The Brick-Red Look

Said a West Coast clothier: "We're on the verge of the greatest revolution the men's clothing industry has ever felt." Revolution was not quite the word, since man's basic garb will still be a pair of pants and a coat. But change there is--a major change unthought of as little as five years ago. "

It began on the beaches and the golf courses, with multicolored blazers, vari-patterned shirts, brick-red slacks, Bermuda shorts, and hats and caps that looked as if they had been dug out of the tool chest of an old Stutz Bearcat. It was furthered by increased weekend living, during which men assumed a dressed-up casualness. Last week Manhattan's Brooks Brothers advertised "casual clothes for evening," an ensemble consisting of a shawl-collared jacket in red, green, yellow or black, with "trousers in black with green-black Tartan stripes, narrow alternating stripes and attractive checks" down the sides.

Camouflaged Pots. The new emphasis on color and casualness has brought a big change to the men's clothing industry, which has lived for years on little more than replacements. A man wore out his shirt or suit, then went out and bought another. On the average, the U.S. male bought a new suit only once every three years. Now, with more clothes for more occasions, men's-wear stores throughout the nation are having their best business in years.

In 1939 the sales ratio of sport shirts to regular-collar shirts was one to three; last year sport shirts outsold the regulars by 60%. In the same 15 years, sportcoat production has soared from an annual 700,000 to 8,000,000; output of slacks has grown fivefold, to 75 million pairs in 1954.

The change in suits has been just as dramatic. A generation ago, the double-breasted suit--usually with padded shoulders and large lapels--was the archsymbol of conservatism (it also camouflaged a potbelly). Now the trend is to the more casual, natural-shouldered, single-breasted jacket. Before World War II, double-breasted suits accounted for 40-50% of all cuttings; the share is now down to 12%.

The Look. Because the new single-breasted suits closely resemble those peddled for years to Eastern college students by Brooks Brothers, retailers refer to the new styles as the Ivy League Look. They have become such a widespread trademark that natural reaction has already set in. In Broadway's newest comedy The Grand Prize (see THEATER), a harassed Manhattanite shouts: "I'm tired of wearing Brooks Brothers suits!"

Men's hats, unchanged for years, have also been spruced up with new colors and styles, ranging from Tyrolean models to narrow snap-brims for the Ivy League Look. And men are buying hats again.

More changes are in the works. In. California, where many of the new styles originated, designers were busy last week planning dinner jackets without lapels and sport coats livened up with plenty of "back interest," e.g., pleats, belts and more vents. Soon to hit the stores: the "short look," meaning shorter trousers and sleeves to expose more sock and cuff.

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