The REAL gangster look

[flat-top]

Remember it??!! REMEMBER it??!!!
I based my @!!%$!! AVATAR on it!!!

(How'd I do, BTW?)

Lookin' fierce my friend!

 

[Les Gillis]

A Bank Examiner?

The Dillinger Gang, Alvin Karpis and Baby Face Nelson all dressed very well. They were often mistaken for bank examiners and managers at first glance...except for all the large cases and bags with guns sticking out.

At times they tried to diversify. The Nelson Gang robbed a bank with everyone wearing overalls except Nelson. He was wearing a what a witness described as a "nice blue suit and cotton cap." Reports of robbers dressed as hunters so it didn't look out of place to have the long cases. There was another Dillinger Gang robbery that one of their guys was outside of the bank dressed as a hunter with a tommygun in a wicker basket.

As far as head wear John Dillinger had his trade mark straw boater, Baby Face Nelson wore 8/4 caps and fedoras. Clyde Barrow was known to wear a straw Panama style hat. There are also pictures of him wearing a boater, fedora and a soft cap.

The more successful robbers had nicer clothes their clothes were. At one point someone said about Clyde Barrow that he was wearing a nice clean suit; it wasn't dirty like his usual clothes.

 

[Fletch]

Mob wars and Great Depressions are tough on suits.

Also, it was awfully long ago.
You'll also do better if you're in the Wiry or Runt size range.
I own one in a 41 regular (comes that close to fitting me), but it's a 2pc custom job from 1950.

I really like the goods - a woven plaid. All one color.

 

[anselmo1]

How about the debonair Frank Costello, "Prime Minister" of the syndicate.

Or how about Louis Lepke Buchalter of Murder, Inc. fame

 

[Micawber]

I recently acquired a 1932 dated brown SB peak lapel, short-skirted, scalloped fronted suit. I will post some photos as soon as I get chance.

 

[Fletch]

For my money, Benny Siegel had 'em all beat for style – better looking (and better dressed) than anyone who ever played him in the movies or TV, maybe even Warren Beatty.

Who's the frail, Benny?

Don't call him Bugsy. He HATES being called Bugsy.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

He improved with time. Looked slightly dorky in this early mug shot: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/siegel1.html


.

 

[Feraud]

I am loving these gangster photos. Keep 'em coming!

 

[Fletch]

A little callow, yes. But he was just a kid. For 1928 he was definitely fashion-forward with the wide brim and long collar. The guy knew from clothes.

 

[Jovan]

I really dislike how peaked lapels are frowned upon at most places of work nowadays, even though they were pretty well accepted in the period that started what we now know as the suit.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I really dislike how peaked lapels are frowned upon at most places of work nowadays, ...

I hear you. And the funny thing is, they came back in the '70s and were accepted as businesswear. I wonder if today's business world regards sb peak lapels as a '70s style, and therefore rejects them? Or is it that the lapels remind people of tuxedo jackets?

.

 

[Jovan]

I don't know, but I believe it was the '70s where notch lapels for dinner jackets came into existence. What the hell happened? :eusa_doh:

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I don't know, but I believe it was the '70s where notch lapels for dinner jackets came into existence. What the hell happened? :eusa_doh:

Surprisingly, notched lapels for dinner jackets first appeared in the U.S. around World War I, and then were quite popular throughout the 1920s. They completely disappeared in the early '30s and didn't pop up again until the '60s.


A 1925 exampe here: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showpost.php?p=109689&postcount=2


.

 

[Jovan]

Eek. Well at least James Bond knew better. That is, until he changed into his Roger Moore form.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Eek. Well at least James Bond knew better. That is, until he changed into his Roger Moore form.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but ...

 

[Jovan]

I don't remember that... what movie is that from? I only remember him wearing shawls and then peaks for the only cream dinner jacket he ever wore.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

One of Connery's last Bond films, that much I know. Matt Deckard posted the photo, so he might know which movie it's from.

 

[Jovan]

For Your Eyes Only?

 

[Miss Neecerie]

I think its Never say never again...

http://www.agent007.nu/never.htm

But could be wrong...

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Good guess, but the bowtie in the photo is much tinier than it is in NSNA. Connery seems younger in the photo.