For the Well Dressed Man

Clothes and Accessories for the Summer Day and Evening and a Word on the Proper Choice of Colours

THE first thing to consider in shopping for summer is the indispensable flannel suit. It is useful in town or country for more occasions than are easily counted—bright days in town, motoring to race meets, travelling. With a pair of white flannel slacks, the coat comes into use for the week-end. If the coat is double-breasted, it can be worn on warm days without a waistcoat, gaining comfort, but in no way presenting a careless appearance. There is also a variety of what are called tropical weight materials, thinner than flannels, which, because of their firm texture, hold their shape well and answer the same purpose.

Both these materials come in flat colours, stripes, overdesigns and mixed colours. The colour is perhaps the all important question. If the colour is becoming, a man looks healthy and at his best, while the reverse is true, if he makes an unhappy choice. Generally speaking, a dark man cannot wear green or. brown unless he happens to have a high colour. He would better stick to the various shades of grey, blue or tan. The blond man has a wider range of choice, but the very pale shades of suiting materials, especially pale grey, do not usually offer a sufficient contrast. The average light-haired man can wear green, which is particularly adapted to summer clothes. The center figure in the first sketch is wearing a green lovett flannel suit, brown low shoes with green and white mottled socks, a soft brown Homberg hat with a deep brown band, a brown and white pin stripe shirt with a brown and green foulard tie. . His colour scheme is in harmony with the very blond type. In this same group, one figure at the right is wearing a blue double-breasted flannel suit, a white shirt and collar, a gay flower in his buttonhole and a straw boater with a club band. This is a combination suggested for a dark man, with its note of white and a gay colour to give accent.

Also, in sketches 2 and 3 are to be found happy colour contrasts for the dark type. Sketches 4 and 5 are particularly good in their colour combinations for the fair man. The use of a dark tie for a blond man is an excellent rule to follow, for his colour is heightened by the dark note so close to his. face.

The use of club or school colours as hat bands is more appropriate to country wear than in town with a boater hat. A band of black or dark brown, which has been affected of late in London, is more correct in town.

One of the most useful combinations for a man's summer wardrobe is a loose cut sack coat of unshorn homespun, with knickerbockers and an extra pair of slacks of the same material. On a motor trip or short country visit when only one bag is taken, this combination will cover most occasions.

Vanity Fair will be glad to tell you where any of the articles shown in these pages may be obtained. Should you desire to have Vanity Fair make the purchase for you, write to the Vanity Fair Shopping Service, 19 West 44th Street, New York, and' tho commission will be executed promptly and without extra charge.

Knickers are most comfortable for lounging and do not lose shape or bag, as do trousers with heavy wear. However, the extra pair of trousers is a necessity, and this combination means a saving of space in one's luggage. Clothes made in very thin materials unfortunately hold their shape less well than in materials of a heavier quality. This difficulty, however, can be overcome if care is taken with clothes, as soon as they are discarded.

A pair of shoes which are placed in form as soon as they are removed from the foot, keep their shape far longer than those which are carelessly thrown aside. Coats and trousers which are immediately hung on the proper hangers retain their shape and freshness. No amount of pressing can make up for neglect in this matter. A well trained English valet never presses trousers more often than is absolutely necessary, for it spoils the nap of the material and wears at the creases. A coat should never be pressed except to take the line out of the roll of the lapel or on creases which may come about the waist line through wear. The proper care of clothes doubles their life of wear. Also, a large wardrobe is an economy in the long run. Suits which are not continually used day after day will retain their freshness for an incredibly long time. The average Englishman has at least six sack suits in his wardrobe at all times.

In bath dressing robes the shops excell themselves. They are to be had in almost every conceivable stuff and in many gay designs and colour combinations. The washable ones will be found to be of the greatest service because they may be used as either bath robes or dressing robes and are so thin that they take very little room in the week-end bag. In this respect a man can let his fancy for colour run the limit. It is one of the few opportunities a man has to indulge in really bright colours.

At no time of the year is there a greater necessity for a particular kind of luggage than in summer. Winter excursions are longer and necessitate the usual trunks, bags and hat boxes. In summer one needs a bag or case large enough to hold all the changes for short trips, a bag that will carry a dinner suit, a pair of flannel slacks, the necessary changes of linen, and perhaps an extra jacket. Bags of this type are shown in the photograph. They are particularly large. The topmost one in the picture, with its tray, is made of light weight leather and is no heavier than the case of average size. It is beautifully lined in cross bar linen and fitted with pockets for toilet articles. The crush bag in the lower left corner is fitted with a neat toilet set and writing case which fasten to the sides of the inner lining of the bag and do not in any way hamper its capacity.

The summer overcoat must be light in weight and easily carried. A thin rough homespun of any becoming colour, or in black for night wear in town, cut loose with raglan sleeves, or straight and clinging with a square shoulder and single-breasted, is the most useful for all occasions. A tan twillett raglan, off the peg, unlined, and of the same cut, is also a good summer coat for all round use and an excellent addition to one's travelling kit.

The general prevalence of the sack suit in America for wear during the warm weather is in sharp contrast to the more formal note which the Englishman preserves through the summer months. This is undoubtedly due to the comparative mildness of the English summer and the fact that the social season lasts as long as the court remains in London, which is usually until August.

Brown and white, and black and white shoes are smarter than ordinary white ones, and are indispensable to the summer wardrobe. Worn in the country with a flannel or homespun suit, they assure a very smart turn-out. White flannel slacks are less practical than effective, for after having been worn for an hour they are often no longer fresh, and soiled white flannels are the most soiled looking things in the world. The use of brown and white shoes with the ordinary summer suit gives a country touch which can be emphasized by a hat of soft stitched material, or the usual straw. Brown and white shoes ought to be worn with brown or coloured socks rather than with white ones.

How effective brown and white shoes are with summer togs is well illustrated in sketches 1, 2 and 3. They serve as a spot of colour contrast that is the keynote to successful man's attire. A very good and original example of this shoe is shown in the photograph. A white glossy surface buckskin shoe tipped in dark green leather. A white shoe can be tipped in any of the odd colours of leather that may be had with equally good effect. The importance of a man's boots in relation to the rest of his toilet cannot be exaggerated. A well made and well kept shoe or boot is the foundation of the smartly turned out; man.

Black leather shoes, worn with white or wash linen spats, are very popular abroad. At the races last summer in Paris, one saw a score of men wearing light flannel suits with bowler hats and this combination of shoes and spats. At race meetings in England, men are now dressing as suits them best, rather than in accordance with the old conventions.

For evening wear there is no smarter sock than the very thin French silk sock. Especially with a pump, socks should be worn as thin as can be obtained. In the day, the thicker varieties are the most correct. The mottled woolen socks, in shades to match the material of one's suits, are very smart this season. They are to be had with or without clocks or designs. The same mottled effect is to be had in golf stockings; some are ribbed or patterned in the weaving.

A dinner coat of light weight tropical material, designed especially for summer use, will well repay the additional expense. It should be in black rather than the popular dark blue, because in summer one dresses at the hour when the daylight is still strong.

The use of the "V"-shaped white waistcoat with the dinner coat is now becoming as popular in America as it is abroad. It makes a dinner coat correct for almost any occasion and is much more pleasing than the repeated note of black in the waistcoat. A good example of this waistcoat is shown in the photograph. It is an ordinary "V"-shaped waistcoat not very stiffly laundried, the roll of which is pulled out to give the full effect after it is adjusted on the wearer. Every waistcoat should be well pulled in by the buckle and strap at the back. No waistcoat, however well cut, will fall into shape if it is not adjusted in this manner. Black enameled or dark stone studded buttons make the most pleasing combination with this waistcoat and a dinner jacket, because the dark note of the black tie is repeated as is shown in sketch 8.

A dinner jacket should be worn open with a white waistcoat so as not to spoil the effect of the roll and it should also be cut to fit even more closely than a coat to be worn buttoned.

The choice of the collar with the dinner coat is a most important consideration. The use of the turned-over collar, so popular with some younger men in America, is not so smart as the bat wing collar, nor is it so becoming. A man who accustoms himself to the open wing collar will find it far more comfortable in all seasons.

The tie worn with a dinner jacket should be as wide and full as possible and only of plain black or self-figured material. When tied, the loops should be rounded out rather than pressed flat against the collar. The use of one string only of the black tie, the other end being tucked through the collar band, does not allow the tie to give a full enough effect and is only an original affectation, not an interesting one.

Double cuffs to a dress shirt are the smarter for dinner jackets. They are also the most comfortable type of cuff because of their rounded dull edge against the wrist, instead of the sharp line of a single edged cuff. Double cuffs should be ironed flat and turned over When the links are adjusted. This method of treatment by the laundries will save them from cracking at the edges.

Shirts made to order should have cuffs cut on the narrow side. A cuff can be 8 1/2 inches from buttonhole to buttonhole and yet be quite comfortable to wear. Abroad, this is an essential feature of every shirt, as the tendency of the best tailors is to cut the sleeves of all coats on the narrow side. Narrow sleeves are particularly suited to small men, as that is one of the details which adds height to his appearance. In the photograph is shown a shirt with double soft cuffs cut to the scale of 8 l/2 inches. There is a soft collar and a pair of shorts to match. This combination is adapted to very warm weather and serves the combined purpose of underclothes and linen.

In the photographs are shown examples of sheer linen handkerchiefs which are more correct for night wear. The first three sketches are the latest touch from Paris. The design is hemstitched and carried out in two thicknesses of linen. Linen handkerchiefs should be washed as seldom as possible. One should avoid soiling them and only have them repressed each time they are used.

Summer brings with it a certain freedom in the choice of colours and materials which would seem out of place in the colourless days of winter. This is particularly noticeable in the more colourful note in the bright ties which most men allow themselves for country wear.

The tendency to disregard conventions in dress has greatly increased everywhere during the last few years. When shopping, one is constantly tempted to odd and original innovations. It is just such novelties that give men the chance to bring their imaginations into play, for there is, in comparison to the past, very little scope allowed to the man of today. It must always be borne in mind that any oddity must be perfectly adapted to the wearer. Each man has his own style and therefore looks really well dressed only when his clothes accord with his particular type. For example, there is a very smart foreigner living in New York who always wears a black stock and high collar with his dinner coat. It becomes him to perfection, because of his 1860 silhouette. Worn by the average man of today, it would only suggest discomfort and stiffness. With this same point in view, combinations of colour must be considered. If a man is of a very pronounced type, a strong colour combination will at once make him too noticeable. When in any doubt it is a perfectly safe rule to choose accessories of the same shade as the suit.

In Paris and London there are an increasing number of advocates of dress on more original lines, leaning toward the type of clothes worn at the beginning of the nineteenth century. But, in fact, the type of garment that best suits the wearer is the only standard. In Paris last autumn there was an exhibition of clothes of artistic but unconventional design, but few men were convinced to adopt them. The effect was quite pleasing, but we wish to emphasize the fact that any departure from the accepted standard is justified only by the certain success of the exception.

In no great city of the world do the shops make such a display as in New York. The art of window dressing has reached its height in America, and within the shops wares are served up in such a way as to tempt any man. We are becoming a nation of men who like clothes and who like to dress. The man who looks back at us from the pages of a magazine is only a glorified specimen from our own ranks. But each day he is becoming more difficult to glorify, for we meet him face to face in the streets. The American man is becoming true to the type of his ideal. The motor cars and their drivers on the Avenue look like the drawings in advertisements, the men and their clothes look slim and well cut like the sketches in these pages, and the scene is growing as decorative as our ideas.

The American nation as a whole has a highly developed sense of decoration and originality. Our type of college man, who has a knack of wearing his hat and clothes in an entirely original manner, is justified by the decorative effect he attains. The men in service during the war, though wearing a regulation uniform, had each a distinct style of his own which even triumphed over the drab of khaki.

In America the majority of men wear ready made clothes. It is just the reverse in Europe. In the city abroad there are as many shops to the block that cater to custom-made trade as one finds in this country selling ready-to-wear garments. The majority of men still order their boots to suit their own tastes and for vears the forms will not vary. All their linen and suits are made to order and almost the only exception to this custom is found in a few big shops which sell raglan coats and sport materials. Even hats are especially made and slightly altered from the usual models of the smartest London hatters. An Englishman knows definitely what he wants, before he enters a shop and it is only with difficulty that he can be persuaded to alter his choice by the shop keeper.

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In America this is not the case. Men are at the mercy of the salesman, who may often suggest something which is not suited to his customer. For this reason one welcomes the increasing tendency to give more careful attention to the details of dress. Fortunately for us, the minds that control the enormous output of ready-made clothing are developing a higher standard every day. The man who is in the habit of having his clothes made does not realize how good are the things now to be bought in the best class shops selling clothes ready-to-wear. Any man who is what is called stock size can buy a suit which is well cut, conservative and very well made from an enormous selection of such goods.

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There are designers in this country in the big wholesale houses who are as expert as any of the famous tailors in England. The proof of this statement is the high standard which ready-made clothes have attained in recent years. The hand-me-down trade which started to flourish about 1860 has drawn all classes into its meshes until now even the best dressed man can buy clothes off the peg which will do him credit.

More and more people, not only in our own country but abroad, will demand American ready-made clothes when the craze for oddities in cut is somewhat controlled. There have been a few examples of the styles which can not be said to have had even a decorative value. Such novelties are more often than not apt to make a man look only ridiculous. True, such things are bought, but discarded quickly, for they are not worn by the well-dressed man who is the standard.

The dandy of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, though far more decorative in appearance, was as true to his standard as we are to ours. He ran riot in combinations of colour and material, but his cut only varied by periods. In retrospect, it seems to us that his liberty in these matters was unbounded, but such was not the case. Also, our records of these periods are mostly of the ultra-luxurious and luxury was far less common than now and also more highly perfected. The costume of the masses was as practical as our own, only their materials were more pleasing and gay in colour.

Is it that we are more sober and serious in our way of life, or has all our atmosphere of colour gone into places of entertainment and left the street for ever? Nothing is too extreme in costume and colour for our stage. A costume ball will bring forth the most amazing productions of the imagination. In this age we do not paint the houses we build pink or blue, or decorate them with colour. While colour has almost gone from our streets, we have built great places of entertainment to make us gay, and here we find all the gay costumes and gorgeous settings which our daily life so painfully lacks. Will we men ever, through our dress, become decorative again? Probably not; though one occasionally sees signs of a tendency in that direction.

In our own national life the picturesque costumes of the western cowboy and the southern darky are fast disappearing. There are almost no cowboys with big hats and red handkerchiefs except on the screen or in the circus. Even the immigrants who come to our shores fit themselves out at the first opportunity in American-made clothes. It is an excellent standard, but one misses the picturesque touch in the street, especially in the West, where there were so many orientals. In England, even the gypsies have almost disappeared since the war. And who is there to take the place of these picturesque types? None of the sports of the future gives any promise of picturesque colour. Flying is decorative only in respect to line, not from the point of view of colour or costume. The Service is perhaps the only field left to us in which to give expression to a decorative form in dress. Both the Army and Navy uniforms of the present day are an adaptation of the uniforms of the past. The naval uniform especially—at least, for the seaman grade— has undergone very little change in the last two hundred years. The sailor, at least, is still a decorative figure.