Thursday, February 24, 2011
Whatever Happened to Style?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkzoAhAS0Kg
That's the million dollar question. It's hard to find nowadays, real style. It's not something you can buy from Target, Tiffany's or Chrysler. It's something we learn or are born with.
In the olden days folks dressed up. To go to the movie theater, to the grocery store, downtown, on a trip. To go for a walk on a cool Spring evening. Just to dress up, to look nice, to be stylish. Or as stylish as one could be.
Whether their best was rags or bespoke, people wore their best.
Looking good makes us feel good. Watch how a Marine struts in his Dress Blues or how a man carries himself when wearing a well-fitting classic dinner jacket: confidence, pride, enjoyment.
It's the same with glamour. Too few women today are glamorous, but maybe that's the point.
It wouldn't be stylish or glamorous if everyone did it or was that way.
I think Chrysler did it right with that commercial, at least until the end when they equated style and glamour with their lifeless monotone plastic cars. Aesthetic simplicity does not equal style nor glamour though at times they do go hand in hand.
I enjoy cruising in my car with the windows down and wish more folks would go for a drive just for the sake of going for a drive. But that would make the roads more congested and I do enjoy an open road...
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
What to do, Where to go...
I recently obtained 3 yards by 60 inches of the vintage material shown below. It's in excellent condition with one tiny hole and no staining or fading. It has an attractive salmon double windowpane pattern on top of a steel blue background along with a woven rectangle pattern.
Now the question is what to do with it? Three yards is enough material to make a sport coat or trousers but not both.
If I go the sport coat route I would love to get a 4x2 double breasted jacket with patch pockets including dual breast pockets. It's a sport coat, anyways, might as well go a little unusual.
If I go the trouser route I'd get them high-waisted and pleated with a healthy cuff.
It's beautiful material and I'm sure anything made from it would no doubt look great if made well. But that's the big question here: where should I go to not only get such an item made, but made well at a price I can afford.
The search begins...
Now the question is what to do with it? Three yards is enough material to make a sport coat or trousers but not both.
If I go the sport coat route I would love to get a 4x2 double breasted jacket with patch pockets including dual breast pockets. It's a sport coat, anyways, might as well go a little unusual.
If I go the trouser route I'd get them high-waisted and pleated with a healthy cuff.
It's beautiful material and I'm sure anything made from it would no doubt look great if made well. But that's the big question here: where should I go to not only get such an item made, but made well at a price I can afford.
The search begins...
Sunday, January 23, 2011
WIW: Best Fitting
The temperature this morning was -7 degrees Fahrenheit. I didn't want to leave the house...
So I threw on my modern Duffle Coat (more about it in a future post) and trudged out the door.
Beneath the Duffle I wore a mid-1930s 'English drape' cut (more on this in a future post) sport coat and a late 1930s wool tie. Needless to say, the sport coat fits like a glove and I love how the English drape cut looks on me. It is one of my best fitting jackets. The lapels have great shape to them and the caramel buttons are easy to look at.
The jacket is made of fairly heavy weight wool that has a pretty unique pattern to it. Nothing like playing with three patterns in one outfit.
So I threw on my modern Duffle Coat (more about it in a future post) and trudged out the door.
click images to enlarge
Beneath the Duffle I wore a mid-1930s 'English drape' cut (more on this in a future post) sport coat and a late 1930s wool tie. Needless to say, the sport coat fits like a glove and I love how the English drape cut looks on me. It is one of my best fitting jackets. The lapels have great shape to them and the caramel buttons are easy to look at.
The jacket is made of fairly heavy weight wool that has a pretty unique pattern to it. Nothing like playing with three patterns in one outfit.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Fashion Park
The following advertisements are from my personal collection. All are from a custom tailoring company called "Fashion Park" that was based out of Rochester, New York.
I don't have much information on Fashion Park other than it was in existance from the 1910s into the 1960s. Here's a 1929 financial article about Fashion Park and related brands.
I've seen only three Fasion Park suits (one from the late 1930s, one dated 1941 and the other from the 1950s) and I own two of them, shown below. All three of the suits I've seen from Fashion Park were of superior quality and styling compared to most others from the period. Which is saying a lot.
My Fashion Park suits (click images to enlarge):
I don't have much information on Fashion Park other than it was in existance from the 1910s into the 1960s. Here's a 1929 financial article about Fashion Park and related brands.
I've seen only three Fasion Park suits (one from the late 1930s, one dated 1941 and the other from the 1950s) and I own two of them, shown below. All three of the suits I've seen from Fashion Park were of superior quality and styling compared to most others from the period. Which is saying a lot.
My Fashion Park suits (click images to enlarge):
Late 1930s
1941-dated
Great suits with awesome silhouettes.
Onto the ads. These are posted in chronological order going down the page. Notice the changing styles (lapels, button stance, jacket lengths, etc.). Also note how the suits and overcoats of the late 1920s began to show the classic styling of the Golden Era.
All of these ads were illustrated by Ray Wilcox. I've been unable to find any real information about Wilcox so if you have any please let us know.
Enjoy.
click images to enlarge
October 1, 1921
October 14, 1922
March 31, 1923
July 21, 1923
February 2, 1924
September 13, 1924
September 12, 1925
March 27, 1926
March 24, 1928
September 15, 1928
October 13, 1928
March 23, 1929
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Looking at the Past: Denim
Looking through the wonderful photos from the early 1940s over at the Denver Post is great fun. The color photos help bring the war era alive in a way black and white photos cannot.
One thing that I noticed is the prevalence of denim in work and very casual environments.
click image to enlarge
Unlike today, denim was meant purely to be worn when the wearer was going to get down to the nitty gritty. Rarely was denim ever 'dressed up' with more formal accoutrements (sports coat, nice shoes, dressy shirt, etc.) like it often is today. One unusual exception to this were farmers who liked to wear worn out suit jackets over their denim overalls, though I doubt they were trying to 'dress up' by wearing this combo.
I like to keep denim where it was originally meant to be: at work and extreme play.
One thing that I noticed is the prevalence of denim in work and very casual environments.
click image to enlarge
Unlike today, denim was meant purely to be worn when the wearer was going to get down to the nitty gritty. Rarely was denim ever 'dressed up' with more formal accoutrements (sports coat, nice shoes, dressy shirt, etc.) like it often is today. One unusual exception to this were farmers who liked to wear worn out suit jackets over their denim overalls, though I doubt they were trying to 'dress up' by wearing this combo.
I like to keep denim where it was originally meant to be: at work and extreme play.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
WIW: Penney's Overcoat
The recent cool weather called for wearing an overcoat today. While it was fairly cold, it wasn't cold enough yet for my heavy overcoats.
Therefore, I broke out and for the first time wore my light-weight 1930s belted overcoat.
I've had this for roughly a year but it needed some alterations, including the replacement of the buttons. Even so, the arms are still a tad short but I'm not too worried about that, it's a normal situation for me.
Belted overcoats were pretty common over in Europe during the 1930s but was not as common over in the states. It's interesting that while a majority of American trench coats (both vintage and modern) are fully belted, very few American overcoats (both vintage and modern) have belts. Who really knows why, perhaps just different societies favoring different styles: a geographic and cultural thing. A plain buttoned belt-less front was enough for most American men, though you can see a belted overcoat in the 1936 New York City photograph below:
My overcoat is somewhat lightweight and unconstructed, almost like a robe. It has lazy peaked lapels that slightly slope downward along with patch pockets but lacks a breast pocket.
The back of the coat is as interesting as the front: a full-length center gusset runs down the back ending with pleats in the skirt. This helps the well-fitted overcoat move with the wearer.
The pleated 'vent' (though not a true vent) is very similar to the Paddock Coat in the 1935 Apparel Arts illustration below:
Despite the short arms I'm happy with this piece. Vintage American belted overcoats are difficult to find and this is a fine example of one.
Therefore, I broke out and for the first time wore my light-weight 1930s belted overcoat.
click images to enlarge
I've had this for roughly a year but it needed some alterations, including the replacement of the buttons. Even so, the arms are still a tad short but I'm not too worried about that, it's a normal situation for me.
Belted overcoats were pretty common over in Europe during the 1930s but was not as common over in the states. It's interesting that while a majority of American trench coats (both vintage and modern) are fully belted, very few American overcoats (both vintage and modern) have belts. Who really knows why, perhaps just different societies favoring different styles: a geographic and cultural thing. A plain buttoned belt-less front was enough for most American men, though you can see a belted overcoat in the 1936 New York City photograph below:
My overcoat is somewhat lightweight and unconstructed, almost like a robe. It has lazy peaked lapels that slightly slope downward along with patch pockets but lacks a breast pocket.
The back of the coat is as interesting as the front: a full-length center gusset runs down the back ending with pleats in the skirt. This helps the well-fitted overcoat move with the wearer.
The pleated 'vent' (though not a true vent) is very similar to the Paddock Coat in the 1935 Apparel Arts illustration below:
Despite the short arms I'm happy with this piece. Vintage American belted overcoats are difficult to find and this is a fine example of one.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Oddities
The 1930s was a decade of sartorial oddities, at least in our eyes. Belted backs, bi-swing backs, pleated pockets, back gussets. Very unique and complex treatments that are rarely if ever seen today. But it was the norm back then.
Several months ago during some of my travels I stumbled upon the late 1930s sports coat below.
This jacket has a couple odd characteristics. First, it has two breast pockets. While this was not unheard of on leisure jackets, it was a little less common on regular sports coats.
Another example of a dual breast-pocketed jacket is shown below. These images are from the classic movie "It's a Wonderful Life" and show Jimmy Stewart's fantastic jacket with lazy peaked lapels to go with the dual breast pockets.
It should be noted that Stewart provided his own wardrobe for "Wonderful Life". The dual breast pocket feature was more of a Hollywood/dandy/higher class trend and most likely would not have been picked up by the lowly and poor small town clerk character that Stewart played in the movie.
Secondly and most unusually: all of the patch pockets are pleated with vertical 'shark gills'.
Definitely an unusual and sophisticated tailoring feature that added another layer of character to an already unique jacket. The material is also interesting, kind of a smooth yet slightly nubby tweed:
With such unusual treatments on the front of the jacket you'd expect even more craziness on the backside: a belted back at least, maybe with pleats if we're lucky. But you'd be wrong.
Just a plain, ventless back. It's a party up front, all business in back. What a combo.
This unusual jacket is a perfect example of the oddities spawned during the 1930s and has a well deserved place in my personal collection.
Several months ago during some of my travels I stumbled upon the late 1930s sports coat below.
click images to enlarge
This jacket has a couple odd characteristics. First, it has two breast pockets. While this was not unheard of on leisure jackets, it was a little less common on regular sports coats.
Another example of a dual breast-pocketed jacket is shown below. These images are from the classic movie "It's a Wonderful Life" and show Jimmy Stewart's fantastic jacket with lazy peaked lapels to go with the dual breast pockets.
It should be noted that Stewart provided his own wardrobe for "Wonderful Life". The dual breast pocket feature was more of a Hollywood/dandy/higher class trend and most likely would not have been picked up by the lowly and poor small town clerk character that Stewart played in the movie.
Secondly and most unusually: all of the patch pockets are pleated with vertical 'shark gills'.
Definitely an unusual and sophisticated tailoring feature that added another layer of character to an already unique jacket. The material is also interesting, kind of a smooth yet slightly nubby tweed:
With such unusual treatments on the front of the jacket you'd expect even more craziness on the backside: a belted back at least, maybe with pleats if we're lucky. But you'd be wrong.
Just a plain, ventless back. It's a party up front, all business in back. What a combo.
This unusual jacket is a perfect example of the oddities spawned during the 1930s and has a well deserved place in my personal collection.
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