1940 Spring/Summer Mont. Ward suits

[thunderw21]

Great. Thanks for posting the images.
Reference threads like this one deserve to be made a sticky!

This one is stylin'. Available with an optional vest.

I have a suit very similar to this (minus the vest). '39 union tag.

It's interesting how slim these illustrations make the men look.

 

[Chrome]

Could that be one reason why later jacket were even wider shouldered? they really tried to show that pics don't lie, with this suit you are slimmer and wider

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Here's a mystery.


I've been actively collecting vintage 1930s & '40s menswear for more than 20 years.


In all that time, I have never ...EVER ... run into any 1930s/'40s suits, sportcoats or overcoats from Sears, Roebuck or from Montgomery Ward, even though these huge companies must have sold millions of them.


Where are they?


.

 

[Nick D]

By 1940, then, had single breasted peak lapeled gone out of fashion?

Great scans, thanks!

 

[Marc Chevalier]

By 1940, then, had single breasted peak lapeled gone out of fashion?

Good question. The answer is yes ... sort of. It lingered on here and there (see the 1950s Hitchcock flick, Rope) but was seen less and less.


(In the mid '50s, a "jazzbo" version popped up with one button and a very low gorge. Desi Arnaz sometimes wore it in I Love Lucy.)

.

 

[Fletch]

Here's a mystery.


I've been actively collecting vintage 1930s & '40s menswear for more than 20 years.


In all that time, I have never ...EVER ... run into any 1930s/'40s suits, sportcoats or overcoats from Sears, Roebuck or from Montgomery Ward, even though these huge companies must have sold millions of them.


Where are they?


.

I would guess they were the working Joe's suit, bought one at a time and worn until they fell to pieces.

I have a Silvertone suit made circa 1940, but I think Sears only used that name on radios, phonographs and musical instruments.

 

[kools]

In all that time, I have never ...EVER ... run into any 1930s/'40s suits, sportcoats or overcoats from Sears, Roebuck or from Montgomery Ward, even though these huge companies must have sold millions of them.


Where are they?

I believe this is my only:

 

[Lincsong]

Back when Wards and Sears were the titans of retail. A big difference between what they sold in 1940 and what they were selling in 2000 right before they went out of business.

 

[Tomasso]

Where are they?


.

Chicago would probably be fertile ground. There were more Sears and Wards stores in Chicago than any other city; dozens upon dozens, not to mention their flagship stores.

 

[thunderw21]

Here's a picture of the "pleated/pinched front" in action.

http://www.shorpy.com/node/4730?size=_original

 

[Bugsy]

And that's it, unless I upload the boy's and young men's suits...

Thank you, Thunder for the wonderful pictures. Now where can I pick up some of those suits for around $20??

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Now where can I pick up some of those suits for around $20??

This is why I fear that very, very few Loungers (Bugsy excepted!) will end up getting suits from Matt Deckard Apparel, even though his prices are fair for the quality being offered.


.

 

[Bugsy]

This is why I fear that very, very few Loungers (Bugsy excepted!) will end up getting suits from Matt Deckard Apparel, even though his prices are fair for the quality being offered.


.

Let me assure you all the price was well worth it. When I put on my Matt Deckard suit, it's a wonderful experience. I also like people stopping me in the street and asking me where I got such a beautiful suit.

 

[Widebrim]

Whoa, what an action shot! Seriously, what a contrast to what one sees these days at the ballpark. Not that it should be required to wear a tie and all, but it's so true that men dressed like men in those days!

 

[Widebrim]

These ads also provide a good social commentary of the time period represented. All the drawings feature men of European ancestry (especially northern European), as was common for the times. There did exist specialized advertisements, those targeted to specific ethnic groups in particular pocket areas of the U.S., but the mass media would almost never have featured a Black or East Asian man sporting the latest threads. Latin Americans of European ancestry were ocassionally included, but this again was not the norm. Incredible to think that whole sections of our population were so marginalized, and for so many years.

 

[reetpleat]

Here's a mystery.


I've been actively collecting vintage 1930s & '40s menswear for more than 20 years.


In all that time, I have never ...EVER ... run into any 1930s/'40s suits, sportcoats or overcoats from Sears, Roebuck or from Montgomery Ward, even though these huge companies must have sold millions of them.


Where are they?


.

I was thinking something similar. I have seen a lot of suits, but suits like this are so rare, that we tend to think of them as fine suits from fancy tailors or companies. Where are all these suits???

I suspect they sold way more of the boring blue pinstripes and very few of the rest.

As for the Sears and MW, I suspect that they sold a lot of other labels in their stores till later. I have seen plenty from the sixties I think.

 

[reetpleat]

I believe this is my only:

Now that you show it, i think I have seen a lot of such sportcoats. That would likely be mid fifties?

 

[reetpleat]

Let me assure you all the price was well worth it. When I put on my Matt Deckard suit, it's a wonderful experience. I also like people stopping me in the street and asking me where I got such a beautiful suit.

Depending on ow you calculate it, twenty bucks was about like $400 now, which sounds about right, for an off the rack, good quality suit.

I suspect that few board members would pay that much for these suits, although in their size the bigger guys might.

How much do the deckard suits run?

 

[reetpleat]

These ads also provide a good social commentary of the time period represented. All the drawings feature men of European ancestry (especially northern European), as was common for the times. There did exist specialized advertisements, those targeted to specific ethnic groups in particular pocket areas of the U.S., but the mass media would almost never have featured a Black or East Asian man sporting the latest threads. Latin Americans of European ancestry were ocassionally included, but this again was not the norm. Incredible to think that whole sections of our population were so marginalized, and for so many years.

I am sure they didn't mind taking their money though.

 

[reetpleat]

What I wonder is ow much of this look is a matter of artistic license. These shoulds are big and the chests are really baggy. Are we all wearing our suits wrong. Is there any way to cut a suit to look like this and not to just look too big?