NYC, 1930s (colorized) Have you ever felt that the average person dressed better in the past? IMO, the reason has nothing to do with respectability, body shape, or even suits. It has to do with the loss of what I call "shape and drape." 🧵
Let's start with some definitions. The term shape refers to silhouette, which is the shape of our clothes when we remove all the details (i.e., the outfit's outline). Notice that Hepburn's outfits have a distinctive shape that's not just her human form.
In this thread, the term "drape" refers to how the fabric hangs and moves. In most cases—although not always—you want the fabric to hang cleanly, that is, without puckering, pulling, or wrinkling (although later, we'll see this is complicated). Drape also refers to movement.
When people admire fashions of the past, they often bring up issues unrelated to clothes (e.g., respectability, politics, body type). What they're actually admiring are the shapes of these clothes and how they drape. Notice the procession of wonderful shapes here:
In the last twenty years, we've lost the concept of "shape and drape" for three reasons. 1. The simplification of clothing. While this thread is not saying that everyone has to wear a suit, I will use suits to illustrate a point.
As I've mentioned in other threads, suits and sport coats are unique in that they're built up from layers of haircloth, canvas, and padding, which are carefully sewn together using techniques such as pad stitching, darts, and wedges to create three-dimensional shapes.
By contrast, much modern clothing is very simple. A T-shirt is just four panels and a collar sewn together with some seams and no inner construction. Most button-up shirts are not that different. Outerwear might be a fleece vest.
2. Everything now is slim-fit. The push towards slim fit has removed the ability for clothes to have their own shape, as they now just recreate the lines of your body. If the clothes are too tight, they'll also not drape well (e.g., buckling, pulling, collar gaps).
3. Removal of jackets. Finally, when people admire fashion in the past, they are often looking at how clothes were worn in the distant past (say, early to mid-20th century) in certain fashionable locales (e.g., London, Paris, NYC)
Since this was before the widespread adoption of central heating, most people at this time wore jackets, even when indoors. They also wore clothes made from much heavier fabrics. It was not unusual for a man to wear a suit made from 18oz wool (today, it would be like 10oz).