1940s

1940
Clothing during early 1940s was limited by the rationing coupons. Fabric was rationed. Men were not allowed turn ups and it was a legal offence to ask your tailor to make your trousers longer so your wife could turn them up. Boys would wear shorts also. In Britain all citizens over the age of three years old were allotted with a card worth 66 points and decreed to 48. This allowed the purchase of garments according to the official rating of each item. The system was meant to be temporary but lasted until 1944; an overcoat cost 16 coupons, a pair of trousers was 8 coupons and a pair of shoes was 7 coupons. For those who still wished to have their suits made-to-measure, the cloth would cost 3 coupons for one yard of woollen cloth. This meant a very limited wardrobe and as simple as possible. Often clothes would be handed down in families. The only clothes that weren't rationed were boiler suits, brace overalls and wooden clogs. No more pleated or darted pockets, trouser pockets were limited to a single hip pocket with an ankle width no wider than then and a half inches. Garments were simplified was much as possible to cut labour costs and fabric required. This however made manufactures take care to make sure the garment would last for as long as possible as garments weren't perched as much. This also made them stop new comes from en-trying the clothing industry.

Artificial fabrics started to be used because of shortest of wool, viscose and rayon were used. The Royals encouraged this made do attitude to clothing by wearing there old suits again and repairing them when they got too shabby with there other clothes. The one style that seemed to stick around was the zazous and zoot-suiters. The word zoot came from the urban jazz culture of the 1930s but the actual origin of the highly distinctive style adopted by young urban black men. Zoot suits consisted of an over-sized, often double-breasted jacket worn with large padded shoulders and peg-top trousers which narrowed towards the ankle:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zazou . Unfortunately these suits were a sign or believed to show people who were draft dodgers so they were given a lot of hostility and tension near navel bases. This style was to die out as the war progressed but its influence was to be seen on other silhouettes. Wide-shoulders, long, loose-fitting jackets and high-waisted tapering pants short enough not to break on the shoes.

Some of today's most popular garments- t-shirts, trench coats, flyng jackets, bomber jackets, duffel coat, pea-jackets, chino pants and even Ray Ban's Aviator style glasses all have their origins in combat wear.

After the war was over serving men were giving a uniform to wear when they returned to restart there lives. The Eisenhower was a fitted waist-length jacket with roomy sleeves and buttoned cuffs that was designed to be carefully poised between smart and informal and was the Generals preference when meeting troops. Both the Eisenhower and the duffel coat were to become highly prized items of clothing in post-war Europe. The troupes often left there jacket to youths they had befriended as parting gifts.

Refrences:
Men's Fashion in the Twentieth Century from Frock coats to Intelligent Fibres by Maria Costantino
http://mens-fashion.lovetoknow.com/Slideshow:1940s_Mens_Fashions
http://lifestyle.howstuffworks.com/style/fashion/trends-looks/100-years-of-mens-fashion.htm#page=4