A fashion leader of the Art Deco era was Edward, Prince of Wales (1894-1972), the son of King George V. A handsome, eligible bachelor, he was a major figure in the London social scene. His penchant for golfing, cocktails, and setting the latest fashion trend meant that eyes were always trained on his doings.

Like many other Princes of Wales, he had a long tenure in that role. This gave him plenty of time to make subtle, but critical, dress alterations. He disliked the heavy Victorian and Edwardian clothing regulations that governed his father and grandfather, choosing instead more comfortable shirts and trousers that permitted greater freedom of movement.

Edward introduced the midnight blue evening suit in the 1920s, understanding instinctively that blue looked better than black for tailoring details when one was being photographed by the press. By the early 1930s, he wore unlined, unstructured jackets, abandoned trouser braces for belts, and had his trousers made with cuffs. He also championed the transition from button to zipper flies.

All in all, his fashion leadership presaged the greater social changes of the urban man. His tenure as King of England lasted barely a year, when he abdicated in December 1936 to marry the woman he loved: American divorcee Wallis Simpson (view a video clip). The hullaballoo over his romance with Simpson sounds odd to our modern ears, so jaded as we are with moral lapses from even those highly placed. Whether you read the official biography of his life, or examine the complexities and contradictions of what he became as Duke of Windsor (he and his wife hobnobbed with Hitler, among other questionable figures), you’d have to agree that his effect on masculine fashion was a positive one.