiaparelli collaboration with Salvador Dalí, 1938.8Patricia Sumod

The designs Dali makes for Schiaparelli included a hat in the shape of a shoe, a pink suede belt with a buckle of lips, a ‘dress of rags’ and the lobster dress. And in 1936, Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dali presented suits and jackets with bureau-drawer pockets reflecting the themes prevalent in Dali’s Art, which were featured in the September 1936 issue of Vogue magazine.1936) by Salvador Dalí.

The Thirties

1930 - 1940

Mrs. Reginald Fellowes (left) in Elsa Schiaparelli, 1933

Schiaparelli liked new things as well as new ideas. In 1933 she promoted the fastener we call the zip or zipper. The metal zip had been invented in 1893 and by 1917 it was somewhat timidly used for shoes, tobacco pouches and U.S. Navy windcheater jackets. Her use of the new plastic colored zip in fashion clothes was both decorative, functional and highly novel. They soon became universally used and are now a very reliable form of fastening.

9Patricia Sumod

• Beyond the little black dress which she frequently designed, she would accessorize with humor and designed funky hats made to appear as mutton chops or ice cream cones. Her eccentricity was much loved and her clothes were revolutionary at the time.

• She designed a wide shouldered masculine suit that Marlene Dietrich wore and which was copied throughout Hollywood.

• She launched shoulder pads in man tailored severe suits long before power dressing of the 80s. It was her late 1930s tailored suit designs which were thought the most suitable clothing to embrace in the war years rather than the wasp waist bouffant dresses that were shown just before the war started.

• Schiaparelli and Chanel were great rivals who both vied for top designer fame and competed hotly against each other over their perfumes. Schiaparelli's Shocking perfume in an hour glass bottle designed on Mae West's figure was fiercely competitive against Chanel's perfume Chanel No 5.

• Schiaparelli fled to the USA at outbreak of World War Two and never regained her designer dominance again. She continued to lecture on fashion throughout the war years in America. She held her final fashion show in 1954.

The Thirties

1930 - 1940

10Patricia Sumod

Film star Barbara Stanwyck- 1938

The Thirties

1930 - 1940

Ginger Rogers in a metallic lame gown

1930s fashion film star Jean Harlow

Ginger Rogers –Stunning 1930s fashion gown

The silver screen soon became a common escape from the reality of life in the depression. Movie celebrities began endorsing fashion styles making accessories a highlight of 1930s fashion.

Necklines started to plunge and waistlines were of a more sensuous shape accentuating the female silhouette. Empire-waist gowns became popular. Fabric flowers and bows were often placed on the shoulder, or mid-waist or center neckline. The peplum also made a great appearance into 1930s fashion evening wear. For those that could afford it, fur was in style. Fur capes, stoles and wraps hung from women’s shoulders and dresses. Sable, mink, chinchilla and silver fox were in hot demand. 11Patricia Sumod

• During the decade of the 1930's saw dramatic changes in men’s fashion. It began with the great Wall Street Crash of October 24, 1929. By 1931, eight million people were out of work in the United States. Less or no work meant little or no money to spend on clothing. The garment industry witnessed shrinking budgets, and going-out-of-business sales were prevalent. The Edwardian tradition of successive clothing changes throughout the day finally died. Tailors responded to the change in consumer circumstances by offering more moderately priced styles. During the early part of the decade, men’s suits were modified to create the image of a large torso. Shoulders were squared using wadding or shoulder pads and sleeves were tapered to the wrist. Peaked lapels framed the v-shaped chest and added additional breadth to the wide shoulders.

• This period also say a rise in the popularity of the double-breasted suit, the forerunner of the modern business suit. Masculine elegance demanded jackets with long, broad lapels, two, four, six or even eight buttons, square shoulders and ventless tails. Generous-cut, long trousers completed the look. These suits appeared in charcoal, steel or speckled gray, slate, navy and midnight blue.

• Lovely dark fabrics were enhanced by herringbone and stippled vertical and diagonal stripes. In winter, brown cheviot was popular. In spring, accents of white, red or blue silk fibers were woven into soft wool. The striped suit became a standard element in a man’s wardrobe at this time. Single, double, chalk, wide and narrow stripes were all in demand.

• Plaids of many various kinds became popular around this time as well. Glen plaid checks, originally known as Glen Urquhart checks from their Scottish origin, were one of the more stylish plaids. Glen plaid designs are sometimes referred to as “Prince of Wales” checks. Initially the design was woven in Saxony wool and later was found in tweed, cheviot, plied and worsted cloth. 12Patricia Sumod

• In 1935, as a result of President Roosevelt’s New Deal program, signs of prosperity returned. The rebounding economy demanded a redesign of the business suit, to signal the successful status of the man who wore it. This new look was designed by the London tailor, Frederick Scholte and was known as the “London cut”. It featured sleeves tapering slightly from shoulder to wrist, high pockets and buttons, wide, pointed lapels flaring from the top rather than the middle buttons and roll, rather than flat lapels. Shoulder pads brought the tip of the shoulder in line with the triceps and additional fabric filled out the armhole, creating drape in the shoulder area. As a result of this last detail, the suit was also known as the “London drape” or “drape cut” suit.

• Other versions of this new suit included four instead of six buttons, lapels sloping down to the bottom buttons, and a longer hem. This version was known as the Windsor double-breasted (D.B.) and the Kent double-breasted (D.B.), named after the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Kent respectively. Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Fred Astaire and Cary Grant were a few of the Hollywood stars who lent their endorsement to this style by wearing the suits in their movies. From there it became popular in mainstream America.

• The famous “Palm Beach” suit was designed during the 1930s. It was styled with a Kent double or single-breasted jacket, and was made from cotton seersucker, silk shantung or linen. Gabardine was also used to make this suit. It quickly became the American summer suit par excellence and was touted as the Wall Street businessman’s uniform for hot days.

Men's fashions in the 30sThe Thirties 1930 - 1940

In the 1930s, bigger was better, with

double-breasted suits, full-cut trousers,

and tuxedos with tails setting the standard

for how a gentleman should dress. Also:

the dawn of shirtless sunbathing.

13Patricia Sumod

• Clothing manufacturers had long known that by continuously altering the style of clothing to increase sales as people continue to buy to keep up with the trends. This, however, had not been applied to men's clothing… Not until the thirties that is.

• Clark Gable was shown removing his shirt in a movie, exposing his bare chest. Soon, men all over the country were throwing away their undershirts as the trend took hold.

• During the early part of the decade, single breasted jackets were the stylish look for men. Towards the end of the 30s, double breasted jackets became the style with a much higher jacket front than before.

• Edward the III was a major figure during these times for unusual male fashion. He is seen in short, baggy knee pants known as “Plus Fours” along with a round-necked schoolboy sweater.

• Underneath he was wearing a white butterfly-collared shirt with a black tie. On his head he was wearing a “grandpa" style hat. Both men and boys wore full three-pieced suits during this time when attending formal occasions such as weddings. Similar to men’s suits for sale in present day, these were made with broader shoulders and a more masculine-looking pattern than in earlier years.

• The alternative was usually something along the line of a sweater vest and knickers or trousers. These were also popular in the 1920s as well.

Men's fashions in the 30sThe Thirties

1930 - 1940

14Patricia Sumod

• During this time, blazers became popular for summer wear. Blazers are descendants of the jackets worn by English university students on cricket, tennis and rowing teams during the late nineteenth century. The name may derive from the “blazing” colors the original jackets were made in, which distinguished the different sports teams. The American versions were popular in blue, bottle green, tobacco brown, cream and buff. Metallic buttons traditionally adorned the center front of the jackets, and they were worn with cotton or linen slacks and shorts.

• A discussion of men’s fashion during the thirties would be incomplete without recognizing the gangster influence.

Gangsters, while despised as thieves, paradoxically projected an image of “businessman” because of the suits they wore. However, they didn’t choose typical business colors and styles, but took every detail to the extreme. Their suits featured wider stripes, bolder glen plaids, more colorful ties, pronounced shoulders, narrower waists, and wider trouser bottoms. In France, mobsters actually had their initials embroidered on the breast of their shirts, towards the waist. They topped their extreme look with felt hats in a wide variety of colors: almond green, dove, lilac, petrol blue, brown and dark gray. High-fashion New York designers were mortified by demands to imitate the gangster style, but obliged by creating the “Broadway” suit.

In 1931, “Apparel Arts” was founded as a men’s fashion magazine for the trade. Its purpose was to bring an awareness of men’s fashion to middle-class male consumers by educating sales people in men’s stores, who in turn would make recommendations to the consumers. It became the fashion bible for middle- class American men.

15Patricia Sumod

The student on the left is wearing a double-breasted navy suit made from worsted wool. His shirt features bold blue and white stripe and a tab collar shirt with a tab collar. This ensemble is accompanied by a dark tie with light blue polka dots as well as a red and blue silk pocket square. The black bowler or derby hat, the pipe and the black oxford shoes finish off this combination. The topcoat laying on the arm of the chair is likewise double breasted and comes in a slightly lighter shade of blue than the suit.

The other chap on the right is wearing a single-breasted three button three piece suit with notched lapels in a black & white shepherd check. He combined it with sturdy dark brown brogue shoes with a straight rounded toe and a grey & red striped shirt with a rounded club collar and a collar pin. His narrow maroon (crochet-)knit tie tops of the ensemble. Over his arm there is a bow tie with a small pattern and two vividly colored ties. In his hands, he is holding Norfolk jacket which is made out of tweed.

In the trunk to his right, you can see a double-breasted dinner coat with massive lapels and behind that a tail coat. On top of the trunk, you can spot a Balmaccan made of Harris Tweed and a brown Snap-Brim-Homburg. Next to the trunk, you can see a pair of patent leather oxford shoes without a cap. On the floor there is also a pair of light blue & red slippers, white buck shoes with black rubber soles and heels and a pair of brown buckskin bluchers. The evening shirts is made of linen with a black bow tie, then there is a button down collar shirt, a striped tab collar shirt as well as a detachable a wing collar with a white full dress tie. Beneath the shirts you can see a Tatters-all waistcoat and a collapsible opera hat. On the bottom, there are three pairs of pajamas, an assortment of pocket square and a dressing gown.

Apparel Arts - Laurence Fellows - Norfolk Jacket

Apparel Arts Magazine

16Patricia Sumod

Men's fashions in the 30s

• In the first part of the 30s, Suits were tailored in such a way to give the visual effect of a large torso, by squaring the shoulders of the jacket.

• The double breasted jacket also became popular in the early part of the 30s. After things started to look up with the economy the lines softened on the jackets. One thing didn't change, hats were mandatory for the well dressed male.

• One thing that could not be helped but be noticed was the "gangster" influence of clothing, after all, the gangsters seemed to be the only ones being successful in the 30s. Their style became what was thought of for "Successful Businessman“

• Another interesting piece of fashion was the Zoot Suit. Born in Black Harlem's nightlife subculture the style eventually spread and became popular with segments of the Hispanic population (Pachucos). The suit has an exaggerated style with baggy pants, an oversized jacket, gold chains and a hat called a tando.

• Edward VIII was also a fashion leader in his own right.

The Thirties

1930 - 1940

17Patricia Sumod

The Zoot Suit• Zoot suits appealed to the male dandy and according to historians, were particularly appealing to Mexican Americans or Pachucos,as they were known, Filipinos and blacks - if you wanted to make an assertive style statement, the zoot suit was the way to do it. In many ways they were a symbol of ethnic identity and indeed, in Los Angeles, California in 1943 when a battle broke out between American servicemen and Latino and black youths, they became known as the Zoot Suit Riots and the suit itself, a symbol of cultural subversion.

• Although there are several theories about its origin(including one that posits zoots were a copy of Clark Gable's outfit in Gone with the Wind), the Zoot suit appears to have emerged from the vibrant Harlem jazz culture of the 1930s. At that time they were known as drapes and were possibly called zoots as a play on the word 'suits', though in urban jazz culture of the 40s the term 'zoot' meant anything that was exaggerated or extravagant and didn't gel with the norm.

18Patricia Sumod

Characteristics of 1930s Men's Fashion

• New suit styles are the hallmark of fashion shifts in menswear of the 1930s. Formal wear was influenced by the colonial enterprise. Summery white-jacketed evening suits, with a cummerbund, replacing the waistcoat gained popularity.

• By the mid 1930s the economy was showing signs of recovery. This directed attention especially to the business suit. The sensation of the day was the 'London drape' or 'drape cut' suit. Its designer, Frederick Scholte, was the tailor to the Prince of Wales.

• The London drape suit was more loosely cut, especially around the armhole and shoulder, with subtle padding. The style was tailored at the waist, and cut to flatter the male form.

• Trousers had become wider in the twenties. Now they became rather more tapering toward the ankle once again, but the cut remained generous.

• Double-breasted suits, the jackets with broad lapels and no vents, also proved very popular in the thirties. Variants, that also took their cues from London tailoring and aristocratic wear, included the Windsor double-breasted and Kent double-breasted.

• Stripes were also very much in vogue, and the well-dressed gentleman would almost certainly have had a striped suit in his wardrobe, as well as a fedora hat. For summer, the lightweight Palm Beach suit caught consumer imagination.

19Patricia Sumod

• Designers waited eagerly for new rayon fabrics to be released onto the market but some designers were staying with known fabrics. Chanel was one of the designers, who through her inventive use of cotton she elevated what was considered a budget fabric to designer material status.

• But, as far as 1930s fashion was concerned, nothing came close to the look and feel of silk. Rayon, when properly dyed and cut could imitate the look and feel and silk to a certain extent and was commonly used in cheaper priced lingerie.

• With the advent of nylons came something to change many women’s lives. Gone were the days of saggy, baggy stockings as nylon hosiery hit the market. The new hosiery also had the ability to enhance the look of the legs.

• At the end of the '30s, in an atmosphere of uncertainty about the future, many fashion designers ransacked the past for ideas: the bustle of the 1880s, the leg-o-mutton sleeve of the 1890s, and the high-waist neoclassicism of the early nineteenth century.

• Overall, perhaps in response to current events - the Spanish Civil War, the rise of Fascism in Europe, and Hitler's invasion of Poland - sobriety and restraint characterized late-'30s fashion. As the threat of war loomed, the sensuous curves of the early part of the decade were replaced by a structured masculinity.

• Over the next three decades, American garment makers rose to a new level of sophistication, successfully competing with the long-established English and French tailors. However, the eruption of war at the end of the decade brought an abrupt halt to the development of fashion all over the world.

• On September 3, 1939, England and France declared war on Germany for invading Poland, and refusing to withdraw troops. Once again, men’s fashion would change as a result of historic events.

The Thirties 1930 - 1940

20Patricia Sumod