Olympic Colors for Summer 1932

The 1932 summer Olympics, hosted by Los Angeles, took place in July-August, inspiring an Olympic theme in sportswear that season. The five colors of the Olympic rings were reproduced in wooden bead necklaces, in Bakelite bangles, in stripes on sweaters and scarves, belts, bathing suits, and hat bands. Though the worldwide economic depression meant that fewer people could actually attend the games, it was easy to add a little Olympic flair to your wardrobe, as Ladies Home Journal described that August:

Forget all you’ve been told about this color going with that and prepare to mix your primaries. This summer the red-blue-green-yellow-black of the Olympic insignia are jumbled together to ensemble the gayest sports wardrobe fashion has presented in many a year. They’re running rings around all the new sports clothes. So prepare to radiate in these colors whether you’re going to adorn a front seat in California’s giant stadium or root for the home team in your own ball park.

But don’t think for a moment that the well-dressed have completely deserted their stand-bys – the double-breasted, big buttoned sports coat, the beret, the white sleeveless dress, the linen suit or the sun-tan bathing outfit. They have not, and neither should you. But look in this picture and see what’s happened to the old dears! Just look at the girls on the cover! Think what these very giddy Olympic accessories will do for you. Think what they’ll do to last year’s hangovers. Why, the most non-committal white dress attached to a sheaf of five colored bracelets, a five-ringed scarf and beret, becomes dramatic. In fact, this year, as never before, smart dressing is all in the mixing, and who could resist this gay call to the colors?

-Dorothy Shaver
Vice President, Lord & Taylor, New York City

Bakelite clips like this could be picked up cheaply and attached to a neckline, a purse, or a scarf for instant Olympic chic. (1930s blue Bakelite often appears black today).

The presence of Hollywood stars like Virginia Bruce added glamour to the X Olympiad.

Some ladies of the U.S. and Canadian track and field teams: Jane Shilley (left), the great Babe Didrikson (center) and Mildred Frizell (right). The ’32 games were the first to feature women’s track & field events.

Interestingly, we came across very little evidence that this trend was revived for the 1936 summer Olympics, hosted by Berlin. Rather, the location of the games seems to have sparked a renewed interest in Tyrolean and “Bavarian Peasant” fashions (perhaps the story behind this amazing 1930s Tyrolean outfit from Coronet Weeds on Etsy?); the only reference to “Olympic colors” we came across for summer of '36 was a suggestion that peasant blouses might be embroidered with the five colors of the Olympic rings.