“What makes a brilliant party?” the mistress of early-20th-century manners Ms Emily Post queried in her 1922 opus Etiquette. It wasn’t Gatsby-esque champagne fountains, nor a well-rehearsed Charleston. “Clothes. Good clothes” was the secret ingredient in Post’s respected opinion. “People with all the brains, even all the beauty imaginable, make an assemblage of dowds, unless they are well dressed,” she wrote.

As the arbiter of 1920s high society, her word is as good as any. The years that followed WWI and the outbreak of the Spanish flu were marked by a period of excess, exuberance and extravagance we’ve come to know as the Roaring Twenties. After years of rationing and restraint, during this decade, what you wore indicated who you were, and indeed, whether you were worth knowing. We might have outgrown that latter sentiment, but the former rings true to modern ears. Our wardrobes still signal who we are and, perhaps more importantly, what we want to be.

So what, then, do we want to project to the outside world in our very own post-pandemic age? With trend forecasters predicting that we’re on the verge of repeating history with a similar boom of our own, some century-old style lessons might shed a little light on what’s in store for our wardrobes.

Hats were once as ubiquitous as our phones: on the grounds of manners as much as style, there was a time when a man wouldn’t dare leaving the house without being armed with his. While we’re not sure the classic felt Homburg will be making a comeback anytime soon, think of that new bucket hat you’ve had your eye on as the more trendy equivalent of a boater.

By today’s standards, the suits of the 1920s seem staid and stuffy. But at the time, they represented a new style frontier: tailored from lighter fabrics and available in more fabrics and colour combinations than ever before, the were freeing for the men who wore them. We could say the same of today’s relaxed, unstructured blazers and tailoring, which, luckily, are as comfortable as the loungewear we’ve become accustomed to, but still office-appropriate.

While it would take a few more years for men to fully abandon their tails, by the 1920s, the tuxedo – which was invented a few decades beforehand – was beginning to be worn in more casual company by the fashionable upper crusts of British and American society. We’ve had little occasion to dress to the nines over the past year or so, hence the prediction on the most part of fashion’s diviners that our post-pandemic age will usher in a formalwear renaissance.

Surprisingly, by the conservative standards of grooming habits back then, hair styles varied fairly considerably for men in the 1920s. Though, given that heads were usually hatted (see above), in general, most people slicked back their locks using oil. Still, perhaps the most memorable ‘do at the time was the adoption of the centre parting, which was famously modelled by the decade’s poster boy, Mr F Scott Fitzgerald. Gen Z should be rejoicing about now.

Selling more than 15 million units between 1908 and 1927, the Ford Model T was the car that gave the US the motoring bug – or “put the world on wheels” as the auto giant puts it. A new novelty came with a whole new wardrobe, with men, like a boy with the latest toy, kitting themselves out in speciality gear. Driving gloves and shoes – which you can find for sale at MR PORTER – were recommended in manuals for motorists, while the leather jacket soared in popularity.

The vogue for leather jackets is more usually associated with Hollywood daredevils such as Messrs James Dean and Marlon Brando, who shot to fame on the big screen in the late 1940s and 1950s. But flight jackets and bombers, in particular the standardised Air Force A-1, as well as shearling coats, were already becoming a mainstay by the 1920s. And how little things change: a century on, if you were to stumble upon a bona fide vintage original from the decade, you’d have trouble distinguishing it from modern styles.

As men, particularly those on university campuses, embraced more freedoms in the 1920s, traditionally tailored (and sometimes restrictive) trousers began to expand, and then some. Oxford bags, as the commodious style became known, were then revived in the 1970s by fans of Northern soul – and we’re at it again. Though they’re not quite as voluminous these days, wider cuts are already supplanting once omnipresent skinnier cuts.

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Plus fours (otherwise known as knickerbockers) and breeches will thankfully, if there is a sartorial deity, remain in the past. But other items of 1920s athletic-wear have since made their way into the everyday wardrobes of modern men. The short-sleeved polo shirt made its debut in the decade, with Mr René Lacoste sporting his on court at the US Open. Then, of course, there’s the classic cricket sweater, which has been reimagined by designers in all sorts of guises, perhaps most notably in recent years by Gucci.

Google “1920s collars” and the results will yield an almost endless supply of possibilities. We would never be so bold as to suggest the camp collar’s moment in the sun is over, but the sheer variety of collars available for men in the 1920s makes today’s limited number of options seem conservative. The detachable versions have had their day, sure, but try a sharp, elongated point-collar or rounded club the next time you’re shopping for shirts.

Wingtip brogues are regarded as especially formal nowadays, but back in their prime, the two-tone variety was a more casual option for everyday. In the 1920s, men weren’t afraid to be a little daring with their footwear – a lesson worth keeping in mind when you’re browsing the MR PORTER shelves. Of course, this needn’t only apply to hard shoes, but sneakers, sandals and boots, too.