1920-1939

At the dawn of the 1920s, the world was still reeling from the First World War. The conflict, which ended just over a year before the new decade began, had a fundamental and irreversible effect on society, culture, and fashion. Essential to these new styles was a simplicity that had not previously been seen in women’s fashion.This simplicity created the popular tubular “la garçonne” look that dominated much of the decade. Also known as the flapper, the look typified 1920s dress with a dropped waist and creeping hemlines that could be created in economical fabrics. Coco Chanel helped popularize this style and was a prominent designer during the period. Both waistlines and hemlines followed similar, though inverse, projections throughout the decade, as waistlines dropped until 1923 before beginning to rise again in 1928; while hemlines rose until 1926, when they started to fall again.

MENSWEAR

As womenswear valued simplicity in the 1920s so, too, did menswear. Men moved away from starched collars and formal three-piece suits during the day. Instead, they adopted soft collars and one- or two-button suit jackets often worn without a waistcoat as seen in the different styles shown on the fashion plate. Pinstripes were popular, as were British wools and English tailoring. Martin Pel writes that “British men were perceived to be sartorially the most elegant, and fashionable men hoped to emulate the style and heritage of Savile Row and the English elite” . Popular materials were tweeds and flannels, depending on the season.

1930-1939

In the 1930s, fashion saw a profound influence from films and specifically Hollywood. Men’s, women’s, and children’s styles were based on fashions seen on screen with stars like Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, and Shirley Temple among the many who directly influenced fashion. A return to conservatism after the Roaring Twenties also marked fashion during this period.

s the 1920s turned into the 1930s, women’s fashion softly evolved from the boyish look of the previous decade into the feminine silhouette of the early thirties. With the stock market crash in 1929 and with the opening of the new decade, hemlines descended back to ankle length and waistlines moved back to their natural place.

Despite these departures from the prevailing mode of the previous decade, the popular styles of the early 1930s were similar in their simple lines to the popular garçonne look of the twenties. But while the simplicity of the 1920s created a sack-like silhouette free from curves, the simple lines of the early thirties hugged those curves, creating a soft, feminine silhouette. 

Like womenswear, menswear saw a shift of focus to the movies for fashion inspiration in the 1930s. Just as women’s fashion had begun to democratize in the twenties, men’s fashion followed suit. Fashion writer Colin McDowell writes in The Man of Fashion: Peacock Males and Perfect Gentlemen of the power movies had over men’s fashion in the thirties, recalling that sales of undershirts slumped when Clark Gable , revealed that he wasn’t wearing one in 1934’s It Happened One Night (111).