Little is written about the men’s Rah-Rah suit that appeared in the 1900s yet it is always mentioned in history books as one of the unusual fashions of the Edwardian period. I did some digging and I found a little bit of history as well as several examples of Rah-Rah suits from catalogs and tailor’s sample books.
1908 “rah-rah” suit
The first mention of a Rah-Rah suit (that I can find) was written in the The Elyria Chronicle newspaper in 1907. It read “The Latest fashionable tailor production is the “rah rah” suit. It is very loud. “
The Elyria Chronicle newspaper in 1907
That one sentence was all there was and all that needed to be said about this comical new suit, named after the “Rah! Rah!” shouting college kids who live in New York and other major USA cities. College men were often fashion leaders, taking what was common and placing their own spin on it. Bolder patterns, exaggerated cuts, odd pairings were some of the ways men created their own style with the help of local tailors found around college campuses.
1910 Snappy Suits for Young men
These college town tailors with names like “The Collège Shop” or “Adler’s Collegian Tailors” advertised the latest styles to young men using slang and cultural reference their fathers wouldn’t understand. “Snappy” “nifty” “newities” and “gingerly styling” were a few of those slangs spoken by college kids to describe their “different style.”
Snappy was especially trendy. In Sears and Roebuck catalogs starting in 1908 they used “snappy” to describe the latest suit styles coming out of New York for “young men.”
1908 illustration with an article about college age buyers
What were these snappy new “Rah Rah” suits exactly?
Stepping back to the turn of the century, men’s fashion took a detour after 1903 into a new style that was powerful, arrogant and oversized. The man of the Industrial age needed to look intimidating, strong and more masculine than the fancy Victorian dandy that came before. His suit sack suit featured padded shoulders, a long straight drape to the thigh, wide around the hip trousers that cuffed in a peg-top. Colors were mostly dark black, grey and brown, except in summer when some lighter tans and big check patterns were allowed.
1909 Eatons catalog with conservative sack suit and rah-rah suit
The collage age men took this exaggerated suit and exaggerated it even more with a single breasted, dip front skirt jacket, unusual lapels, decorated pockets, and colors and patterns that gave them the “loud” remark.
Loud in 1908, meant dull colors with contrasting stripes. Some combinations were described as:
- Dark olive with faint stripes of purple and old gold
- Dark brown with green and purple pinstripes
- Olive green with basket weave stripes and thin lines of brown
- Herringbone stripes of pecan brown
- Slate grey stripes with red and green lines
- Dark green with black and brown stripes and a hint of silver
- Caster brown with stripes of black, blue and red
- Navy blue herringbone with black basket weave stripes
1910 rah-rah suits in slate grey and olive-tan
Some of the variations of suit jacket collars and lapels were very pointy peak lapels, rolled notch collars, extra and wide long lapels, cutaway notch lapels, and the almost-shawl lapels (later in the 1910s.)
1912 collegian suits with cutaway jackets
The rah-rah suit jacket hung down 30-32 inches, had three buttons somewhat close together but there were also two or four button designs. A long 9-10 inch vent in the back may have been double stitched with a contesting thread, as were all other outer seams. Piping was also used to outline seams, pockets, and lapels.
-
- 1909 three button sack suit with dip front, flap pockets, sleeve and cuffs
-
- 1910 sack suit with long lapels, 3 buttons, welt pockets, sleeve cuffs, pant cuffs
A matching vest was optional. It too had fancy lower flap pockets on a single breasted cut. Later style vests had deep points to repeat the front dip skirt jacket.
1909 conservative rah-rah suit with vest
Pockets were normally large flap pockets at the hip and angled welt chest pockets. Fancy pockets had shaped flaps of zig zap, scallop edge, or angled. Fancy pocket could be placed on the chest with a decorative button flap.
-
- 1909 four button jacket with fancy curved flap pockets
-
- 1909 three button jacket with angled flap pockets
Sleeves too could be decorated with a wide cuff, scallop edge, piping and decorative buttons.
1918 rah-rah suits with peak lapels, 3 and four buttons close together, fancy pockets and sleeve cuffs in slate blue grey and olive green tweed
Trousers came with belt loops – shocking for the time but also had side buckle straps to tighten them in place. They fit very high on the waist with full hips that tapered down to a 16 inch hem cuffed with a 2 to 3 1/2 inch turn up (optional.) They could be a full peg-top or semi peg-top. A back hip pocket had a tab and button.
1918 fancy sleeves and pockets with peg top trousers, uncuffed
The Rah-Rah suit design was entirely decided by tailor and customer. No two were exactly alike unless purchased from a mass manufacturing catalog. While the young men were the primary customers, less loud versions were sold to conservative men who wanted something a little different. They usually choose a 3 button slightly dip front jacket in tone on tone dark striping, plain pockets, no cuff, and suspenders buttons instead of belt loops.
1918 rah-rah suit details applied to a more conservative sack suit: yoke back, large patch pockets, angled double chest pockets
The “rah-rah” suit out-lasted the oversized sack suit which was disappearing by 1912 and in its place the skinny Jazz Suit. As most young men went off to war there was no reason to sell them until after the war ended. There was a brief revival of the Rah-Rah suit in 1918 with even more unusual shape pockets, brighter colors, and deeper dip front.
1918 skinny suits and rah-rah suits sold after WW1
There was also a revival of the cutaway coat with curved edges.
1913 college men’s suits- sack suit, cutaway revival, rah-rah
Again, only young men embraced these funny styles but the desire for a loose fitting suit led to the wide leg Oxford bag pants and jacket in the mid 1920s. Wide fit trousers became the normal style through the 1930s and 1940s with a more fitted jacket.
Jack Buchanan 1925 wearing oxford bags
There is some reasonable speculation that the 1940s Zoot Suit was inspired by the Rah-Rah suit of the 1910s. Urban young men found the cast off suits at charity and second hand shops and either wore them as is or modified them into the extreme peg leg Zoot pants with oversize suit jacket. These in turn inspired a wave of new Zoot Suits in the early 1940s.
1942 Zoot Suiters
The Zoot Suit or should we say Rah-Rah suit came back one more time 30 years later when in the 1970s there was a nostalgic revival for 40s fashion. Some of the fancy pockets found on rah-rah suits were placed on early 1970s suits, sportscoats and jackets. Fashion on repeat. Will they come back again? I hope so.
1972 scallop pockets on these sport coats
Rah-Rah Suits Shoes
While researching suits I found this 1909 poem:
It not only mentions the rah-rah suit but also bow-wow shoes. What are bow-wow shoes? They are an asymmetrical spade sole oxford shoe or boot. They came with lace up ribbons or a spat button top. After 1910 many also had a bullnose shaped high toe box. They were called “bow-ow” shoes because wearing these odd shaped shoes with a stacked heel made your feet painfully “dog tired.”
-
- 1908 lace up and spat top oxfords with asymmetrical spade sole
-
- 1911 bullnose boots
There were many other snappy shoes styles that could be worn with rah-rah suits. Just like the extreme suits, extreme shoes were a match made in fashion heaven. Oxfords with buckle straps (monk straps), wingtips, broguing, two tone patterns, felt and leather combinations were mixed together. It was an creative time in men’s footwear.
-
- 1909 various oxford shoes with unique designs
-
- 1910 “snappy” style shoes for young men
The poem also mentions “lulu ties of reds and blue” which were long narrow reversible neckties in solid colors.
1908 young men wearing lulu ties – skinny long neckties
“Lizzie hose” I am assuming meant socks with a lizard or reptile style pattern.
“Almost hats” I am still working out. Most of the hats in the above illustrations feature straw boater hats, straw telescope hats with one side turned up brim or rolled edge. Some derby hats and fedora hats for winter or conservative looks as well. I am guessing the “almost hat” refers to a straw hat with brim rolled up in the front so that it doesn’t look like a normal hat.
Have you found any history of the Rah-Rah suit? Tell me more.
Debbie Sessions has been teaching fashion history and helping people dress for vintage themed events since 2009. She has turned a hobby into VintageDancer.com with hundreds of well researched articles and hand picked links to vintage inspired clothing online. She aims to make dressing accurately (or not) an affordable option for all. Oh, and she dances too.
