1930s/1940s Casual Color Coordination

[Sebastien Basset]

I'm going to throw out a bunch of more general style questions in a row in regards to 1930s and 40s color coordination. What are good choices when it comes to trouser colors, colors that work well in most situations, work well with tweed sport coats, work well with brown or black brogues (or spectators), work with good old white shirts? What are good "universal" colors/styles for pullover cardigans/sweater vests of that period? Finally, what are tie colors/patterns that work with most casual combinations? Thank you in advance and I apologize if a thread already exists that answers my questions, if so, I would greatly appreciate a link.

 

[Benny Holiday]

Hi Sebastien, my first recommendation is to go into the Suits thread and look through the first entry, a sticky with a huge range of vintage menswear catalogue scans, and see what colours work together to your liking as depicted there. Secondly, have a look at some movies set in the Golden Era. A couple of my favourites are Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Devil in a Blue Dress, and Bugsy. Being colour films, you can get a good handle on what vintage colour palettes work on living, breathing people.

I have two basic colour schemes, one is blue/grey/black and other is yellow/brown/green. My most basic idea of mixing colours comes from the Tucker film. Some colours can be mixed more versatilely, such as red; a red tie or gab shirt works with both grey and tan; yellow works with both grey and browns.

Also, the right shades of grey and brown/tan can work together, as shown in Tucker in the scene where the car is revealed to the public for the first time - the title character wears a light grey suits with two-tone brown shoes and a brown tie.

Find your own inspiration and have fun!

 

[Sebastien Basset]

Hi Sebastien, my first recommendation is to go into the Suits thread and look through the first entry, a sticky with a huge range of vintage menswear catalogue scans, and see what colours work together to your liking as depicted there. Secondly, have a look at some movies set in the Golden Era. A couple of my favourites are Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Devil in a Blue Dress, and Bugsy. Being colour films, you can get a good handle on what vintage colour palettes work on living, breathing people.

I have two basic colour schemes, one is blue/grey/black and other is yellow/brown/green. My most basic idea of mixing colours comes from the Tucker film. Some colours can be mixed more versatilely, such as red; a red tie or gab shirt works with both grey and tan; yellow works with both grey and browns.

Also, the right shades of grey and brown/tan can work together, as shown in Tucker in the scene where the car is revealed to the public for the first time - the title character wears a light grey suits with two-tone brown shoes and a brown tie.

Find your own inspiration and have fun!

Thank you! I watched some clips from the films you've mentioned and looked through some old catalogs and I have a very good idea of what color combinations work for the era. I've been trying to plan out a new wardrobe and have been trying to nail down staples of casual and semi-formal fashion for it.

 

[Rabbit]

Look at catalogue ads and magazines, as Benny said. A word of caution, though:
The color rendition of these scans, collected from all over the web, is often not quite accurate. You'll find wine socks that look scarlet, and light sage suits that look light grey (and vice versa), etc. When looking at catalogue or magazine scans, always consider what it could be, too.

The Esquire illustration are especially helpful in my opinion, and at the same time especially tricky in terms of color rendition.
Quoting myself from the Esquire thread about the what and how of these illustrations:
The content of these images, having been discussed over and over again on various boards, is well known. Their origin, however, is not self-evident and deserves to be mentioned here.
The combinations that you see in these drawings are not inventions of Laurence Fellows and escorts, designed to target retailers and customers. Rather, everything here depicts what the fashion observers in metropoles and resorts all over the globe witnessed as the latest quirks of the upper class. We therefore see what was actually worn, and not what the fashion industry might think one should wear. Of course, the drawings depict the clothing preferences of only a tiny percentage of the population - of those who had both the means and the inclination to develop their taste in clothes to such degree. Today's equivalent of this part of the population still has the means, but apparently not the inclination to follow the footsteps of their antecessors, which is why we still come back to these magazines...
You'll find the scans here:
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/show...42-L-Fellows&p=1792712&viewfull=1#post1792712

 

[esteban68]

The Esquire illustrations are my go to style guide!

 

[Benny Holiday]

Excellently stated as always, Rabbit.