The New Look and the American Look were the two trending styles for women, to answer them—the editors of the popular lifestyle magazine for men—Esquire invented The Bold Look in the spring of 1948.
The Great Depression (1929—1941) and the second world war (1939—1945) saw men embracing clothing and accessories featuring conservatism or reservation ideals. Being said—men's ensembles featured the fundamentals of conservatism and reservation. This includes pieces like a bold striped neckties, gray suit crafted with soft and comfort fabrics, brim-hat and loafers.
The style was classic, masculine and elegant. To give you a bit of history—soon after the second world war, the New Look and the American Look were the two trending styles for women, to answer them—the editors of the popular lifestyle magazine for men, Esquire invented The Bold Look in the spring of 1948. They had a purpose to make men feel refined, bold and stylish.
The editors wanted men to experiment with a suit as a centerpiece with a plethora of statement pieces such as hats, shorts, shoes and accessories. It was the opportunity for men to make bold choices in order to create a fashion statement.
Following the recommendations of Esquire magazine's editors, men wore shirts with command collars. Shirts with command collars possess wider spread collars than normal collars. Those shirts are huge in quantity in the fashion market today.
Men also wore boldly striped neckties tied in a Windsor knot, a wider knot, heavy gold cufflinks and wide tie clasps and snap-brim hats, felt hats that tipped up in back and down in front with a dented crown. It was a time when men embraced a perfect blend of masculinity and classiness. Men also became aware of the wide range of voluminous colors of suits. So they were not dictated by only a gray color of suit. In fact—they played a style game too effectively.
The Bold Look lasted for only two years from its debut in 1948. The style fell off in 1949. Men became tired of playing with Esquire's rules and most importantly, the Bold Look didn't give men fit so they rewinded conservatism and reservation for their formal and business attire. They (men) too favored gray flannel suits especially in the 1950s.
REFERENCES:
Schoeffler, O.E., and William Gale. Esquire's Encyclopedia of 20th Century Men's Fashions. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1973.