Fashion

Knickers Make Their Appearance In Town
(Magazine Ad, 1919)

In our era, we don’t think it terribly odd to see someone in an art museum dressed as though they were going to go poll-vaulting standing next to someone else who is clothed as if they were intending to rope a steer. This sort of untraditional-tradition began in the twenties. The attached link will show you a magazine advertisement for men’s knickers which appeared at a time when this sort of thinking began to evolve and knickerbockers began a new life as an in-town and on-campus fashion choice. Previously, knickers were worn by young boys or strictly for men who enjoyed country sports; other examples of similar active-ware abuse in the Twenties involved the clothing of yachtsmen, hunters and tennis players. This era saw the rise of the sportswear industry.

The Side-Seam Suit
(The Stars and Stripes, 1919)

The Side-Seam suit style had it’s appeal in the early Twenties and could be found in many a magazine in the form of vests and overcoats, however the look did not survive the era and is now numbered among the Zoot Suit and Leisure Suit as one of the forgotten fads of Twentieth Century mode.

The Shirt Tuck
(Magazine Advertisement, 1921)

There is no doubt about the fact that in the 1920s, there lived a great number of men who left the world a far richer place for their having walked the earth when they did; fellows like Pablo Picasso and Bertrand Russel, to name only two. The shallow editors at OldMagazineArticles.com think that is all just ducky, but what we really want to know is how did these men keep their shirts tucked in? How could such fellows as these look so presentable when so many men before them have failed?

We did some digging around and this is what we discovered…

A Jihad on Menswear
(Click Magazine, 1941)

With her characteristic disregard for the unreasonable mandates of the prevailing fashion police hanging out for all to see, Elizabeth Hawes (1903 – 1971) scoffed with the deepest irreverence at the males of the species for being so thoughtless and blind in matters sartorial. Pointing out that men, who she compared to mice, don’t have to wear ties, hats, heavy leather shoes or anything else that makes them uncomfortable, but do so purposelessly and out of fear…


Click here to read a 1929 article about the Dress-Reform Movement.

Fashion Designers Colide wth Hollywood Designers…
(Click Magazine, 1938)

This is an historic article that introduced the fashion era that we still reside in today.


The attached article from 1938 heralded a new day in the fashion industry where fashion magazines would no longer be relied upon to set the trends in clothing; henceforth, that roll would largely be played by movie actresses in far-off Hollywood:

The greatest fashion influence in America, stylists sadly lament, is the much-photographed, much-glamorized and much-imitated Movie Queen. What she wears is news, eagerly copied, by girls all over the country who want to look like Joan Crawford and Myrna Loy.

The primary bone of contention that the East Coast fashionistas found most objectionable was the fact that movie stars are Californians, and Californians will always prefer comfort over glamor.

Men’s Undergarments: 1921
(Magazine Advertisement, 1921)

Attached is an illustrated magazine advertisement from a polite, middle class American periodical which depicts two trim bucks in the full flower of youth wearing their under-lovelies so that all the internet gawkers can get a sense of how wildly uncomfortable men’s underwear used to be.

Click here to read about the introduction of the T shirt to the world of fashion.

Tested in War: the Wrist Watch Becomes Fashionable
(The Stars and Stripes, 1918)

The following must have been some sort of creative writing project for one of the many bored World War One Doughboys, however it clearly spells out how the necessities of modern war demanded that the wrist watch no longer be thought of as a piece of jewelry adorned only by fops and fems and evolved into a useful tool for soldiers on the field and men with masculine responsibilities. The column makes it quite clear that prior to the Great War, a good many wrist watch enthusiasts would have had their noses broken if they had worn the ‘gimmick’ into certain neighborhoods.

Men’s Fashions for the Summer of 1932
(Magazine Advertisement)

These two 1932 magazine advertisements had a tremendous amount of relevance in the lives of those fellows lucky enough to still enjoy summer vacations, just two and a half years into the greatest economic down-turn in American history.


These two pages appeared in the swankiest of New York society rags during the era: STAGE, TOWN & COUNTRY and VANITY FAIR, promoting the white summer suits and linen leisurewear of the Palm Beachtailors.

The Paris Winter Collection
(Newsweek Magazine, 1945)

After years of material shortage, the accent is definitely on the feminine, with all of its flounces… A look at all the collections shows that black is the outstanding color for afternoon and dinner. Drapings, wrappings and swathings that girdle the hips are the outstanding line. The favored fabrics are velvet , velveteen, corduroy (used horizontally, as are other striped materials) monotone tweeds, Kashas (a twill-weave fabric of wool mixed with Cashmere), and some Scotch plaids.

Paris Is Back!
(Collier’s Magazine, 1946)

Having no foresight as to the fashion juggernaut that would commence in one year with the appearance of Christian Dior’s New Look, the journalist puts all her credibility in one basket by declaring that all eyes are on the French fashion designer Madame Marcelle Dormoy. Much ink is spilled concerning the bleakness that clouded fashionable Paris during the occupation and the difficulty all fashion houses experienced in 1946 securing suitable fabric for their creations (at black-market prices).
The writer recovered some of her street-cred anticipating the meteoric career return of the well-loved French film actress Edwige Feuillère (1907 – 1998), who is personified herein as the epitome of French Glamour returned.

Click here to read a 1946 article about Le Corbusier.

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