1920s Jacket - Hart Schaffner, Marx - Size approx 36L

[Baron Kurtz]

The consensus on this jacket seems to be that it's from the middle 1920s. It's long and skinny like many 20s styles, and if you're tall, the cut will flatter you. It was made by Hart, Schaffner and Marx, certainly one of the best makers of the Golden Era. I particularly like the sloped, low set breast pocket. The rear features a short centre vent. The shoulders are quite heavily padded, so it doesn't really conform to the "Cult of Youth" styles that were so apparently (but not really, IMO) prevalent in the era. This is a conservative jacket of the period; the kind of stuff most men would be wearing. Made of a basic blue worsted, there is no fading to the fabric. I would say this one wasn't worn too much, going by the niceness of the liner and arm liners. There are a few moth nibbles here and there but they're all small. I've detailed them as fully as I can. Pictures are below the measurements and condition report.

Measurements
Chest: 19"
Arm: 24"
Rear Length: 31.25"
Shoulder: 16.5" seam to seam, but the pads extend significantly into the sleeveheads, so this is more like 19" when worn

Condition

One of the left cuff buttons is broken/snapped in half (one half missing). A couple of blemishes in the fabric of the rear, very small, un-noticeable - like very small snags, approx 1-2mm. Rear: 1 moth hole approx 1mm diameter. Left lower front: 2 small moth holes - 1mm and 1.5mm. Right front lower: 1 moth hole 1mm. Left arm front crease: couple holes 2mm diameter.

I'd like £100 for this very rare jacket. It is extremely wearable and right on fashion with the current Boardwalk/Gatsby trending. Shipping extra and to be determined by destination. I prefer Paypal, but I can take cheques from within the UK. PM with interest.

 

[herringbonekid]

...so it doesn't really conform to the "Cult of Youth" styles that were so apparently (but not really, IMO) prevalent in the era.

true that photographic evidence is scarce (apart from the ones made for Harold Lloyd), but they're plentiful in catalogues. the consensus seems to be that although the styles were pushed, they weren't popular with real men.

(edit: also the cult of youth period was 1918-23, earlier than this jacket).

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Yes, you're right. I think this one, with an earliest date posited at 1923, might just be on the cusp of the main flourishing of the "cult of youth", although the phenomenon lasted much longer, right up to the '29 crash and certainly beyond, resurfacing now and again - post WWII, the 1960s, and currently starting around 1992. Remember Black Oxen, all about rejuvenation - with Clara Bow in her first flapper role - didn't come out until 1924. F Scott Fitzgerald would have it that after 1922, the Jazz Age was in decline, and, well, he was there, so we must believe him.

It's good when ones ideas get incorporated into mainstream discussion!!