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Show us your vintage French tailored garments.
- Thread starter Baron Kurtz
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I'll Lock Up
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Cheers,
I keep telling my wife we need a weekend away in Paris!
I keep telling my wife we need a weekend away in Paris!
Two Types
I'll Lock Up
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Nice tie, btw.
Hello,
As a suitable (hehe) contribution to this thread, a French-made brown DB suit, dating probably from the mid-1940s:
Couple of interesting features:
Typically French is the waist of the trousers, with keystone belt-loops, fob pocket on the left side, and simple round waist.
Popular among the French during the second half of the 1940s (according to tailor-instructions from for Berlin tailors who had to cater to the sartorial palates of Soviet, British, American, French and German costumers) were the high-peaked lapels of moderate width.
Interesting features are the decorative lapel-"buttonholes" (three strings of thread) and non-functional chest pocket.
The trouser ends have wonderful 31 cm width. The legs are almost fully lined as well!
Curiously this suit hails from a San Francisco household dissolution (with no other period clothing... so likely no collector). My unproven guesstimates on it's origin: bring-back from France by an American... or some Diplomat at the United Nations, back then convening in San Francisco.
Best Regards
As a suitable (hehe) contribution to this thread, a French-made brown DB suit, dating probably from the mid-1940s:
Couple of interesting features:
Typically French is the waist of the trousers, with keystone belt-loops, fob pocket on the left side, and simple round waist.
Popular among the French during the second half of the 1940s (according to tailor-instructions from for Berlin tailors who had to cater to the sartorial palates of Soviet, British, American, French and German costumers) were the high-peaked lapels of moderate width.
Interesting features are the decorative lapel-"buttonholes" (three strings of thread) and non-functional chest pocket.
The trouser ends have wonderful 31 cm width. The legs are almost fully lined as well!
Curiously this suit hails from a San Francisco household dissolution (with no other period clothing... so likely no collector). My unproven guesstimates on it's origin: bring-back from France by an American... or some Diplomat at the United Nations, back then convening in San Francisco.
Best Regards
Last edited:
herringbonekid
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Fastuni, thanks for sharing. that's an interesting suit. does it have any kind of tailor's label in a pocket ?
Mario
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Those lapels are remarkable. Not really my cup of tea, but then I'm not a huge fan of DBs anyway (on myself).
@HBK
Unfortunately no labels or markings at all.
@Mario
I really have a faible for high-peaked lapels with rounded points. As to DBs... one cannot argue over taste, but I think DBs rather flatter/balance my physique (slender 38 size, long arms and huge head).
Unfortunately no labels or markings at all.
@Mario
I really have a faible for high-peaked lapels with rounded points. As to DBs... one cannot argue over taste, but I think DBs rather flatter/balance my physique (slender 38 size, long arms and huge head).
Mario
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Oh, I like the look of DBs on other people, don't get me wrong about that. It's just that I don't feel comfortable wearing them myself. They introduce a level of formality that's simply not mine.
Here a completely unlabelled suit that is a bit of a puzzle to me... maybe someone else has some clues.
It was bought in Germany, however I suspect a possibly French origin. It was bought online (entirely falsely described) from an "household clean-up"... so I assume it was in use in Germany already back then and not brought over recently as a collector item.
The jacket suggests mid to late 1940's... the strongly peaked medium width lapels and 1x2 closure was popular DB fashion both in Germany and France. However the round-waist trousers with elastic strips inside (and no traces of belt-loops, suspender-buttons or rear pockets) strike me as rather French and unusual for German trousers. The piped side pockets however are treated as commonly seen on German trousers.
A previous case of trousers with both "French" (closure) and "German" (bunny-ear suspender straps) features that I have seen (on photos) were tux-pants that were found in Belgium. So that might be a possibility for this suit as well.
The legs were tapered down at some point, probably 1950's... but I restored the full original width (along the old stitchlines) of 24 inches (61 cm) leg cuffs. The very wide legs might push the dating a bit earlier than the 1947-49 I suspected.
The fabric is a very soft and dense cream flanell with white and burgundy pinstripes.
Best Regards
It was bought in Germany, however I suspect a possibly French origin. It was bought online (entirely falsely described) from an "household clean-up"... so I assume it was in use in Germany already back then and not brought over recently as a collector item.
The jacket suggests mid to late 1940's... the strongly peaked medium width lapels and 1x2 closure was popular DB fashion both in Germany and France. However the round-waist trousers with elastic strips inside (and no traces of belt-loops, suspender-buttons or rear pockets) strike me as rather French and unusual for German trousers. The piped side pockets however are treated as commonly seen on German trousers.
A previous case of trousers with both "French" (closure) and "German" (bunny-ear suspender straps) features that I have seen (on photos) were tux-pants that were found in Belgium. So that might be a possibility for this suit as well.
The legs were tapered down at some point, probably 1950's... but I restored the full original width (along the old stitchlines) of 24 inches (61 cm) leg cuffs. The very wide legs might push the dating a bit earlier than the 1947-49 I suspected.
The fabric is a very soft and dense cream flanell with white and burgundy pinstripes.
Best Regards
Last edited:
herringbonekid
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burgundy and white pinstripes... nice !
most trousers i've seen with double jetted side pockets are German, but as there seems to be very little difference between some French and German tailoring features i think it's impossible to be definitive.
most trousers i've seen with double jetted side pockets are German, but as there seems to be very little difference between some French and German tailoring features i think it's impossible to be definitive.
Mario
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Ah, that one. Some lovely fabric here. And just your kind of lapels!
Baron Kurtz
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The waist closure and pockets would make me lean towards German rather than French, but I wouldn't be anywhere close to certain about it.
Mario
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What exactly strikes you as so markedly Teutonic about the closure? A good many of the German trousers I've seen have an additional buttoning tab/flap on the inside (the precise term eludes me at the moment ).
).
Last edited:
Baron Kurtz
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Nothing particularly German about it, but strikes me even less as French …[huh] Maybe the kayhole buttonholes in the lapels tell us something, too?
Beautiful fabric on it, I must say. I'd love to find a mid 30s SB in that fabric.
Beautiful fabric on it, I must say. I'd love to find a mid 30s SB in that fabric.
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I can't add anything to the German or French (or Belgian debate) but the fabric is delightful.
I did notice that the buttonholes on the fly appear to be at a slant. Is that a distinctive feature of any particular nation's tailors?
I did notice that the buttonholes on the fly appear to be at a slant. Is that a distinctive feature of any particular nation's tailors?
Thanks for the thoughts on this.
Two Types, I checked my European trousers and the angle of the fly buttonholes (my US pants are all zipped):
9 German trousers: upward slanted; 2 German trousers: horizontal
1 French trousers: horizontal
1 Finnish trousers: downward slanted
No idea how much this would tell.[huh]
...
Other details:
The closure-hook has a crown and some ornaments. Has anyone seen this before?
My German trousers mostly have some floral ornaments on the hook. One case of "Trademark" on the hook.
Also most of the more "formal" and "city wear" German jackets have "tongues" of outer suiting fabric leading to the interior pockets. One case of directly cut into the lining on what I assume to be a German jacket (not sure though).
The sportive ones either cut directly into the lining or with a piping of suit fabric.
The previously posted brown DB suit (which I assume to be French, due to waist-construction and keystone belt-loops) also has the "tongue" for the interior pockets, while this one has them cut into the lining.
...
Regarding the fabric: I also fell in love with this light-colored pinstriped flannel and would certainly have preferred it to be a 30's peak lapel SB (with vest). However I consider myself lucky enough to have found this suit, which also fits quite well (with faux turn-up cuffs now though).
Two Types, I checked my European trousers and the angle of the fly buttonholes (my US pants are all zipped):
9 German trousers: upward slanted; 2 German trousers: horizontal
1 French trousers: horizontal
1 Finnish trousers: downward slanted
No idea how much this would tell.[huh]
...
Other details:
The closure-hook has a crown and some ornaments. Has anyone seen this before?
My German trousers mostly have some floral ornaments on the hook. One case of "Trademark" on the hook.
Also most of the more "formal" and "city wear" German jackets have "tongues" of outer suiting fabric leading to the interior pockets. One case of directly cut into the lining on what I assume to be a German jacket (not sure though).
The sportive ones either cut directly into the lining or with a piping of suit fabric.
The previously posted brown DB suit (which I assume to be French, due to waist-construction and keystone belt-loops) also has the "tongue" for the interior pockets, while this one has them cut into the lining.
...
Regarding the fabric: I also fell in love with this light-colored pinstriped flannel and would certainly have preferred it to be a 30's peak lapel SB (with vest)
. However I consider myself lucky enough to have found this suit, which also fits quite well (with faux turn-up cuffs now though).
Last edited:
Qirrel
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The pockets in the picture do not look like they have been worked into the lining, but rather through the facing or a piece of fabric sewn to the facing, and have then had the lining felled close to or over the jetting seam.
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