# How Come People Were So Well-Dressed in 1933? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 28, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735 "2009-02-28T00:42:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/1 "2009-02-28T00:42:25Z")
See the photo:[http://drudgereport.com/](http://drudgereport.com/) It is astounding-that in the middle of the great depression, gys in a soup line were well dresse? I wonder what a soup kitchen line looks like today? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/2 "2009-02-28T00:44:26Z")
The was a depression, not an oil shortage, so there was plenty of gress. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/3 "2009-02-28T01:01:24Z")
The depression was sudden and lasting. I still wear nice clothes that I bought years ago: don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/4 "2009-02-28T01:02:45Z")
I see coats and hats. What, you think they should stand in line wearing barrels? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/5 "2009-02-28T01:11:13Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > See the photo:[http://drudgereport.com/](http://drudgereport.com/) > It is astounding-that in the middle of the great depression, gys in a soup line were well dresse? I wonder what a soup kitchen line looks like today? Sorry if I"m missing it. Where was it said that was a line for a soup kitchen? It could have been. I just didn’t go looking for the attribution for the photograph. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/6 "2009-02-28T01:40:03Z")
I don’t get “well-dressed” from that photo. That’s the way people dressed back then. For all you know, those could be second-hand clothes with patches. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/7 "2009-02-28T01:41:15Z")
They’re all wearing coats-their clothes underneath could be shabby. They’re probably older items, and people really didn’t wear jeans back then. Besides, Drudge is known for sensationalism. What’s his point? ---
**Author:** ![JR\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JR\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JR_Brown)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/8 "2009-02-28T01:46:40Z")
Because that’s what people _wore_ in 1933. If you were poor, you had one suit and one shirt and you wore them every day. Casual clothing, and especially “business casual”, pretty much didn’t exist: jeans meant you worked as a manual laborer and khakis meant you were about to play a game of tennis. At all other times when not in your own living room you wore a suit, period. ---
**Author:** ![Race\_Harley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Race\_Harley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Race_Harley)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/9 "2009-02-28T02:06:35Z")
Hat and overcoats makes someone well-dressed?!? OK. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/10 "2009-02-28T02:17:17Z")
> [@JR\_Brown](#): > > Because that’s what people _wore_ in 1933. If you were poor, you had one suit and one shirt and you wore them every day. Casual clothing, and especially “business casual”, pretty much didn’t exist: jeans meant you worked as a manual laborer and khakis meant you were about to play a game of tennis. White duck pants meant tennis; khakis meant you were in the army. > [@](#): > > At all other times when not in your own living room you wore a suit, period. Even at home, the head of household often stayed dressed to befit his role. My grandpa, born in 1899, dressed his best even when stuck at home out of work in the 30s - you never knew when an interview might come up. Even on weekends a man often wore an old pair of suit pants to do chores in. (Remember chores?) ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/11 "2009-02-28T02:22:36Z")
> [@JR\_Brown](#): > > Because that’s what people _wore_ in 1933. If you were poor, you had one suit and one shirt and you wore them every day. Casual clothing, and especially “business casual”, pretty much didn’t exist: jeans meant you worked as a manual laborer and khakis meant you were about to play a game of tennis. At all other times when not in your own living room you wore a suit, period. If I look at old pictures, from the 1930s to the 1950s, I notice that adults dressed like _adults_. You just did not see grown-up people walking around wearing running shoes, tee-shirts, shorts, and so on. Women wore dresses and skirts, even if it was a housedress. Men wore suits and ties and hats. These days, honestly, adults (me included) dress like children who are going out to play. We’ve taken this dress for leisure or sport thing and taken it all the way. Can you imagine going to the grocery store in shorts, a tank top and sandals if it was July 1948? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/12 "2009-02-28T02:35:44Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I don’t get “well-dressed” from that photo. That’s the way people dressed back then. For all you know, those could be second-hand clothes with patches. The people in that photo were not average people from that time. I’d still like for someone to tell me when that photo was taken, by whom, where, and what the occasion was. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/13 "2009-02-28T02:41:43Z")
I’m gonna take a WAG and say that the photo is of a bank run, sometime in the 1929-33 period, in a major city such as NY. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/14 "2009-02-28T02:45:24Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > The people in that photo were not average people from that time. > > I’d still like for someone to tell me when that photo was taken, by whom, where, and what the occasion was. [“Some of the thousands of job seekers who lined up outside a state Labor Bureau office New York City in November 1933, amid the Great Depression.”](http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-11-03-economy-depression-recession_N.htm) USA Today caption of an AP file photo. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/15 "2009-02-28T02:58:31Z")
Shirts and ties were fairly common attire, even for the middle classes, if these pictures of my great-uncle during the 1920’s are any indication (both taken during family vacations): [Part of the scenery](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_dQuacLNyX8E/SainhJMHAmI/AAAAAAAACrY/SXsyACrW9XA/s1600-h/Outstanding...with+Tie+(Medium).jpg) [Rowboat](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dQuacLNyX8E/SainhcQLFyI/AAAAAAAACrg/L1cHlX0_mes/s1600-h/Uncle+Harry+Rowing+(Captioned)+(Medium).jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Unsquare\_Dance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b3f665/32.png) [@Unsquare\_Dance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unsquare_Dance)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/16 "2009-02-28T03:21:01Z")
But remember you’re never fully gressed without a smile. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/17 "2009-02-28T03:28:53Z")
In case it wasn’t obvious I changed the last word of the thread title to “Gressed” from “Dressed.” ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/18 "2009-02-28T03:35:58Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > [“Some of the thousands of job seekers who lined up outside a state Labor Bureau office New York City in November 1933, amid the Great Depression.”](http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-11-03-economy-depression-recession_N.htm) > > USA Today caption of an AP file photo. Nice catch! May I ask how you located that image? Anyway, as far as the OP goes: if they’re standing in line hoping to get a job, it stands to reason that they’d be at their best-dressed, given the circumstances. Except for that one guy back there, not even wearing a tie. No job for you today, Babe Ruth. Check out Don Ameche standing all alone there. What’s he up to? Waiting for a good moment to cut in line, no doubt. “Dammit, a photographer!” Caught in the act, Ameche. People had more interesting faces back then. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/19 "2009-02-28T04:11:24Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > Nice catch! May I ask how you located that image? Just a Google image search for 1933 + depression. On the second page of results I found a blog that reprinted the article I linked to, and the blogger nicely included the URL of the article he’d duplicated. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/20 "2009-02-28T05:26:28Z")
I’ve always marveled at the same thing – that people in photos from the 30s, 40s, and 50s, were always so well-dressed. Women in dresses and heels, and men in suits and hats, all the time. Here are some photos I found that perfectly illustrate what I mean: [Well-dressed couple walking, 1949](http://www.flickr.com/photos/singne/326960621/in/pool-walkingpics) [Fashionable ladies 1944](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ann-alto/1122283306/in/pool-walkingpics) [Atlantic City 1938](http://www.flickr.com/photos/bcgreeneiv/3097532512/in/pool-1930s) [Glamour girl, late 1940s](http://www.flickr.com/photos/cameragirl/2846194171/in/pool-1940-1950) [Handsome couple, 1940s](http://www.flickr.com/photos/fiver13/3041251412/in/pool-1940-1950) [Three pretty ladies, 1940s](http://www.flickr.com/photos/striderv/3201496581/in/pool-1940-1950) [Well-dressed people in New York](http://www.flickr.com/photos/40045986@N00/3242544803/in/pool-1940-1950) [Even farm girls dressed up!](http://www.flickr.com/photos/81918828@N00/3193576690/in/pool-1940-1950) [Very stylish threesome](http://www.flickr.com/photos/huffstutterrobertl/3141560353/in/pool-651657@N20) [Two beautiful girls, 1946](http://www.flickr.com/photos/badwsky/524004378/in/pool-576741@N20) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735.md?page=2)