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What’s This About
Men’s 1920s fashion is easiest to recreate through a few recognisable clothes: high-rise suit trousers, soft collars, plus fours, wide Oxford bags, two-tone shoes and a hat.
This guide covers the decade’s main menswear looks and how to wear them now, such as:
The 1920s lounge suit, with or without a waistcoat
Plus fours with argyle socks and a Fair Isle jumper
Wide flannel Oxford bags
Oxford, brogue and two-tone spectator shoes
Dinner suits for evening parties and white tie for formal events
and many more!
Each look comes with a party version and a quieter everyday version, so you can decide how much of the decade to wear.
Key Points
01Daywear in the 1920s became softer: soft collars replaced many starched ones and jackets were often worn without a waistcoat.
02Plus fours were golf clothes, and the Prince of Wales helped make both plus fours and Fair Isle knitwear popular, wearing a Fair Isle jumper with his golfing clothes in 1921.
03For a party, a suit with a waistcoat, a patterned tie and a felt hat or cap gives the quickest 1920s impression.
04For everyday wear, take one feature, such as high-rise trousers or a Fair Isle jumper, and keep the rest of the outfit current.
Men’s clothing in the 1920s ranged from soft city suits to very wide flannel trousers and patterned golf knitwear, and most of it is easy to suggest with clothes you can buy or may already own.
This guide explains eight menswear looks from the decade, what each one consisted of, and how to wear it for a themed party or as a quieter reference in everyday clothes.
If you are deciding between new clothes in an older style and genuine old garments, our guides to retro style and vintage clothing for men explain the difference.
What changed in men’s clothing in the 1920s
The decade moved men’s daywear towards softer and less formal clothes.
The Museum at FIT’s fashion history timeline notes that men moved away from starched collars and formal three-piece suits during the day, adopting soft collars and one- or two-button jackets that were often worn without a waistcoat.
Sports clothes shaped everyday dress too: plus fours, patterned knitwear and two-tone shoes moved from golf courses and sports grounds into casual wear.
Men did not all dress the same way, and the silhouette changed during the decade, so treat the descriptions below as common patterns rather than a uniform.
1. The 1920s lounge suit
The everyday city suit was a lounge suit in worsted wool, flannel or tweed, and FIT notes that pinstripes, British wools and English tailoring were popular.
Jackets often had a high button stance, and trousers sat high at the natural waist with a straight leg, frequently finished with turn-ups.
Many men still wore a waistcoat, especially in cold weather or with a more formal suit, but it was no longer automatic during the day.
Braces remained common with suit trousers, while belts were becoming more usual with casual trousers.
Party version: a three-piece suit in grey, brown or navy, a white shirt with a soft or rounded collar, a patterned silk tie, braces, brown or black Oxford shoes and a felt hat.
Everyday version: high-rise, straight-leg grey flannel trousers with a plain shirt, a knitted tie and the jacket you usually wear.
Choose trousers that sit comfortably at your natural waist rather than on your hips, because the higher waist is what makes the outfit read as earlier.
2. Plus fours and Fair Isle knitwear
Plus fours are loose knickerbockers fastened below the knee.
The Met’s record for a pair sold by Browning, King and Company around 1925 explains that the name refers to the four extra inches of length compared with classic knickerbockers, and that they were worn for sport, especially golf.
The Met credits the Prince of Wales, later the Duke of Windsor, with making them widely popular, worn with patterned wool socks.
The V&A records that he also popularised the Fair Isle sweater when he wore one with his golfing clothes in 1921.
Wear: tweed plus fours, argyle wool socks, a Fair Isle jumper or V-neck pullover over a shirt and tie, brown brogues and a tweed flat cap.
For everyday wear, a Fair Isle jumper over an Oxford shirt with straight trousers and brown shoes carries the reference without the knickerbockers.
3. Oxford bags
Oxford bags are very wide-legged trousers associated with Oxford undergraduates in the mid-1920s.
The Museum at FIT dates their popularity to around 1924 and 1925, gives about 22 inches at the hem for the original style, and notes that later versions became much wider.
FIT also notes that they were usually made of flannel and came in a variety of colours.
A widely repeated story says students wore them over knickerbockers to get around a ban on knickerbockers in lectures; reference works repeat it, but it is best treated as a story rather than a documented rule.
Wear: wide, high-rise flannel trousers in cream or grey, a soft-collared shirt, a cable-knit or V-neck jumper and brown suede or leather shoes, with a tweed sports jacket in cooler weather.
For everyday wear, a current wide-leg pleated trouser gives a similar line; pair it with a neat knit or a short jacket so the trousers remain the focus.
4. Oxford, brogue and two-tone shoes
FIT notes that men preferred lower-cut Oxfords or brogues to boots during the decade.
Plain black or brown Oxfords suited business and formal dress, and brogued wingtips with decorative perforations were worn with both city and country clothes.
The spectator is a two-tone shoe, usually white leather with a black or brown wingtip and heel panels.
The Met, describing a pair made between 1935 and 1945, says “the social revolution of the 1920s opened the door for more casual and youthful clothing design”, and counts the spectator, with plus fours and Oxford bags, among the icons of the period.
Two-tone shoes are one of the quickest ways to signal the decade at a party.
For everyday wear, brown suede shoes or plain brogues with flannel trousers are quieter and easier to wear often.
5. Hats
A hat was a normal finish to men’s outdoor clothes in the 1920s, and FIT lists the felt hat, the fedora or trilby, flat caps and the straw boater among the decade’s styles.
Fedora or trilby: a soft felt hat with a creased crown, worn with city suits.
Homburg: a stiffer felt hat with a single dent along the crown and a curled brim, a more formal choice.
Flat cap: a soft wool cap, often in tweed, worn widely with everyday and country clothes; eight-panel caps are a fuller version.
Straw boater: a stiff, flat-topped straw hat for summer and sporting events.
A felt hat or a tweed cap is one of the quickest ways to make a party outfit read as the 1920s, so choose one that fits your head properly rather than a loose costume version.
6. Evening dress: the dinner suit and white tie
For evenings, the V&A explains that dinner suits were fashionable in the 1920s for informal occasions such as evening parties, the theatre and concerts, while white-tie evening dress with a tailcoat remained the choice for more formal events.
Its own example, made in Britain in 1928 to 1929, is a black wool three-piece dinner suit.
Wear: a black dinner suit, a white dress shirt, a black bow tie, black patent or highly polished Oxford shoes and a white pocket square, with a waistcoat if you own one.
This is the usual choice for a party with a “Gatsby” theme, named after F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby.
7. Summer flannels and a blazer
FIT notes that tweeds and flannels were worn according to the season.
Light-coloured flannel trousers with a blazer or sports jacket were a familiar summer outfit for sport and leisure.
Wear: cream or white flannel trousers, a navy or striped blazer, a soft-collared shirt, white or two-tone shoes and a straw boater.
For everyday wear, cream trousers with a navy blazer and brown loafers give the same summer mood without looking like a costume.
8. The 1920s gangster costume
The “1920s gangster” is a party costume built mainly from film and television images rather than one historical wardrobe.
It usually combines a dark double-breasted pinstripe suit, a white or dark shirt with a bold tie, a felt hat and two-tone shoes.
The BBC drama Peaky Blinders, set in Birmingham after the First World War, made flat caps, collarless shirts, waistcoats and heavy wool overcoats a popular alternative theme.
Use either costume for a party; for everyday wear, take one detail, such as a pinstripe suit or a wool flat cap, and keep the rest of the outfit current.
How to wear a 1920s reference without a costume
Start with one feature: high-rise trousers, a soft-collared shirt, a Fair Isle jumper or a pair of brogues.
Use period fabrics: flannel, tweed, worsted wool and cotton look more convincing than shiny synthetics.
Check the fit: high-rise trousers should let you sit comfortably, and wide legs should hang straight from the seat.
Think about the setting: a three-piece suit with a hat and two-tone shoes suits a themed event better than an ordinary office day.
Common questions about 1920s men’s fashion
Q. What is the easiest 1920s outfit for a party?
A suit with a waistcoat, a white shirt, a patterned tie, a pocket square and a felt hat or flat cap.
If you do not own a three-piece suit, add a separate waistcoat to a plain suit; the hat and the waistcoat give the quickest 1920s impression.
Q. What did men wear for formal evenings in the 1920s?
White tie with a tailcoat for the most formal events, and a dinner suit with a black bow tie for less formal evenings such as parties, the theatre and concerts, according to the V&A.
Q. How was men’s fashion different in the 1920s?
Daywear became softer and less formal.
Soft collars replaced many starched ones, jackets were often worn without a waistcoat, and sports clothes such as plus fours and patterned knitwear became casual daywear, according to The Museum at FIT.
Q. Were Oxford bags really invented to hide knickerbockers?
That is the usual story, but it is hard to verify.
What is documented is that very wide flannel trousers were fashionable among Oxford students around 1924 and 1925.
Sources
The Museum at FIT, Fashion History Timeline, 1920 to 1929.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, knickerbockers (plus fours), Browning, King and Company, about 1925.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, suit by Forster and Son, 1933, on the Prince of Wales’s golfing clothes.
V&A, A history of sweaters.
V&A, dinner suit, Great Britain, 1928 to 1929.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, spectator shoes attributed to Hill and Novis, 1935 to 1945.
Fashion, Costume, and Culture (Gale), “Oxford Bags”, via Encyclopedia.com.
Mandy Meyer’s focus at The VOU is men’s body-shape styling, garment fit and outfit proportions. Her coverage addresses the practical questions behind a wardrobe choice: how a jacket sits across the shoulders, how trousers fall and how different cuts change the silhouette a wearer wants to create.
Her subject areas include the triangle, inverted triangle, rectangle, oval, trapezoid, hourglass and diamond labels used in body-shape styling. These provide starting references for comparing visible proportions; they do not capture every body or prescribe one correct way to dress. The focus connects those observations with garment shape, construction, length and the relationship between the upper and lower parts of an outfit.
Mandy’s editorial coverage combines visual comparisons with fit checks for comfort and movement. Readers can consider whether a cut gives them the room they need, where clothing pulls or gathers and which changes might support their preferred look. The aim is to make menswear choices more understandable while keeping personal preferences and the wearer’s own styling goals central.