Spirit Of The Age - Jazz Age Garden Party

Dressing the part

Everyone at our party dresses elegantly or in period.

The Jazz Age Garden Party is the best opportunity of the year to dress in style and feel very special, in the exclusive company of fellow enthusiasts.

With the pleasure of your company, for a short period of time we are all transported back into a golden age of English country life in the '20s and '30s.

How to look absolutely top drawer:

Using these guidance notes will help you look the part and feel comfortable, and be as elegant as your beautiful mode of transport. 

On other pages we also give you some tips about how to find the perfect outfit, and some suggestions on what else you might want to bring.

Elegant ladies

Ladies, if all else fails, wear a lightweight summer dress and a hat, and you'll look fine and feel great.

• The overall effect women preferred in the Jazz Age was a slightly boyish look, with short cropped hair and straight flat-chested attitude. (Not everyone can achieve this!)
  
• Summer dresses were usually cut fairly straight, using soft lightweight fabrics with small muted floral designs, or finely tailored in plain fabrics.
• Hats were always worn, outdoors and often indoors, and these were often cloche hats (i.e. bell shaped), worn well down over the forehead and sometimes with bows and floral decorations; wider straw hats were a lso very popular, often with Art Deco detailing.
• Lightweight coats were often worn outdoors whatever the season, straight and below the knee, often trimmed on the collar and cuffs with fox fur, and detailed with low belts and large buttons.
• Shoes were usually strapped with medium-high heels.
• Accessories often included a lightweight parasol, a clutch bag, a long string of pearls, an Art Deco broach, hat pin or silk scarf, and the use of a cigarette holder or sunglasses was considered chic and sexy

Dapper gentlemen

Gentlemen, if all else fails, wear a lightweight summer suit and a hat, and you'll look spot on.

• The overall effect was one of relaxed, stylish and very polished elegance of the highest order. Short neat haircuts were often accompanied by neatly trimmed moustache, and hair oil gave a modern streamlined look.
• The formal look was either an imaculate suit (single or double breasted) with wide lapels, wide shoulders and wide-cut trousers, or a plain dark blazer and trousers (often white trousers for less formal occasions).
• Informal country wear might have comprised a gabardine or check suit, two or three piece, possibly with plus-four trousers set off by long cross-check socks and a bright Fairisle short-sleeved pullover. Again, the overall appearance was imaculate. Although popular in the 20s, by the 1930s striped jackets and straw boasters were generally reserved for sporting and nautical events and eccentric Americans.
• Shirts were invariably white, with a fairly wide and colourful tie or bow tie.
• Shoes could be conventional or two-tone ('co-respondant'), and spats were sometimes added with suits.
• Hats were always worn, be it a flat and very wide cap usually worn horizontally, a light grey Homburg with a black band, a Trilby ('Fedora' in America), or, on a sunny day, an immaculate straw Panama.
• Accessories included a fine cane for added effect, light gloves, a watch chain, discrete buttonhole, breast pocket handkerchief, and a cigar or pipe. How splendid.
• Gentlemen could also consider enhancing their lovely smile immeasurably with a moustache