Summer & Resort Style

(topic introduction)

Odd Jackets & Trousers

From Apparel Arts summer 1932:

A new note in odd jacket and trouser ensembles. Light coat and dark trousers, in direct contrast to the familiar dark coat and light trousers of the past. Some of the best turned out men at Palm Beach wore cream colored linen sport coats with dark Havana brown linen trousers, the latter in a self herringbone pattern. Another favorite combination among those whose dress preferences have a direct bearing upon the nation’s fashion trends was that of white gabardine sport coat with grey flannel trousers. (This is the beginning of an important change. It should be reflected in your merchandise this summer, Remember how the equally “queer” combination of brown coat and grey trousers caught on!)

· Light Coat and Dark Trousers

A beautiful example of this (in addition to the illustration below) is presented by Fred Astaire in the film “Funny Face” while strolling in the first scene at Paris.

Notice that he is wearing a plaid lighter jacket paired up with darker solid grey / charcoal pants. Observe the presence of ticket pocket on his jacket and how impeccably his socks harmonize his shirt/tie combination.

· Brown Coat and Gray Trousers

This is very important and must be understood. Note that they are referring to what is now known as a time-honored combination…i.e. wearing grey as a neutralizer with brown odd jackets. Time was when (post WW I till recently) grays neutralizing abilities were well known and it “went” with almost everything such as in the combination above. However, pre-20s and 30s it was considered awfully bad taste to combine brown and grey together and such this above mentioned was a “queer” combination for many older people of the time. 70 years later we have no difficulty understanding the combination of brown and grey and as a matter of fact it is rather considered tasteful to match these two.

Well, most of this “go-ness” is psychological and changes form time to time. The best combinations are those that nature gives us….for example harmonizing colors of fall/autumn that are yellow, orange, rust and brown. Blue and white of the sky are another example and the contrast of green and yellow as observed in sunflowers are all but excellent examples.

These days by a similar example, most people think black “goes” with everything. Nothing can be further from truth. Black first of all is not a neutralizer as grey and as such absorbs all the surrounding color…if it makes any sense.

Observe this magnificent Astaire picture below from the film Funny Face.

Note that Astaire is wearing what is exactly referred to as unusual above. Personally, I think this combination will work a lot better if his pants were of the earthly tones of tan, beige, khaki, natural or similar colors. Of course they would be lighter than the jacket and not only would be great with brown but would have worked remarkably well with his shirt, tie combination…and of course his brown suede shoes.

The primary reason why I think brown suede works so well with grey flannel suits is because so much (proportion vise) is grey and so little is brown. In this Asatire example above it can be improved somewhat because brown and grey are about 50/50.

This is an example of grey and white. While this combination seems perfectly fine in a picture…it is always somewhat odd in actuality. This phenomenon is especially true if the grey is of darker shade. If you want to make this combination works (esp. in this day and age)…try using a very light shade of grey with white rather than medium grey. The light grey (stone) color is superb when paired up with white and creates a beautiful and elegant ensemble.

For the purpose of summer and resort wear, both of these articles…the pants & the jacket…can be part of a suit or separate. Jackets can be perfectly of the SB variety also. Wear proper summer shoes with both of these outfits.

This is from late-summer of '34:

This on the left is another excellent depiction of what was described above as a new (back then) innovation of wearing lighter jackets and darker trousers. On left is a DB jacket of natural linen (as mentioned above also) smarter than pure-white worn with a bluish-grey flannel trousers. The shirt is of blue madras worn with a semi-stiff collar (cuffs are self color) and a red and yellow striped bow tie. This is noteworthy because usually madras shirts are conceived of as extremely casual and rarely seen in a contrast collar model. The socks are of light weight wool with horizontal striping of tan and blue, and the shoes are of brown buckskin. The hat complementing the jacket in color is of natural shade Panama. The swimmer wears a pair of ribbed wool knitted swimming trunks. This also came from European beaches back then and these were recommended in a rather snug fit.

Over here take a moment and study the combination of jacket, shirt, tie and that of socks. I am sure you cannot help but smile at the genius of their matching abilities. Note the presence of 4 buttons on the sleeves and that they are next to each other without any space.

· Linen

Apparel Arts summer 1932 (cont'd)

Linen suits, plain backed, both single and double breasted. But when linen coat is worn as an odd jacket, with grey or white flannel trousers, it has a belted fancy back.

· Homespun Tweed Blazer

This next picture is from Summer of '36:

Last thread I posted a picture of a red blazer of home spun tweed, observed at Bermuda. Well, this time here is the correct bold striped version that is never observed these days.

This is Eden Roc at Cap d’ Antibes, which has really no beach but just steps that have been carved out of rocks I guess. The person on your left wearing a blazer is supposedly an Englishman and the one your right is a Frenchman. The Englishman wears a polo shirt underneath, a 3 button SB notched lapel blazer (with all 3 patch pockets) of terrycloth with a muffler to match, light blue-grey mohair crash beach trousers, and a pair of Basque canvas espadrilles with rope soles. You can also have the blazer in cotton flannel or combination of other fabrics.

Before going on any further, this should be explained…Observe the color of the pants. This color is totally or almost gone these days from RTW market. It is a derivative of the ever light shade of grey except this one carries a hint of blue in it also. Crash usually refers to a rough textured fabric produced by combining thick and uneven yarns in weaving. It can be of wool (above in the picture), cotton, rayon, linen or blends of fibers. Originally worn by the Egyptians some four thousand years ago and much used in their dress. It has long been used as a toweling.

Now back to the picture…the Frenchman on the right wears a beret (long lost its following in US even pre-30s), ribbed swimming trunks and the new (back then) fish net beach shirt with crew neck which was introduced at St. Tropez. This is a reminder of the era when shirtless bathing was still prohibited on many beaches around the world.

Other Colors and Patterns

· Off-Whites

Apparel Arts summer 1932 (cont'd):

Cream, Havana brown, green and white in just that order of importance are the outstanding notes in suitings. Worn as suits, odd jackets, or odd sports trousers. In single breasted, double breasted, and semi-Norfolk models. Linen, Natural Color, is of vital importance. This is really the first time that men in society who come to Palm Beach have ever in number deviated from the traditional white as the color for linen, and incidentally of more than passing importance is the more practical quality of this natural color linen, in that it does not soil as readily. Ranking with natural linen is the acceptance here of Ninghai silk suits, and this same fabric as an odd sports jacket material made in the semi-Norfolk model.

…& how right they were! Indeed in the years to follow off-shades of white were best recommended for smart dressing (in suiting & evening formal wear jackets) in stead of the usual plain white. This as noted above were the beginnings of this tradition that still exists in out times regarding light colored suits and jackets.

Note that this practice of wearing off-shades of white did not necessarily start out of economic necessity but was a combination of other things as well. Most dominant in all of those was the “step-and-a-half-ahead” theory of smart dressers. These people, as I have written before, constantly “filtered” with color brackets and established norms. When black considered was most correct for formal wear they invented Oxford grey for formal day wear and mid-night blue for evening wear to distinguish them from everyone else….and later to justify their practice established the wonderful story of mid-night blue appearing darker than black in artificial light. No matter what you say…I can easily spot a midnight blue apart from true black in any artificial light and I don’t quite buy their nice little story…however entertaining.

Or that light off-shades of whites are more economical / practical than pure white. These people were dominantly of the affluent class and as such being economical in color of their jackets was not even of the least bit concern to them. Throughout the 30s this circular movement of smart-dressers and their followers…was seen over and over again.

· Stone Gray and Striped Trousers

Impressively important is the tremendous number of white linen sports coats, single and double breasted, with emphasis on the double breasted coat worn with stone grey flannel trousers. Plain bright colored espadrilles, worn for on as well as off the beach wear in white, yellow, red, Palm Beach blue, and coral, with quite a few of the umbrella striping also being worn. In odd trousers, stripes worn by the older men. Small hound’s tooth checks, white and stone grey are the important thing. Gray double breasted flannel sports coat.

This stone grey color that they are referring to is an extremely light shade of grey that is rarely seen in our day and age. Due to its lightness it was not only appropriate for summer / resort wear but also went well when pairing up with other lighter colors such as in odd grey slacks with natural linen or with white ones.

Here it is the mention of striped trousers (mostly light grey chalk striped) to be worn underneath the jackets. This was a hide-and-seek game again. These pants usually were considered too old fashioned for the younger crowd but the young ones did not hesitated even the least bit…when they felt like picking it up again. Oh and “young ones” meant people in their mid to late 30s or 40s, Not men in their 20s or something.

It is a very classy look that is almost never done these days. Best possible example is with a navy blue flannel jacket (with plain not gold buttons) or maybe a solid cashmere / alpaca cardigan for a more relaxed look. Think of semi-formal daywear combination where a darker jacket takes the light colored patterned trousers…this combination of blue jacket and grey striped pants is no different. However, formality vise it will be still and odd jacket/ pants combination unlike the semi formal day version of this. It should be mentioned that this look of blue plain jacket and striped grey flannels, works best with black shoes unlike most odd jacket / pants combination. It is one of the more formal odd jacket/pants combination and as such correctly takes a black lace up (preferably on a town last) rather than a heavy suede blucher or likewise. You can try to pair it up with a more casual brown shoe but the effect will be somewhat strange & unusual.

· Plaid and Checked Jackets

Black and white checks in sports jackets. Shetlands, tweeds and linen (That’s new) , worn with grey flannel trousers. Glen Urquhart plaids and over plaids as well as shepherd’s checks. The latter very important, in cheviot and worsted jackets with belted backs.

Here is something extremely relevant to what is prescribed above. From summer of 34’:

First and foremost the single most important thing worth mentioning in this illustration is that the jacket is Not of Tweed Shetland variety as you would naturally think but of Cotton!....made to replicate the look of tweed for summer weather. Clever isn’t it? A best example, that emerged from Newport and Southampton during the 30s. These were woven in such a way that you could not tell the difference between an actual tweed one and a cotton one from even fifteen feet. Available at the time in various versions of hounds tooth pattern, this one carried an extension tab at the slit of one lapel, which buttoned over when the collar was tuned up. This obviously obviated the need for an extra muffler after a session of exertion under the summer sun…especially if the tie was not worn.

The shirt is of white oxford with soft buttoned down attached collar, and that at the time was probably the next best shirt to a proper mesh tennis shirt (worn especially for tennis). White flannels are appropriate on and off the court, for summer resort wear. However, light grey flannel can be substituted here without much pain. Tie is of brown, yellow and reddish stripe. The shoes are brown and white (buckskin) combination with rubber soles and with their brown calf trim is suitable for general resort wear. Note the plain white socks, which are made of lightweight wool. Remember, that is only correct to wear them in the above mentioned setting, i.e. for summer / resort / country wear with proper sport clothes. White socks are never worn with town suitings.

As they said that there is a first time for everything and as such, that was the season (summer 34’) when for the first time…washable representations of Scotch Plaids appeared for summer wear. It was recommended best for smart dressing because it avoided the bulkiness and weight of tweeds meanwhile providing the same elegant look. It is extremely important to remember that back in those days the idea of wearing light-weight tweeds was not that popular. Tweeds were heavy and were worn as they were supposed to be. In my opinion, there is absolutely no sense in having a tweed garment made in light weight (especially today when it is getting harder and harder to buy them as it is). If you are going through the trouble of commissioning a bespoke tweed garment, for havens sake make sure it is in proper weight to fully provide you with necessary warmth and the drape that tweed is so famous for. If you want to opt for lighter weights…skip them altogether & go for flannels or have something made like above.

White Gabardine

From Apparel Arts summer 1934:

Among the harder working fabrics whose utility makes them suitable for a verity of purposes is white gabardine. The uses of white gabardine are many—it is employed for suits, for sport jackets and trousers and is very often used for white dinner jackets. It has unusual draping qualities when tailored correctly and always has a crisp, cool look to it.

Remember here that the average summer weight for Gabardine was about 12-13 oz back then hence it’s draping qualities.

An important revival: the time honored combination of blue coat and white flannel trousers. Once before this was almost synonymous with Newport and with correctness, but its adoption by every last jazz orchestra in the country killed it as a high fashion item. Now it has reappeared, worn by men who count. This coat is almost invariably double breasted, by the way.

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