The Duffle Coat: Unrefined Style

Like many garments found in our closets, the duffle coat has its roots firmly set in the military.

Originally introduced in the Royal Navy, the duffle coat is a loose, rugged coat that was originally designed with utility in mind but can add a casual dash of character to an outfit.

A duffle coat is identified by the heavy weight wool it is made of along with its hood, double patch pockets, medium length skirt and, most notably, toggles made of either horn or wood. The coat may or may not have a hidden zipper though traditionally the zipper is lacking.

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The duffle coat is usually found in traditional colors like camel, dove gray and navy though they can have many other colors and patterns to them, as my Tommy Hilfiger duffle coat below demonstrates.

Wear a duffle coat casually with either your everyday clothes or a sport coat and tie. It is a garment that was orginally meant to keep the wearer dry and warm on the decks of ships and submarines during war and as such should be paired with other hardy pieces. Wool, flannel, corduroy, denim and knits work well with the duffle coat.

WW1 RN submarine officer

A duffle coat will serve you well as these last cold days of winter fade away into Spring.

WIW: Houndstooth and Pastel

A peacock is bright and memorable. But we remember the peacock for his feathers and nothing else. We don't think of his legs, beak or head as the source of his beauty, only his feathers.

The peacock can teach us a valuable lesson: one of restraint. The peacock has one feature that stands above the rest: his feathers. The same should apply to the stylish man.

If a man is to wear an outfit with a single garment that is wild and perhaps gaudy, he should show restraint with the rest of the outfit. One crazy garment will draw the eye while two or more crazy garments will poke it out. Pairing together too many gaudy articles of clothing and creating too many focus points will give the wearer an appearance of trying too hard. Keep it simple and you will go far.




For example, today I wore a rather crazy 1940s lounge jacket. No doubt I could have paired it with trousers that are just as wild and looked like a clown as a result.

However, I used pastel colors and toned down garments to counterbalance the crazy monochrome jacket while adding some color.

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Note that the jacket has a fairly large houndstooth fabric pattern. Not only that, it is in black and white.



The simple pastel colors found in the hat, shirt and socks help counteract that wild pattern and monochrome color scheme, turning the sensational into something more pleasing to the eye.

Throw in a pair of vintage Florsheim shoes and you get a very nice casual outfit.


Like the peacock, show some restraint when putting an outfit together.

John Lobb: Handmade Shoes

Want to take a look at how bespoke shoes are made the old way? Watch the video at the following link.

John Lobb custom shoes

You rarely find that kind of quality nowadays though it was commonplace 70 years ago.

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...

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...

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.

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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.

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):

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.

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October 1, 1921

December 24, 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