THE 20TH CENTURY (Men's Fashion)

By the 20th century, large numbers of men all around the world had adopted the middle-class men’s suit that originated in England. Its basic design has not been altered substantially since 1860, although shoulder widths, lapel widths, the number and placement of buttons, and other details have varied. Most suits in the 19th and early 20th centuries consisted of three pieces: jacket, trousers, and vest (previously known as a waistcoat). Most men gradually abandoned the vest after about 1960.

The average suit style has a life expectancy of five to ten years, during which fashion does not stand still. A constant flow of color and pattern ideas freshens styles each season. Fabric fashions also go through cycles. Staples such as tweed, a coarse, multicolored woolen fabric, may disappear from the fashion scene for as long as ten years, only to be rediscovered for another cycle.

Throughout the 20th century, the basic trend in suiting fabrics has been toward ever lighter weights. Improved heating in the home and better transportation facilities have minimized the importance of warmth in clothing. Since 1900 the weight of the average suiting fabric has been cut by more than one-third. When really warm clothes are needed, there is a tendency to adopt specialized garments such as parkas, which are often made of synthetic materials.

The first decade of the 20th century saw the transition from the knee-length frock coats of the 1880s and 1890s to the shorter jackets of the 20th century. Men of the upper classes generally wore a jacket known as a morning coat during the day. It might be worn with matching trousers or with a contrasting vest and striped pants. A cartoon of the period shows an elderly woman talking to a young man wearing the modern style of business suit: “Don't tell me you're going to propose to my grand-daughter wearing a business suit?” she demands. “Why not?” he replies. “I mean business.”

The morning coat increasingly became reserved for formal occasions, such as very formal weddings and diplomatic functions. Tailcoats or cutaways (jackets cut short with tails at the back) were worn for formal evening events. In the United States the tuxedo gained popularity for formal eveningwear. It is presumably named after the town of Tuxedo Park in New York, where it was first worn in 1886. The move toward more casual dressing over the course of the century meant a decline in the use of formal apparel.

By 1910 the fashionable man’s daytime suit had a single-breasted jacket with narrow lapels and high buttons, and slim, straight trousers. This basic look has remained on the fashion scene ever since. The first lightweight suit of cotton seersucker appeared in 1908, but the summer suit did not become fashionable in the United States until the 1930s.

Trousers were widened during the 1920s. The following decade saw British tailors bring out the so-called English drape. This suit had a square, military shoulder line, a double-breasted front (front with a large overlap) that was very full across the chest and back, and a sharply nipped-in waistline. The duke of Windsor sponsored the style, and the Windsor jacket, which incorporates its basic features, was named after him. The style also called for trousers with pleats in front.

The concept of a separate category of apparel for sporting activities came into being in the 1920s, even though special clothes for hunting and horseback riding existed as early as the 18th century. The so-called pink coat (actually scarlet) worn by fox hunters in Britain developed early in the 19th century. For boating and other 19th-century leisure activities, Englishmen wore a boldly striped blazer jacket. Bicyclists, both male and female, often wore specialized apparel, such as bloomer-like trousers. By the early 20th century some tennis players sported white flannel trousers and white sweaters.

The first important sportswear fashion in the United States was a horizontally striped knit shirt copied from the Basque fishermen of northern Spain. First adopted by polo players, the Basque shirt was renamed the polo shirt, and it enjoyed enormous popularity in the 1920s before settling down to become a summer staple. The lumberjack shirt in plaid wool became fashionable in the 1930s after having been worn for years as work clothing by Canadian woodsmen.

During World War II fabric shortages and government regulations strongly influenced clothing design. The zoot suit, a flamboyant style popular with young men in the early 1940s, was outlawed in the United States because its long, broad jacket and baggy pants used too much fabric. Rayon mixtures came into favor for summer suits in about 1940.

After the war ended in 1945, tailors restyled the English drape with long lapels and a wider waist. Restricted to solid-color fabrics during the war, the public went on a multicolor pattern spree afterward. Wide pencil stripes, outsize plaids, and vivid checks found favor. The trend was designated the bold look. Accessories included wide ties in vivid colors and conspicuous patterns, shirts with wide collar points, and wide-brimmed hats.

The clothing excesses of the years immediately after the war were followed by a strict middle-of-the-road fashion: a single-breasted suit with narrower shoulders and lapels. The double-breasted jacket disappeared from the scene for a few years, and the matching vest vanished entirely. The fashion pendulum continued its swing toward the narrower silhouette and darker colors of traditional prewar clothing. The year 1950 heralded the arrival of the charcoal-gray flannel suit in the business world. Summer suits received a boost from polyester, which was introduced in summer clothing in the early 1950s. Blended with rayon or cotton, polyester was used to make wash-and-wear fabrics that needed little or no ironing.

The long dominance of London's custom tailors began to break down after World War II. The bold look in men’s clothing signaled Italian and American fashion independence from Britain, where designers still adhered to fairly conservative styles. The continental look emerged in the late 1950s in Italy. It featured shorter jackets with side vents (slits toward the bottom) and extremely wide collars, and slacks without cuffs. The look became popular among young men in England and contributed to the development of the mod style in the 1960s.

Italy emerged as early as the 1950s as the major source of men's sportswear fashion ideas. Italian manufacturers popularized knit shirts with wide collars and tapered slacks. California was another source of sportswear ideas. California sportswear designers were largely responsible for the success of Western clothes, an American innovation. The Stetson hat, dungarees, blue jeans, and embroidered shirts, all worn originally by cowboys and prospectors in the West, became prominent U.S. fashions. 

The youth fashions that developed in London during the 1960s owed more to Italian and American fashion innovations than they did to traditional English custom tailoring. Young men who identified themselves as mods wore slim, streamlined jackets with tapered pants. In the 1960s fashion designers such as Pierre Cardin began making menswear as well as womenswear.

By the middle of the 1960s mods had given way to hippies, who tended to abandon suits and sports jackets altogether in favor of army coats or denim jackets. There was also a brief fad for Nehru jackets, which were inspired by the traditional men's coats of northern India. Some Nehru jackets were made of luxurious materials such as antique paisley shawls. In the early 1970s men’s garments became more flamboyant in design, color, and fabric. Young men began to wear brightly printed multicolored shirts and slacks, and the use of fabrics such as velvet, silk, and satin in menswear was revived.

Menswear designers imitated the styles launched by young men; they emphasized shaped, slightly flared, longer jackets with deep vents and belted backs. Trousers were pleated in front and flared at the bottom. Colored shirts came into fashion in the late 1960s and early 1970s, replacing the white shirt that had long been standard. The so-called peacock revolution was short-lived, however, and by the second half of the 1970s menswear had again become relatively sober.

The traditionally styled suit, long considered a must for business wear, became less important. By the 1960s many men wore a sports jacket in offices across the country. This jacket is cut much like a suit jacket but is in a different fabric from the slacks it is worn with. By the late 1960s and early 1970s traditionally styled suits were no longer the required dress in many areas. However, the so-called dress for success movement of the 1970s and 1980s brought back the suit as a sign of power for both men and women.


In the 1980s Armani and other Italian designers profoundly influenced the cut of men's suits. The Italian look featured a looser, more comfortable fit, using softer materials in neutral colors such as camel. Over the course of the decade, shoulders became broader. Padded shoulders became standard for women as well as for men, a style known as the power look or the executive look. By the 1990s suits had slimmed down again, but they retained the easy elegance that distinguished the Italian look from the stiffer look of East Coast retailers in the United States, such as Brooks Brothers.

Although the suit remained the basic garment of the male wardrobe, the trend was toward more casual dressing. This trend even found its way into the workplace with the introduction of casual Fridays by many companies. In some companies the dressing down of casual Fridays now extends throughout the week. The business suit shows few signs of disappearing in western Europe and Japan, however.

As dress has become less formal, men have become increasingly concerned with style, color, and patterns in their clothing. Participation in sports has also influenced men's clothing. To begin with, it has increased the size of the male wardrobe: golf, tennis, and skiing, for example, require specific apparel. Beyond this, a growing emphasis has been placed on functionalism in clothing. Athletic shoes, for example, are worn on the street, as well as during athletic activities. Today many top fashion designers have casual sportswear lines, for example the Emporio Armani line by Armani, that include casual items such as sweatshirts.

The most formal attire that most men ever wear is the dinner jacket or tuxedo, black trousers, a tie and cummerbund of black satin or grosgrain, and a white shirt. A white jacket is substituted during the summer. The tuxedo underwent stylistic changes in the 1960s, when designers began to produce dinner jackets in colors other than black or white. These jackets were worn with ruffled shirts and wide butterfly ties. This flamboyance in eveningwear tended to disappear in the 1990s, although teenagers still often rented tuxedos for their formal school dances.

Today, celebrity is more significant than social status in establishing fashion leadership. Musicians, actors, sports figures, and other performers frequently launch or popularize new fashions. The role of fashion leader has also been assumed by the manufacturers of men's apparel, who through advertising and public relations techniques are able to acquaint millions of men with a new fashion idea in a matter of weeks.