# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/41 "2009-02-28T18:03:52Z")
My grandfather, who died in 1995 at the age of seventy-four, never left his house without his hat, unless going to work (construction laborer). My father, born in 1942, never wore a hat in his life. When did the hat die out? ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/42 "2009-02-28T18:14:43Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > 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? I’m willing to bet back in 1948 there was some guy bemoaning the fact that people didn’t still wear cravats, frock coats and ascots. Styles change (If you ask me and my mom(who’s 80)) sometimes for the better. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/43 "2009-02-28T18:52:33Z")
One thing to keep in mind, when viewing pre-1960’s people dressed up for leisure, is that relatively few people wore suits to work in those days. Professional office workers did, of course, but there were far fewer of them. Most people worked in factories, or on farms, or as manual laborers. They wore work clothes to work and dressed up on weekends–rather the reverse of later. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/44 "2009-02-28T18:59:47Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I’m willing to bet back in 1948 there was some guy bemoaning the fact that people didn’t still wear cravats, frock coats and ascots. Styles change (If you ask me and my mom(who’s 80)) sometimes for the better. I went to a presentation last October, about the Gibson Girls who had flapper daughters - the generation gap has always been there! ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/45 "2009-02-28T19:25:42Z")
People back then had one reason to look sharper then us; their clothes were often tailored to their build. If you can’t rely on elastic waistbands, and elastic weaves and “oversized fashion”, clothes will actually have to, you know, _fit_. Ass mass production for clothes hadn’t taken off yet, and many women still sowed (sewed?) and altered clothes for their own families, clothes must have fitted better the person wearing them. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/46 "2009-02-28T19:48:58Z")
Here’s another [1933 depression pic.](http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/24877/images/ccc_planting_crew_at_humboldt_redwoods_in_1935.jpg) Gee, why did everybody back in those days look like these guys? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/47 "2009-02-28T19:53:45Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > People back then had one reason to look sharper then us; their clothes were often tailored to their build. If you can’t rely on elastic waistbands, and elastic weaves and “oversized fashion”, clothes will actually have to, you know, _fit_. Ass mass production for clothes hadn’t taken off yet, and many women still sowed (sewed?) and altered clothes for their own families, clothes must have fitted better the person wearing them. I’m trying to figure out whether you’re joking, but I’m guussing you’re not. Clothes had been mass produced since at lead the middle of the 19th century. People sewed to patch clothes, they have sewed to shorten cuffs, but that’s a very far cry from saying most families wore custom tailored clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/48 "2009-02-28T20:12:29Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > So when did this all change, from nice clothes as the default to T-shirts and shorts? Was it during the 60’s? Lousy hippies ruined everything. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/49 "2009-02-28T20:27:54Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > So when did this all change, from nice clothes as the default to T-shirts and shorts? Was it during the 60’s? I blame leisure suits. They were so ugly that _anything_ was an improvement. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/50 "2009-02-28T20:28:28Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > My grandfather, who died in 1995 at the age of seventy-four, never left his house without his hat, unless going to work (construction laborer). My father, born in 1942, never wore a hat in his life. When did the hat die out? I think the 60s. Kennedy wore a hat to his inauguration, but to my knowledge he was pretty much the last one. ---
**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, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/51 "2009-02-28T21:52:21Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I’m willing to bet back in 1948 there was some guy bemoaning the fact that people didn’t still wear cravats, frock coats and ascots. Styles change (If you ask me and my mom(who’s 80)) sometimes for the better. Well, I am definitely more comfortable than I would be wearing a tailored dress with darts (gain or lose 5 pounds and you look terrible), a girdle, a slip, stockings, garters and heels. So that’s decidedly ‘better’ feeling! I am not sure how my husband would feel about the stockings and garters, however. He might be in favour. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/52 "2009-02-28T22:54:48Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > ..Clothes had been mass produced since at lead the middle of the 19th century. People sewed to patch clothes, they have sewed to shorten cuffs, but that’s a very far cry from saying most families wore custom tailored clothes. Oh, I could be wrong. My source are two year’s worth of bound editions of Libelle, the Dutch version of “Ladies home journal” from the late 30’s. Each issue has a pattern for a dress or coat. Each issue has an corner where questions on sowing are answered. There’s even a page where people asked for monograms to be designed for them, based on their initials, so the young engaged women can embroider these monograms on their sheets and towels. Sewing yourself just seems the default, based on those old magazines. And bear in mind these were general interest ladies magazines, not sewing magazines. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/53 "2009-02-28T23:06:58Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > That’s just an effect of the photographic process. As film ages, people appear whiter. For example, check out this photo of famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass. > > And here’s one from the early career of Sidney Poitier. See what I mean? Eerie isn’t it. This is probably one of the most subtle and well-executed whooshes I’ve seen in a while. I gotta give you props. Hook, line and sinker. Thanks for the more informative links, too. > [@Monstera deliciosa](#): > > All silliness aside, are you familiar with the work of James Van Der Zee or other African-American photographers of the era? I wasn’t. Thanks for the links and info! > [@Boyo Jim](#): > > I’m trying to figure out whether you’re joking, but I’m guussing you’re not. Clothes had been mass produced since at lead the middle of the 19th century. People sewed to patch clothes, they have sewed to shorten cuffs, but that’s a very far cry from saying most families wore custom tailored clothes. Maybe things were different in Maastricht. Hostile Dialect, Hostile Dialect, Narcissist ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/54 "2009-03-01T00:16:50Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > here’s a GQ about that: were the crowds at baseball games back then (pre 1930’s) mostly from the upper classes? Did people dress so nicely because it was important not to look like the lower-class rabble who did the dirty work?. > > Society was much more class-conscious back then, with much less social mobility. > How much did a ticket cost, relative to a factory worker’s wages? I"m only answering your question about the cost of a ticket at that time. The Washington Senator’s ticket prices, in 1925, were as follows– reserved grandstand $1 First five rows in reserved grandstand $1.25 Box seats $1.50 The daily wage of a clerk type person that year was about $5. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/55 "2009-03-01T00:26:36Z")
Sounds roughly equivalent to a minimum-wage earner (in California) paying $12.50 for the cheapest ticket. That’s about right for modern Padres ticket prices, except that you can now pay $5 or $8 for the absolute shittiest standing-room-only tickets. Hostile Dialect, Hostile Dialect, Narcissist ---
**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:** [March 1, 2009, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/56 "2009-03-01T02:19:58Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > I don’t think everybody wore suits everywhere in the era, though. I’ve seen photos from the 1930s and 1940s that show people doing everyday errands [wearing more casual clothing](http://www.flickr.com/photos/false_profit65/3027099509/). Good point. It’s worth keeping in mind that a disproportionately large number of photos and films in that era were taken in and around large cities, chiefly New York, simply because there was no “information industry” as we know it today anywhere else but there and Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![andiepandie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ba0ec/32.png) [@andiepandie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andiepandie)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/57 "2009-03-01T02:50:28Z")
Obviously, standards of dress vary from place to place and culture to culture. I spend a lot of time in Barbados, and I’m always amazed at how well-dressed the locals (in particular, the women) are, even though most of them make very little money in Western standards. All the kids wear uniforms to school, and I can’t imagine any Bajan woman going to church without a hat. Wearing a bathing suit anywhere other than the beach is seriously frowned upon (although many tourists don’t seem to know and/or care about this) and most locals dress up when going to the city. There are exceptions to these rules, but from my experience they seem to apply more often than not. ---
**Author:** ![2ply](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/b2d939/32.png) [@2ply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ply)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/58 "2009-03-01T03:42:05Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > My grandfather, who died in 1995 at the age of seventy-four, never left his house without his hat, unless going to work (construction laborer). My father, born in 1942, never wore a hat in his life. When did the hat die out? When men began to use shampoo regularly. In the US, that would have been pretty soon after WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/59 "2009-03-01T04:09:21Z")
I once heard the advent of the automobile helped the hat die out, at least once it became so close inside that you had to remove it to sit inside. I was told my paternal grandfather, born 1876 – no, that’s not a typo, 1876 – would even wash the dishes after dinner in his work suit, complete with necktie. ---
**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:** [March 2, 2009, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735/60 "2009-03-02T00:40:26Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > Oh, I could be wrong. My source are two year’s worth of bound editions of Libelle, the Dutch version of “Ladies home journal” from the late 30’s. Each issue has a pattern for a dress or coat. Each issue has an corner where questions on sowing are answered. There’s even a page where people asked for monograms to be designed for them, based on their initials, so the young engaged women can embroider these monograms on their sheets and towels. Sewing yourself just seems the default, based on those old magazines. And bear in mind these were general interest ladies magazines, not sewing magazines. Well, just because a magazine offered a pattern for a “just like Paris” dress, doesn’t mean that each and every reader went off and made it; a lot of people, then and now, just like to dream about what they’ll make “as soon as I get around to it”. 🙂 I have stacks of magazine-insert pattern sheets (literally hundreds) from the 1890’s-1920’s, and even the older ones, when sewing was more common, are almost all unused. Monograms, etc, were often more of a necessity than a ornament because sheets and like articles would be sent out to commercial laundries, where they would get washed in the same batch as stuff from a dozen other families, and you had to be able to sort out what belonged to whom afterwards (the other choice was to write on the article in indelible ink, which isn’t as pretty). It’s true that a lot of women in the 10’s-30’s sewed some of their families’ clothing, and were encouraged to do so on grounds of both economy and style, but if you look at actual studies of what women of the era made and how, the average woman was most likely to make underwear, nightclothes, housedresses, and the simpler kinds of children’s clothing; things that fit easily and didn’t need to be perfect. A typical housewife was very unlikely to make, for example, her winter coat or a man’s suit (or anything else that would require tailoring). Especially in the US, unless the lady was unusually skilled or determined most clothing intended to be seen by the public would be bought ready-made or custom-made (if you could afford it). Altering ready-to-wear was fairly common, but the typical changes were not enormous (shortening the skirt, taking in the waist, etc). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-come-people-were-so-well-dressed-in-1933/487735.md?page=4)