Color Inspiration

Fall is the best season for color inspiration. Nearly every color of the rainbow can be found in combination during the Autumn season. Use these colors to create your own unique look.

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Harmonize your look with the environment around you. Warm colors are king: burnt reds, golden yellows, full browns, rich tans, dark greens, deep oranges; even silver, bronze and certain blues work great when the air cools, the leaves turn and the sun lowers in the sky.

Check out these 1930s Esquire and Apparel Arts illustrations for more inspiration.

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WIW: Black vs. Brown

I wore the 1930s belted back sports coat yesterday for one last hurrah before summer and the warm weather ends for the year. A nice day for it, too.

Summer is the primary time to wear the brown and cream spectator shoes I'm pictured wearing so often during this time of the year. But black and white spectators can work just as well.

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The thing about black and white spectators is that they can be both easy and difficult to wear with certain things. On one hand black and white will go with many other colors and are therefore somewhat easy to match. On the other hand most guys don't know how to use the black and white combination. They use too much of the combo by wearing a completely black shirt with a white or gray tie and dark trousers. The look is then far to monochromatic to be attractive or interesting.

The key is to blend and use as little of the white/black combination as possible. Don't use it for the main article of clothing of your look, but rather as an accessory. And liven up your look with a splash of color like the tie and suspenders in the photo below. And most important of all, keep it simple.

The herd of cats seem to be enamored with the shoes.

What Suits You: Three Eras of Suits

Let's look at three suits of mine that I've never shown before. All three are from different decades, so note the styles of each of them. Also note the quality of the fabric, patterns and construction and shape.

In chronological order...

This first suit is what I would consider my 'perfect' suit: 3-piece, double breasted, navy blue material with teal chalkstripes, very nice fit and silhouette. And it fits like a glove.

This suit was made by a very high quality tailoring company that will remain unnamed. Truly, this suit blows away pretty much anything nowadays in terms of quality, bespoke or not. The material and craftsmanship of this suit overshadow the best any modern tailor can offer.

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Vest is well shaped with 6 buttons and 4 pockets, as an good vintage vest should.


Also note the great waist suppression on the jacket. The lapels are fairly wide but not yet as wide as some Bold Look lapels were. Very little shoulder padding allows for the wearer's natural shoulder shape to show. The button stance is fairly high compared to other DB jackets from the 1940s and the Bold Look.
Note the unfortunate damage to the right arm.


And the pleated trousers with the 'mandatory' 2" cuffs as the finishing touch.

This photo shows the beautiful fabric pattern of this suit. The harmony between the colors is wonderful.

The damage to the arm. How did such a long group of holes appear? Moth? Dog? Rampaging significant other? What stories this suit could tell?

Next is an early to mid-1940s tweed 2-piece. Again, you won't find fabric like this nowadays. It is surprisingly heavy and drapes wonderfully.

The jacket has medium padding in the shoulders and very nice waist suppression. The lapels are fairly wide, would be even wider had the top button been undone. Like the 1930s suit above, the lapels in the early to mid-1940s were on the wide side before flaring out during the Bold Look of the late 1940s-early 1950s.

The early 1940s weren't all too different from the later half of the 1930s except for the war effort putting a damper on some of the more exotic treatments like belted back, bi-swing backs, the Oxford Bags and the like.

Pleated with cuffs:

Again, no modern material can compare to the quality of this fabric. This is why I collect vintage clothing!

Last but certainly not least is this mid-1950s number. Note the heavily padded shoulders and the baggy jacket with little if any shape to it. Also note the 3 patch pockets. While pockets like these were popular on certain suits and jackets during the 1930s and 1940s, patch pockets boomed in the 1950s. They add to an already casual atmosphere.

The lapels are starting to narrow down again as the Bold Look died off.

Also note the very low button stance compared to the two suits above.

Trousers are still pleated with cuffs like the suits above.

But those are not the most important things about this suit. That award goes to the fabric: nubby 'Atomic Fleck'. The colors are truly amazing. The bluish gray background dances with white, medium blue and teal nubby flecks. This is a fairly rare Atomic Fleck pattern.

Hopefully this has given you a glimpse of the different eras of suits of the Golden Era. Unfortunately it was only a glimpse, for a deeper understanding of such things comes only from the touching, handling and wearing of original pieces.

Under the Weather

Not feeling too well today so I threw on this comfy vintage flannel shirt I recently acquired and am hanging around my place.
It is soooo soft...

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...and the material is beautiful...

...as are the buttons.

They just don't make shirts like they did back then.

WIW

Finally broke the Macy's linen jacket out of the closet after waiting for 2 weeks. The weather has been fairly cool here but warm enough for a linen jacket with linen trousers.

I think this is a fairly good late 1930s to mid-1940s summer look.

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As wrinkled as your little ol' grandma!

Last Gasp of Summer

And what a nice one it has been weather-wise. Cool, dry, relatively sunny. At least in my area.

As summer slowly draws to a close the warm weather inventory rapidly goes on sale at every clothing store across the country in an attempt to make room for the incoming winter wear. It's a good time for us cheapskates.

Enter Macy's. Like any good business, they're trying to get rid of their old items. Items like this sports coat fromTasso Elba. Oddly enough, while I purchased mine online for $38 a week or two ago the same jacket is now $50 (originally $195, so still a good deal).

So, why this sports coat? Because of its vintage-inspired style.
It's 100% linen and is therefore guaranteed to wrinkle like any good summer piece should. And not just wrinkle in a chaotic manner but rather in a way that tells the wearer and observer alike that the jacket has been lovingly lived in, so it has the character of a well-trusted old dog: it's concrete, classic, comforting.

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The patch pockets are a classic summery touch to any jacket. You'll note that my jacket is different from the one found at the link I provided above in that my lacks pocket flaps. I assure you it did have them at one time, at least until I removed them. I thought the flaps gave it more of a '70s feel than a '30s one. Now the gusseted patch pockets can be fully seen in all of their glory.

But it is not the front of the jacket that is special. Plenty of other humdrum jackets look like this one from the front. It is the back that is special, catches the eye. Not even the wonderful lapel roll can match the back of the jacket.

Yes, that's a belted back with a center gusset. In a modern jacket. Mind you, it's not perfect. The armholes are, as expected, incredibly low and the belt is about 1/2" too low (no big deal, though). Not perfect indeed, but much further from hopeless than it is from perfect. Actually, this is about as close to a real vintage belted back, center gusseted, patch pocketed linen sports coat that most of us can get at that price. Unless you're a leprican carrying a rabbit's foot while chewing on a four-leaf-clover, but I digress...

Probably the best part about this jacket is the center gusset itself. At rest with arms down at your side the gusset is flat and closed as shown in the photo above. But raise your arms and a whole new world reveals itself as the gusset opens up, allowing for a greater range of movement:

The center gusset along with the belted back, bi-swing back, pleated back, knife back, etc. were all fairly common features found on suit jackets and sports coats of the mid- to late 1930s.

There are three colors to choose from though the 'natural' color is the most vintage for a summer sports coat. Great texture and subtle color variations in the linen, too.

Hopefully if you order one of these jackets there'll be enough warm weather for you to wear it as summer takes its last gasp.

Esquire BDRM Finalists- Soaring Eagles or Black Sheep?

Here are the 5 finalists for Esquire's Best Dressed Real Man contest. Sorry to say I didn't make the final cut but there's always next year.

Still, it's a good feeling to know I'm one of the 25 best dressed real men in America, at least according to Esquire. Especially since most of my wardrobe comes from thrift shops.

So, what are your thoughts on these finalists? Are they anything to write home about or has Esquire gone down the tubes? Which of the finalists do you put your money on?

It's interesting to note that all of the finalists are very young, the oldest being 33 years of age. Each year in the past an older gentleman or two have been in the running. Does this mean recent definitions of stylish and fashionable include only the youthful or were there just no stylish older men this year?