Some good lookin' hats

[Matt Deckard]

http://images4.fotki.com/v48/photos/8/83243/323365/027-vi.jpg

http://images5.fotki.com/v57/photos/8/83243/323365/12-vi.jpg

http://images3.fotki.com/v33/photos/8/83243/323365/15-vi.jpg

[Matt Deckard]

http://www.hultonarchive.com/hulton/images/pictures/00f/12/koal/14471/close/16.jpg

http://www.hultonarchive.com/images/pictures/00t/39/koal/14829/close/07.jpg

http://www.hultonarchive.com/images/pictures/95h47/huch/2506/close/27.jpg

[Nathan Flowers]

Men really knew how to wear clothes back then.

[Matt Deckard]

clothing fit back then

[Kentucky Blues]

Dangit! I wanna look like them!!!!!

[Andykev]

But I gotta drop 30 pounds, grow 5 inches, and buy a new face.LOL

Seriously, those guys did know how to dress. It is frustrating, I have seen beautiful vintage suits, but the darn things are all size 37, or 39. Sometimes a 40.

Heck of it, I haven't been size 38 since high school when I weighed 145 lbs!!!

[Renderking Fisk]

Well, People didn't eat that much back then and worked harder to burn off the extra FAT! Live was better but it wasn't easier.

[havershaw]

Andykev - maybe we should swap home states for a while. All I ever find in vintage suits are your size - and I'm a size 38, so I barely ever find anything that'll fit me.

[Dusty Rhodes]

Haveshaw,
What sizes are you finding and where? Sorry to get O/T but I am very curious. Thanks.
Dusty

[havershaw]

No problem, Dusty. generally stuff at vintage stores both here and in LA. The pants sizes are always way way too big for me (I have a size 30-31 waist), and the jackets are always much too roomy. Online it seems to be the same case. size 42-44 and up. A lot of 46 also (I'm talking about eBay here).

I will be happy to check in at my local vintage clothes store (although I haven't been there in a while) and see what they've got available. What size are you prowling for?

(A last minute side note: I sent a fellow over to one the vintage stores where I bought my first vintage hat. They generally have a rack of nothing but fedoras there. The whole place is 40s-60s only and has been that way for years. Anyway, I haven't been there in probably a year or so and the fellow who I sent told me that there was one fedora on the rack - the rest were those trucker mesh hats. Just when I thought I couldn't find any more distaste for my generation...even the vintage stores are giving up!)

[Kentucky Blues]

Havershaw...welcome to the small club :P how tall are you? I have the same problem as you it seems. Except 38 is still akward, as I'm probably a 40-42 in length, but about a 36 in width :( So I prefer 38 long. I'm a weird size :P But I can wear 30 waist pants....though I need 32 length. Back on subject...I wanna look like those guys!

[Andykev]

Daryl,
DON"T RUSH IT. Put on a few years, what will follow is a few pounds.

You are lucky to be thin. It is a great thing, you will live a long time, and not be afflicted with the #1 killer in America: the GOOD LIFE * Also known as * OBESITY.

Seen Dr. Phil ? Thats all he has on now...fatties.

[Kentucky Blues]

My doctor's name is Phil. I call him Dr. Phil. He says I'll put on weight too. I can't wait, this underweight thing gets old after a whilie.

[havershaw]

Daryl,
You never know. I weighed 150 when I was 18. I weighed in at 148 this morning, and I just turned 30. Not only do I not exercise (although I do play drums once and again), but I don't eat particularly healthily either. It's a mystery to me. In high school, my waist was a 32, but really only because I liked baggy clothes back in the day. Now I wear a size 30 waist, and I generally like size 38 jackets and suits, although I'm not against a size 36 from time to time, depending on the cut of the jacket. I've seen your photos, and you do seem a lot taller than me. I'm only 6' or 5' 9" or something like that.

Anyway, most of the folks I know who were skinny in high school put on the pounds in college, or exercised like mad to keep the weight off. I guess it's just a metabolism thing. I've never taken particularly good care of myself, though I don't drink or smoke (apart from the occasional pipe) or do any kinds of drugs. Maybe that has something to do with it, too, I don't know. I guess I"m lucky...but it's hard being a little guy all your life, too.

[Fedora]

It seems most folks in the 30s and 40s looked really slim. But remember the depression literally starved many people, plus they did not have all of the processed and fast food back then. I think our heads grew with our bodies if you look at the hat sizes available on ebay. Lots of 6s and low 7s. You thin guys are lucky. You can never be too rich or too thin or so the saying goes. Consider yourself lucky, and envied by folks like me. My dad was a small fellow. How I got to be a little over 6 feet and burly is beyond me. As you get older, your metabolism will slow and you may pick up some weight like my dad did. I would rather be thin, and able to eat as much as I want, than to be overweight and constantly starving yourself so you don't get larger. Count your blessings and your genetics. ;) Fedora

[Renderking Fisk]

Daryl.. you?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢re at the perfect age to put on weight in muscle and get some serious definition. Some weight lifting and proper protein diet and you?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ll be in awesome shape.

[Kwebs]

Havershaw,

I wish I had your problem. I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m 26, 5?¢‚Ǩ? 11?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ and weigh 300 pounds and a 42 waist, I am not sure what jacket size but all my dress shirts are a 19 ?Ǭ? neck, I will never with out a lot of luck find a vintage suit. Your still young, about a year and a half ago, I was at 320 and a 48 waist, well I started losing weight and went down to 270. I started collage this past fall; I met a guy who was in to lifting and started working out with him, long story short I put on thirty pounds of muscle. I?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢m not a small guy, but I am happy where I am. So don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t feel bad about being an odd size.

Dave

[Kentucky Blues]

Taller than you my bony butt, Havershaw. I'm about 5'11, and 106LBS LOL And you're right fisk, I do need muscle. I'm kinda working on that...

[havershaw]

Daryl -
huh. from the photos, I thought you looked taller. You're right, you've got me beat. But Ren is right - you can do something about it. I have a lot of upper body strength and that section's pretty developed from 15+ years of drumming...I sort of 'retired' from drumming a couple of years ago, but it hasn't seemed to affect my physique in any way I can tell. I think I got to this weight around fourteen or fifteen years old and I've pretty much stayed with ten pounds my whole life - and I'm 30 now. (now, watch - in the next six years, I'll have to sell off all my vintage clothes as I mysteriously gain forty-five pounds...)

I'm sure if I did some kind of exercise or ate better, I'd probably be more defined and all that...but it's not that important to me. i think if I felt less healthy, I'd probably take some action, but so far I've felt pretty good, have tons of energy all the time, etc. Must be in the genes, I guess...

[Kentucky Blues]

Well, its the slimness that makes me look taller. I get that alot. Well, sometimes :p

[Nathan Flowers]

Do we need to post a link with all of our pertinent sizes listed, so we can PM each other when we find something that is nice, and will not fit us, but may fit another fellow here on the board?

BTW, I'm 6'6, and weight 240lbs. I can never find any vintage suits in my size (46L-48L) on ebay.

[havershaw]

Not a bad idea. I run cross a lot of vintage hats, too, as I know a girl who does the whole estate sale thing here in AZ. She makes her living off of costume jewelry on eBay, but she mentioned that she sees hats all of the time, but doesn't want to get that involved with it and will pass them on to me. I'm happy to pass whatever I can't wear on to you fine folk. Tell me what sizes we should be looking for.

Or maybe we can all post our measurements in a common thread, a sticky thread, something like that? Maybe the News (since there's nothing ever there)? Somewhere that's going to stay a top thread so if one of us runs across something, they can easily check the post and see who it will fit?

[Nathan Flowers]

That's exactly what I was thinking.

I'll talk to MK about doing it when he gets back.

[Andykev]

Zohar, please fold your suits in half, cut 8" off the pant leg, and send them to me. I have maintained a 5' 6" build all my life. I started out thin like Daryl, but now that I am approaching 46 yrs., I have gradually ballooned up to 190. Yikes! Sierra Nevada!

My goal is to loose 20 pounds of ugly fat (no I won't cut off my head) and let Art sell me a good vintage suit.

I have always said "you know, I really look up to you!"
LOL LOL LOL

[Kentucky Blues]

Great, now I get to be the butt of every joke LOL Go ahead, I'll use it all as motivation ;)

[Matt Deckard]

A problem I have with modern suits Vs. the 30's styles is that the 30's styles were much more fitted and, well they just fit.

They did know how to tailor clothes back then.

http://www.hultonarchive.com/images/pictures/96g/16/huch/3953/close/10.jpg

Though big guys look good in suits too, they just need clothes that fit.
A large guy in 30's style clothes looks great.

http://www.hultonarchive.com/images/pictures/00f/49/arve/g2540/close/095.jpg

http://www.hultonarchive.com/images/pictures/96g/50/huch/5750/close/29.jpg

My good friend Jonathan Stout here is a heavy set fella that has the togged to the bricks look when he has well made clothing.

http://www.campusfive.com/pictures/102302/photos/jonathan.jpg

Come see Jonathan Stout and the Campus Five tonight at the Argyle.
http://www.maxwelldemille.com/argyle/index.asp
http://www.campusfive.com/main.html

[Bogie1943]

Wow those lids are incredible, but lets not overlook those suits, my god there is nothing like the combo of an incedible suit and fedora, the cloths make the man as they say. Sometimes I wish I could raid a Hollywood costume supplier, imagine the suits and hats one could find.:cool2:

[Art Fawcett]

Gentlemen, I'm also in the "thin" club but for me it's a curse!! You see, in the vintage world the expression is " if it fits, you like it, you can afford it, you darn well better buy it cause this aint Macy's" If EVERYTHING fits ( my wife is also tiny ..size 2 dress) then you end up with a store))
Havershaw, how many 38s do you want? No, I'm serious...I even have 1940s new old stock suits in those sizes. About 5 yrs ago I bought the contents of a mens & boys clothing store that closed down in 1963. They had been storing things for 40 yrs and ended up with 92 NOS suits, but 88 of them were 40 & under. We spent 6 hrs ( 4 of us) just counting the merchandise before I could make an intelligent offer. I never figured out how intelligent it was, but we got the stuff.
I might even have some 38 longs in there Blues.

[Kentucky Blues]

:eek: . . . :D :D:D:D



. . . .Anybody else remember a long time ago when this thread was about hats?

[Michael Mallory]

I'm afraid I've always veered much more toward Raymond Burr than Dana Andrews, but I think size is only one factor of why guys seemed to look better back then. Most people then weren't rich, or even well off. They didn't have a wardrobe full of clothes. The clothes they had were made of good material that hung well, fit well, and were durable (planned obsolescence had yet to be invented). Because people wore the same clothes so much, they tended to "grow into them," and I'm convinced that people look better in clothes they've grown into. Even hats. I have a beat-up old mouse grey fedora that I've worn the holy hell out of, and it's never fit or looked better. I have shirts that are borderline unwearable, because they're starting to fray at the cuffs, but they're also beautifully faded and soft from washing. I've become so comfortable wearing them that they look better on than a brand new shirt. I vividly remember the only suit my dad owned in the 1950s -- light grey and speckled -- which he wore with a dark blue, wonderfully soft (particularly to a 3 year old kid) button-down pocket shirt, almost like a hunting shirt. He was a big, burly hardhat by day, but in that outfit he looked like a movie star.

[MK]

I am very willing to donate pounds to those in need.

Now all we need is for the technique to be invented. :confused:

[Kentucky Blues]

Gee, MK, that really means alot to me....

LOL