1926 Men's Campus Fashion
The war had brought about a blurring of class distinctions, and it was now a case of young against old, rather than rich versus poor, with a modern new look designed almost expressly to illicit disapproval from the old school. Over at Oxford University, male students were so irked when forbidden to wear knickerbockers on campus, they started sporting extravagantly voluminous trousers in revenge - kicking off a cross-Atlantic trend for "Oxford baggies," slouchy strides worn in the spirit of rebellion.
Stylish undergraduates walk through Cambridge University, 1926 -- Fashionable young men in the early 20th century where just as smart with their clothing choices as they were on the campuses on Ivy League universities. This era saw young men wearing unique pieces of clothing like "Oxford bags," wide leg style of trouser adopted by young men at the university where the clothing earned its name. It's hard to discern where these trousers came from, but it's believed that they were first popularized by the rowers on Oxford's crew teams. It didn't take long for the style to spread and for the trousers to grow wider. At their largest these pants reached 44 inches in width.
Oxford bags were not a new invention: For some time they had been worn by athletes as an alternative to golf trousers which had been banned in the classroom. The 28" wide bottoms of the Oxfords allowed the trousers to be pulled over the top of their illegal knickers. The original functional size of the hems soon became overlooked as Oxford Bags grew in size, sometimes up to 40" in diameter! Trend-setting Ivy League students brought the fashion home after their stays in Oxford and ordered more pairs from their tailors.
I wonder how all this presaged the
ReplyDeleteGreat Depression.
Wow....1926 year....what talking about to smartfone the right boy
ReplyDeleteAh, the things teens will do in rebellion. For us, it was bell-bottoms but very tight in the crotch to show off the bulge as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, the fashion designers in shows for male clothing for 2023 have their models clothed in voluminous pants, proving that fashion trends just repeat with a little variation.
ReplyDeleteThese styles could CAUSE great depression.
ReplyDeleteWow... and I though elephant bells were outrageous... love that second ad. I could wear the hell out of that look.
ReplyDeleteThe first picture makes me wonder where I have stored that B&W photograph of my father wearing a pair of these "Tintin" trousers. I thing it was taken in the late 30s so he must have been 18 y/o, classy as the privileged teen he was, and unaware of the war that was coming that would make him end up a prisoner before several years of compulsory labour service in a German farm. Life can be a bitch when it comes to teaching you about modesty...
ReplyDeleteThough I have learned decades after that he warmed up the farmer's wife bed all along while her husband was fighting for the Reich. Something I learned by a call from that very Lady in the early 80s: she couldn't speak French and her English was basic but sufficient enough for me to understand how Dear to her my father had been.
To pararaphrase Peter Parker's uncle: extreme circumstances can lead to unexpected outcomes - and lasting affections.
Laurent - Life is very interesting.
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