In the 1920s, women would wear suits (matching skirt and jacket sets) for day to day work, travel, and leisure. In sporty environments, suit jackets were often replaced with cardigan sweaters or pullover vests.
Suits were made of a thick wool serge, poplin or tricot in winter and light linen and cotton blends in summer. Sports clothes were made of wool tweed. Velvet suits became stylish in the very late 20s.
Women’s suits of the ’20s were nothing like today’s suits. Jackets were quite long with a matching belt to pull in the waist in the early years. A single button jacket came in at the second half of the decade. Skirts were narrow and straight with a mid calf length.
Here are some 1920s women wearing suits from my collection:
- 1920 suit with middy jacket
- 1920 Altman ladies suits
- 1920 walking suits
- 1920 suits for winter
- 1921 ladies suits
- 1921 suits for fall
- 1921 wool suit
- 1922 suits for fall/ winter
- 1922 tweed sport suits
- 1922 spring suits
- 1923 spring suits and sets
- 1923 suits and dress for spring
- 1924 ladies wrap jacket suits
- 1924
- 1924 suits for women
- 1924 white suit
- 1925 suits and dresses with long jackets
- 1926 ladies in winter suits and scarves
- 1928 suit with boutonniere
- Traveling in a late 20s suit
- 1928 blazer suits
- 1928 black suit with check trim
- Miss Fisher’s blue skirt with matching jacket and striped blouse.
- Miss Fisher wearing a plaid wool suit – late 20s
- Downton Abbey’s Mary Crawley wearing a late 20s suit
1920s Women’s Suits to Buy?
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.