WIW: the Blues

It was tweedy weather out yesterday so for the first time this winter I donned my blue tweed 3-piece sports suit from Kaufmann's in Pittsburgh. Why is it a sports suit?

It's very heavy tweed for cold country weather and the jacket has two feature unique to vintage sports suits/jackets: a short single vent in the back and two patch pockets on the jacket skirt. You won't see these very often on non-sport and more conservative suits before the 1950s.

Mine is dated September 1940.

click photos to enlarge

Right At Home...WIW

The September 1940-dated Kaufmann tweed suit I wore today would be right at home in the Mont. Ward catalog in my last post.

1930s 'Adam' ("the first name in hats") fedora.


Context:
When this suit was bought back in September of 1940, the blitz of London had just begun (September 7). Hitler announced on September 17, 1940 that the planned invasion of England (Operation Sealion) was postponed.
The United States had not yet joined in the fighting and hadn't even started its 'Lend-Lease' program with England, Russia, China and other allies.

This suit was born in unsettled times.

Patch pockets, an unusual (for 1940) single short vent, the working faux bottom vest button, lapels that roll to the center button: all trademarks of a well made suit, this time from 1940-- the end of the great pre-war suits.

WIW

Sunday I wore a September 1940-dated 3-piece tweed suit. It was cold and windy, so it was well-suited for the weather.

Along with this suit I wore the following:
*1930s Mallory fedora
*1930s wool tie
*modern Van Heusen "fitted" shirt
*vintage watch chain with modern Union Pacific watch
*Allen Edmond shoes

The jacket sleeves are a tad short for my

liking but I'm not too worried about them.

The nice short vest with high-waisted trousers.

Interestingly, this suit came from that famous department store in Pittsburgh: Kaufmann's.

No longer in business, Kaufmann's was well known during the

Golden Era and one of it's founders, Edgar J. Kaufmann, famously had

architect Frank Lloyd Wright design his weekend home Fallingwater, seen below.

E. J. Kaufmann also had Richard Neutra design his Desert House in 1946.

Kaufmann's department store closed in the 1990s.

This suit is an interesting and unusual piece of history that will stay in my collection and I will enjoy for many years to come, not only because of that history but also because of wonderul piece of clothing that it is.