Fantastic Vintage for Sale...

...at the Houndstooth Haberdashery.  My closet is bursting at the seams so I'm clearing some fine items out to make room for more pieces that will get more wear.

Now it's your turn to own and wear these 'holy grail' vintage pieces.  Or maybe a few pieces will make someone very happy on Christmas day just a month away.

Here are just a few of the suits and sports coats now for sale.

click links to visit sale site and images to enlarge

1930s Donegal herringbone tweed suit

This is a rare and fantastic 2-piece suit from the late 1930s/early 1940s.  Heavy weight tweed, very well tailored, just a fantastic piece to see in person.  This suit will make someone very happy.

Late 1920s/early 1930s 3-piece double breasted suit

This is another very rare suit since suits from this period are getting more difficult to find, especially in good condition and a 'wearable' size like this one.  A few moth holes in the jacket and trousers, they are stitched up, not too apparent and don't take away from this gorgeous suit.  A rare piece of wearable art.

1930s flannel sports coat

The flannel of this sports coat is some of the softest I've ever seen.  This jacket was custom tailored back in the 1930s and the quality shows.  It's a manly and stylish sports coat that will help you dress your best.  Lovely dark maroon pinstripes on a brown background.

1950s bold herringbone sports coat

I just recently found this one for myself but have decided to part with it because it is just a tad too large for me.  My loss is your gain.  You never see one like this again, it's fantastically unique.  Bold, wide herringbone with square patch pockets.  Very Hollywood and it could be yours.  Check it out.

1940s WW2-era suit

A nice, conservative, attractive pinstripe suit from the WW2-era.  Not a lot issues with this suit at all.  It does, however, have a neat 'former' issue.  One part of the right leg has an expertly executed example of reweaving.  Reweaving is the lost art of making a hole invisible by hand-weaving individual threads from another area of the garment into the hole. Let me tell you, the reweaving on this suit is expertly done and is near invisible.  This has been the first and only example of vintage reweaving I've ever seen.  I love this suit but alas, not the best fit so off it goes.

The reweave spot.  Nearly invisible!

I have a lot more high quality pieces that will be going up for sale within the next few days and weeks so keep your eyes glued to this blog as well as the Houndstooth Facebook page.

Cheers,

Will

Review: Aris Allen Wide Legged Trousers

I've been on the search for wide legged trousers for some time now, either vintage or modern. I'm talking about Oxford Bag wide.

click images to enlarge

Vintage trousers with such wide legs are rare to find, especially in my size and in good wearable condition. That's why I went with the Aris Allen wide leg trousers from the Dance Store. They were a birthday gift from Cassie and I chose the brown unhemmed version, allowing me to tailor the inseam and cuff depth to my desires. They are also available in black but other colors are unfortunately limited.



Once ordered, communication was good and the trousers arrived in a timely manner.

The trousers themselves, as it states on the website, are 100% polyester. That had me worried at first but once they arrived I was pleasantly surprised. The material, though polyester, feels and acts a lot like rayon. It is soft and drapes very well. While the material is lighter weight and more of a summer fabric, it drapes and acts like a heavier material. Unfortunately the trousers can only be dry cleaned or handwashed; no machine washing.


I had my alterationist hem them at the desired length and add a 2" deep cuff to the leg bottoms. These deep cuffs would ensure eye-pleasing proportions and maintain the excellent draping characteristics of the material. I always enjoy a generous cuff.

The trousers are pleated and come with a regular waistband and beltloops, including the interesting double beltloop shown below.



However, they lack suspender buttons but that is easily remedied. I would have prefered the more unusual wide waistband like the second catalog illustration posted above or even a Hollywood Waist but it's not a big issue. The pockets are voluminous and do not negatively affect the drape of the garment.


Before writing this review I wore the trousers on several occasions. Below are a couple casual kits I put together around the trousers.
The trousers are chocolate brown in color and the photo below accurately shows that color:




Note how well the trousers drape when movement is introduced. They don't wrinkle like other modern lightweight trousers, they flow:


Unfortunately, being Winter, it was fairly cold outside and as I said before these are warm weather trousers. That didn't stop me though and I found the trousers to be comfortable and attractive. These trousers are very straight-legged with no flairing towards the hem. At the cuff the legs measure 23" in circumference, definitely in traditional Oxford Bag territory.



Not to mention they nearly cover my size 12 feet!


Here's an overall shot of them being worn with suspenders, my prefered way to keep my pants up when drape is in mind. The 2" deep cuffs really help the proportions of such wide-legged trousers stay pleasing to the eye.






In closing, I'm quite happy with these trousers. They are very economical at $40 and really do look a lot like Oxford Bags. If you are looking for wide-legged trousers but are unable to find anything vintage that suits you I would recommend checking out these Aris Allen trousers. The material is surprisingly nice, the trousers drape well, are comfortable and look great when worn.

WIW: Heat and Hollywood

To beat the heat sometimes you have to go the simple route: shirt, tie and trousers. No suit, no jacket. It makes for a classic look in the heat of the day, especially if the trousers are high-waisted.

-1950s NOS Hollywood Waist trousers
-1940s painted palm tree tie
-1940s barely used Freeman shoes
-1940s Stetson Panama hat
-Modern shirt

click images to enlarge

The trousers shown were until recently NOS (New-Old-Stock) meaning they were never worn, never hemmed and still had the original tags attached. Finding such an item is rare, especially when you factor in that these are highly desirable Hollywood-waisted trousers, not to mention the baby blue color.

What is a Hollywood Waist? As the photo below shows, a Hollywood Waist has no waistband. The material is continuous from the leg hem all the way up to the waist. Such a waist makes for a sleek pant.


It also helps that Hollywood-waisted trousers are normally very high-waisted with a rise of 12 inches or greater. Trousers with such high waists will sit at or above the wearer's navel and around the natural waistline, making them wear more comfortably than trousers that sit on the hips. It also gives the wearer a more athletic and long-legged appearance, something shorter men should utilize. Though, there is a point at which trousers can become too high waisted...



^I have to admit, those do drape pretty well.

But I digress.

Of note is the 'slubbing', those woven lines in the fabric. Slubbing could be considered a flaw in the material but is often used to good effect as decoration and texture. Slubbing is quite common in Golden Era clothing, specifically from the mid-1940s through to the 1950s.

Note the slubbing as well as the fine workmanship of the shoes:



The original tag for my trousers, priced at $6.95 which is roughly $63 in today's money. I'm happy to have paid only $25 for 'em.

George Trousers

I mentioned in my posting of December 16th that I would talk more about the George trousers I wore that day.

This post will fulfill my promise.

I believe George brand trousers are some of the best vintage-style trousers one can find that are very reasonably priced. Why? What makes these $15-$20 trousers better vintage-wise compared to many other seemingly better and higher priced brands?

I'll show you.
The picture below shows three pairs of trousers. One pair is from the late-1940s while the other two are modern George brand trousers. Can you pick out the vintage pair?

You might have decided that the pair on the left is the vintage pair and you would be right, but you probably had some trouble coming to that conclusion. As you can see, like trousers from the 1930s through the early 1950s, the two George trousers have very little taper to them. Wide legged trousers were the style during the Golden Age and these modern trousers mimic the old style very closely.

So closely, infact, that they have the same diameter leg at the cuff, as the below photo clearly illustrates. The vintage trou is beneath the modern.

One thing you might notice in the above photo is that the vintage trou is missing cuffs while the modern George trousers have cuffs. While cuffs were prevalent during the Golden Age they were not always present as a result of fads, personal preferences and even the need to let them down to lengthen the trou to accomidate longer legs.

Yet, as you can see, both of my George trousers have cuffs, which I prefer since they can be let down if needed, help the leg drape better and overall look classic. Both pairs of trousers have cuffs that measure 1 1/2" in length, falling in at the very bottom of the vintage cuff length of 1 1/2" to 2". These cuffs are perfect.

Not only that, but these trousers are pleated. I, not being a fan of plain-front trousers, love the look of pleats and, yes, pleats were fairly common during the Golden Age. Rack up another positive point.

You might also wonder about the fabric weight and pattern. The pictures clearly show that these two examples of George trousers have very classic fabric patterns. The neutral base colors paired with lighter windowpaning as well as other subtle colors (like blue windowpaning on the gray trou) gives these trousers a vintage look that will go with many a suit jacket and shirt.

The fabric weight can be described somewhere inbetween heavy and light, making the trousers perfect for cool and warm weather wear. They are made of a polyester that differs from each style of trouser. But keep in mind that today's polyester is very different from that of the 1970s. These trousers feel like they are made of a heavy cotton blend rather than a polyester blend. The fabric breathes well and they are very comfortable to wear.

My only problem with them is they don't come with suspender buttons but this is easily solved. Plus, they have high enough waists that they wear very well with suspenders.

This is why George brand trousers are my favorite modern trousers to wear: they look classic in both design and color, they are made of medium-weight fabric and they are very comfortable to wear. I would advise you to pick up a pair at your local Wal-Mart and try them out for yourself. they cost anywhere from $15 to $20, making them very affordable and are great trousers for vintage afficionados.