Final answer:
In the 1930s, sports jackets were practical and less formal, often made from tweed and worn for leisure activities. The collegiate look was popular among young men, pairing sports jackets with non-matching trousers. Sports and celebrities influenced this trend, with sports jackets symbolizing an active and respectable lifestyle.
Step-by-step explanation:
The way sports jackets were worn in the 1930s reflected broader trends in fashion and society at the time. In the decades prior, there was a shift towards simpler and more practical attire, a trend that accelerated due to metal shortages during World War I when women donated their corsets, leading to a permanent decline in corset sales. By the 1930s, men's fashion had also become more practical and less formal in certain contexts, like when engaging in leisure activities.
Sports jackets in the 1930s were typically made from tweed or other durable fabrics and were often worn for casual outdoor activities like hunting or golf. They were also worn as a part of the 'collegiate look', popular among younger men, particularly on college campuses. This look might include a sports jacket paired with trousers that did not match – a move away from the more formal, matching three-piece suits of previous decades.
Famous figures and athletes of the era, such as Babe Ruth in baseball or Red Grange in football, became style icons, influencing men's fashion, including casual wear. The popularity of sports and its stars helped to make the sports jacket a staple of the American man's wardrobe, seen as a symbol of active, leisurely lifestyle yet still respectable and in line with the conservative nature of the times.