THE THREE-PIECE SUIT

The standard three-piece suit was worn throughout society. For gentlemen accustomed to more formal dress for business and socialising, a lounge suit offered a contemporary, easier weekend alternative. The average working man wore his suit for virtually every occasion: for work, on the football terraces, in the pub, to church and weddings. Firm notions of ‘decency’ prevailed and only for manual work or relaxing indoors were jackets removed: in polite society the waistcoat was never discarded.

Blue or grey shirts were popular with manual workers, crisp white shirts in the office, the white linen ‘boiled shirt’ with stiffly-starched front still correct for formal day wear. Starched rounded collars were fashionable after the war, lightly starched or un-starched collars an alternative, modern trend. Yet ‘white-collar’ workers (a widely-used term during the 1920s) had to wear formal starched collars: even a traditional winged collar was fashionable.