An Oddity Lost

Well, not quite 'lost', just no longer in my possession.

You might remember this amazing 1930s sports coat I posted about nearly two years ago.  The photos from back then were crude at best but I recently upgraded them, as you'll see below.

Quite a rare sports coat, it is.  Lightweight donegal tweed material, a very large size, really nice condition for its age (aside from two missing buttons), and, most interestingly, four pleated patch pockets.

click images to enlarge

And with such uniqueness going on in front we would expect some more to continue in the back.  But we'd be wrong.  It just has a boring, plain, ventless back, as if someone had robbed it of its belt, pleats, and gussets.

Not that I'm complaining; just look at that fabric pattern.  It doesn't get much better than that.

This illustrates just how vintage (especially 1930s) fabrics kick the tar out of modern fabrics.  Even though this is lightweight tweed (contradiction?) it drapes and flows beautifully.  Exceptionally fine tweed like this isn't made today.  It is extinct, except in vintage examples like this jacket.

 The pleated pockets are just the icing on the cake.  Sure, you'll find sports coats with the occasional gusseted pockets but how many times do they have multiple pleats per pocket?


Made by Foreman & Clark, a quality maker back in the day.  This tag is a definite sign that, when it comes to vintage, you're getting a nice product.

Unfortunately this sports coat is way too big for myself and, while I loved having it in my collection, it only ever stayed in the closet, collecting dust.  So I sold it so someone else could own, wear and enjoy it.  Because what good is clothing if it cannot be worn?

To my eyes it is a piece of artwork.  I have a feeling the new owner would agree.

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

WIW: Donegal Tweed

Good tweed weather today: not cold enough for an overcoat but cold enough for a heavy tweed suit.

While not a new suit to me, today was the first time I've ever worn this one. It's a nice donegal tweed from the early 1940s. I've owned it nearly 2 years and it was my second vintage suit but I never got around to altering it until recently.

The arms had to be let down (they're still just a tad short)and the trousers needed to be lengthened. Unfortunately I had to sacrifice the trouser cuffs but the trousers are flat front so it's alright.

I wish I hadn't waited so long!

Many positive comments today about this one.

click photos to enlarge

The sweater vest is "American Living" brand from J.C. Penney, on sale.

Check out that material! Heavy, itchy and thick. Thankfully the trousers are lined at the knees, otherwise sitting in them would have been unbearable.

This suit really stands out in the crowd.

I believe this suit to be a drape suit as the above photo illustrates. The trousers drape beatifully as well.

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.