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Show Men's Fashion 'Authorities' Find Their Clients Stubborn: 4 ' Colorful Clothes Still Taboo Stylists Fight Century of 'Drabness' to Deck Mere Male in Modern Raiment This Spring; Mild Green Hues Win Favor First off, there's nothing wrong with that blue serge Sun-day-go-to-meetin' suit. But it's spring, and as usual the irrepressible men's fashion arbiters must have their say. For 10 years this valiant crew has been trying to make the American male conscious of style and color, but the American male is stubborn. It's expensive enough, he says, to keep the wife fashionably dressed without being a clothes horse yourself. But in spite of himself the master of the home is becoming something of a peacock, blossoming out each spring with more col-'S orful suits, shirts, ties and hats. Advance showings of clothing in the Merchandise Mart, Chicago, plainly show the trend. George Bryan Brummell, better known as Beau, died in 1840. Since then the prevailing pre-vailing colors of men's clothes, as if in mourning, have been somber black, dark blue, dull gray and subdued browns. During Beau Brummell' s lifetime and before, men's fashions In England, France and colonial America approached the apex of perfection, but as man became more interested in making a living he lost interest in his clothes. Now, say the fashion experts, we're emerging. Still in Infancy. This trend, however, is m the incubation in-cubation stage. So timid is man in his dress life and the use of color that he limits his indulgence to brightly hued pajamas, a red bathing bath-ing suit and an occasional green necktie. The designers of this year's spring and summer clothes had contemplated con-templated bright green to smash precedent but the men rebelled. The fashion experts then settled for off-shades off-shades like bluish green and greyish grey-ish green, a few group stripes and heather stripes. Considering the handicap, it was a signal victory. There's ample precedent for men's fashions, though let's hope the Twentieth Twen-tieth century male doesn't become so vain as that of the Eighteenth century whose wardrobe is described de-scribed by the historian, H. Dennis Bradley: "At least six coats of colored col-ored velvet and white satin, trimmed with gold and silver lace with perhaps per-haps one made in a plainer fashion for use on mournful occasions. With these he would have the choice of perhaps a dozen long waistcoats, made in blue satin, gold brocade, green silk, white satin, scarlet, black silk with fringes, all laced and embroidered em-broidered in colored silks. His wardrobe ward-robe also contained nine or ten pairs of breeches of velvet, satin and cloth; half a dozen three-cornered hats, silver laced, scalloped, laced with gold point d'Espagne, some with gold binding, and some bound plain; three dozen ruffled shirts and three dozen lace neck-cloths, and a like number of white silk, black silk, and fine cotton stockings; cambric and silk handkerchiefs galore; shoes adorned with buckles, set with diamonds; dia-monds; silver handled swords; silver sil-ver mounted pistols and as varied a choice of jewelry as his means would allow." Beau Brummell Brought Order. Later in the century Beau Brummell Brum-mell introduced a semblance of taste to this profusion of color. Employing Employ-ing fewer hues and blending them expertly, he strove for quiet good taste and introduced what is considered con-sidered today to be the essence of style the ability to wear clothes with an unconscious flair. American men's clothing hasn't always been dull. While the early Puritan fathers were straight-laced they were sufficiently style conscious to clothe themselves tastefully. Beginning in the 1850s, and influenced influ-enced by the industrial revolution in England and America, men's clothes and women's too, of course reflected re-flected the drabness of the times. Machinery tended to standardize all domains of life, not omitting fashion. fash-ion. Now that Victorianism has passed, fashion experts think man will become be-come "emancipated," as did women earlier in the century. Take it or leave it, here's a thumbnail sketch of modern men's fashions. Obviously Obvious-ly they were not designed to replace the time-tested overall: Mixed suits and trousers are fashionable, fash-ionable, with liberal use of color such as dark green coat with willow green slacks. Right now big yarn tweed is the rage on the Pacific coast, which is becoming the creative cre-ative center in both men's and women's wom-en's sports wear. Slack suits may run the range of color and fabrics, with rayons, cottons, linen, hopsack-ing, hopsack-ing, twills and poplins holding the edge. Coats Become Comfortable. That the prim dressed-up look of 10 or 15 years ago is passing, can be seen in topcoats. They're comfortable, com-fortable, loose and casual, usually made of fleeces, Shetland and cheviot. chev-iot. Popular off-shades, if the design de-sign is herringbone, plaid or small all-over effect, are between brown and black, black and white, gray and blue, or green and gray. The newest in rainwear is the gabardine gab-ardine or poplin coat developed with the use of a new water repellent i process which not only sheds rain but defies the laundryman or dry-cleaner. dry-cleaner. Hats of Tyrolean shapes, with sharp curl brim and conical crown, bedecked with trimmings like pins, badger brushes, braided and corded bands, are increasingly popular. Straw hats next summer will be soft, imitating the felts. As for color, col-or, green is showing up prominently. Shirts for spring and summer will have lighter grounds with simple stripes more widely spaced. Collar models are lower in front with a moderate spread to the points. Lighter fabrics are the rule and green in several shades, particularly 0 rilflfi ( fill Ifwv iif iiiii 'iff TODAY'S F ASIIIOTV PLATE A typical 1939 spring suit, well tailored and colorful, the type of apparel style authorities would like to popularize in their "emancipation" "emanci-pation" campaign. WHETS CLOTHES WERE CLOTHES Back in 1880, when America was more interested in-terested in its future than its clothes, the president of a great railroad or bank might look like this gay fellow who didn't care about the press in his trousers so long as he made money. In the stripes, is once more prominent promi-nent Ties Go Fashionable. Ties, as might be expected, are made of the suiting fabrics and green pops up again. Grenadine types of open-weaved net fabric are popular. The figures are smaller than last season, and the larger color col-or range in men's suits has naturally natural-ly made for a larger variety in necktie colors. The sports trend is particularly strong in hosiery, and naturally the colors are brighter and the materials materi-als lighter. Bright plaids and checks are much in evidence. Short socks with elastic tops in lisle, rayon or silk, seem to have the edge for spring and summer. ' For business wear vertical or horizontal stripes or checks will be seen most often. Mesh socks will probatily get a good run for the summer. Shoes? Influenced by sports, they'll be stubbier looking this summer sum-mer since the tip and vamp have been shortened. Most popular, and most comfortable, will be the semi-sports semi-sports shop and the town and country coun-try type characterized by its crepe rubber sole. The perforated and woven wo-ven leather shoes will also be worn frequently. Countless types of un-lined un-lined shoes in various color combinations combina-tions show that footwear, at least, is defying convention. If you're the rugged he-man type to whom a suit is a suit, be it pink or black, 1939 "spring fashions" may be so much eyewash. And it bears 'repetition the time- honor blue serge suit is still considerably more practical for many men than a stylish ensemble of green. But the clothing experts need encouragement encourage-ment after all these years of fruitless fruit-less struggle. Now that they've spoken spo-ken their minds, you can take it or leave itl |