Show us their suits

[Patrick Hall]

how to dress a DB down; wear a flat cap with it:

That suit with flat cap is positively inspired. Wow!

 

[dhermann1]

That suit with flat cap is positively inspired. Wow!

You'll note he's on a ship. I imagine it was pretty standard to wear one on ship board to avoid the heartbreaking experience of seeing a nice fedora go flying off in to the briney deep. I have taken to wearing a flat cap whenever I see that the weather is going to be particularly windy.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

photo courtesy of FFF.

Not really. I was just reposting this... which is way to easy on tumblr.

I am getting more and more interested in some aspects of 20s suits...thanks to you. It certainly helps to be of a slim or sporty figure for wearing this style. I also think slightly "gimmicky" features (like the flap pocket in this picture) are a big plus. Without them one would end up to close to the boring ivy league style sack suit.


PS: Henry Hull in 1920.

 

[herringbonekid]

i think that is a peacoat-type jacket (above) rather than a suit. i like it though !

 

[herringbonekid]

I also think slightly "gimmicky" features (like the flap pocket in this picture) are a big plus. Without them one would end up to close to the boring ivy league style sack suit.

look at these suit jackets that Harold Lloyd is wearing:

the narrow, tight, unpadded shoulder is far more extreme than on the 'sack' jacket, and the upper body would be very fitted.
add some high-gorge peaked lapels and you have a pretty quirky jacket.
but yes, there were some rather boring conservative styles in the 20s too....

notice that the angle of the collar edge on those jackets is about horizontal, or even down-sloping.

 

[Gin&Tonics]

notice that the angle of the collar edge on those jackets is about horizontal, or even down-sloping.

What I find interesting is that this image shows gentlemen with all 3 buttons fastened, the bottom two buttons fastened, and even only the very bottom button fastened, which I thought was very strange when I first saw it on a vintage photograph, but I guess it wasn't all that uncommon.

 

[Chasseur]

On those Victorian and Edwardian era jackets with four buttons buttoning only the top button was also fashionable (or at least done often in photographs and paintings).

 

[Uff Da]

Love that painting!

 

[herringbonekid]

 

[Two Types]

Any date on that photograph? It looks pre-Great War.

 

[herringbonekid]

no date, but i think it's later; about 1918-20 going by the shirt collar.

 

[Two Types]

The reason I asked about the date was that i have this photo, with a very similar tie/collar combination. I believe this dates from about 1914 (he died circa 1920 from wounds he got in the war)

 

[herringbonekid]

i think that a lot of late teens English photos look much earlier than you might expect. few people in England would have been bang-on the fashion changes for each year. consider this suit which the seller claims is probably early 20s but looks Edwardian:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?63021-Edwardian-Suit

 

[herringbonekid]

these men are probably French, going by the wording on the back of the postcard:

there are some curious chest pockets among them which appear to be lower than normal:

 

[Two Types]

I know very little about the 1920s, but i thought the jacket on the right was interesting and unusual:

No ****** pocket, two patch pockets and very,very cutaway.

I'm guessing this dates from the mid 1920s.

 

[Two Types]

Here's an example of typical British male casual clothing circa 1950:

Light coloured (most likely heavy cotton drill) trousers; shirts worn open; dark sports jackets.

These are a couple of years earlier (circa 1948). Very similar trousers. My theory is that these are British Army officers issue trousers.

The reason I think they are officers issue trousers is that this is my dad. He wasn't an officer, but he did work in the stores where the officers kit was kept. As he once told me, if he wasn't selling it to American sailors, he was wearing it. Also it's unlikely to be civilian clothing since (as far as I am aware) they weren't allowed any civilian clothes whilst in Egypt.
In this pic, the chap on the left has a watch pocket on his trousers:

I like these pictures for one reason (apart from the fact that my dad looks quite cool): it is rare to get a really clear shot of trousers showing how they hang etc.

(By the way - these photos actually inspired my love of period clothing, way back in the early 1970s when I was a child. I was in awe of my father's look in that period and always aimed to emulate it. I never quite got there, but I'm still trying).

 

[herringbonekid]

I know very little about the 1920s, but i thought the jacket on the right was interesting and unusual:
No ****** pocket, two patch pockets and very,very cutaway.
I'm guessing this dates from the mid 1920s.

yes, that's an odd one. much of the teens and 20s seems in retrospect like a transitional period on the way to the 30s - 50s when things became much more consistent, style wise.
there were lots of really experimental ideas flying about like the long bell-shaped jackets with crazy pocket flaps of 1916, and the 'jazz suit' of 1919-20 which were like short-lived fashion follies.
for me, there's much new stuff to discover in this period.

 

[Two Types]

There we are, the continued search for - and discovery of - new things (whether it's a jacket style, as here, or a pair of 'fluffy' sports trousers). Isn't that exactly why many people come to this forum?
In fact, just a few short months ago I recall you reminding a certain frustrated 'Lounger' that was exactly why the forum remained relevant.

 

[herringbonekid]

not sure if this is a suit or odd jacket but it's a good shot of a classic 20s tab collar:

 

[Two Types]

Post War 'Wide Boy'

A selection of photos of Griffith Jones in the crime thriller 'They Made Me A fugitive' (1947). His character is described in the film as: "cheap, rotten, after-the-war trash".

Monogrammed shirt (N for Narcissus - the character's name):

American style tie:

A suprisingly neat raincoat, and rather extravagent shoes:

A close-up of the shoes:

Nice tie:

This is really one for the 'putting it all together' thread: spotted scarf, checked jacket and bold flower patterned tie: