Show us their suits

My thoughts exactly. The photo could have been taken from the Thugs Like Us book.

 

One of Gary Cooper's jackets, owned by a collector:



http://www.collectingclassichollywood.com/search/label/Shirley Temple

and a rather distinctive suit worn by a German priest:

http://www.deutschefotothek.de/documents/obj/89000882

 

Man in a corduroy zipper-suit checking out an Ulster, Leipzig 1955.


http://www.deutschefotothek.de/documents/obj/88910256/df_roe-neg_0006933_007]

 

That's a good look.

 

Looking at just the photos on this page (or the page before, if this post jumps to the top of the next page) highlights one of the things I love about clothes from the '30s and '40s - there was so much more texture to them. Today, many suits, sport coats, trousers, overcoats, etc. are finished "smoothly." Most wool items today are very refined in their finish which removes some of the interest and character from the clothes.

 

Don't you think this guy has a 60s haircut? He looks like a stasi spy.

 

When I first saw this photo I was struck by how much might have come from the 60s - the woman's boldly geometric (and presumably brightly coloured) top, the man's single cuff buttons (very Carnaby Street) and the hair cuts - that if someone had said it was a still from thirty years later I would have accepted it.

 

Erwin Schrödinger wearing a soft-draping flannel sportcoat/suit with buttoned pocket flap, round neck sweater and bowtie.

 

any idea what year ? i would like to see that whole jacket.

 

An Austrian website dates it to 1933, which seems correct.
There are some more photos of him at that occasion, but they are all portraits.

Some more Schrödinger... another archetype of the intellectual/scientist with scruffy hair, round spectacles, tweed and bowtie.

1943



Probably also around 1943



And another bowtie portrait... certainly 1928-1932.

 

I am intrigued by all these old photographs. It is possibly worth noting that up until WW2 it was feasible to identify a man's nationality, ,more or less, by the appearance of his clothes. In films and books of the period one comes across detectives guessing whether a man was from Britain or the continent by looking at his suit and hat. As late as 1981, when I first had a suit made, I was asked about preferring the American or European cut. This has probably changed, and I would hazard a guess that Romanians and Germans today, at least those under the age of about 70, probably look like Americans and Englishmen. What do other Loungers think?

 

Not only that, but hairstyles, as well. On more than one occasion, I have seen in an old book the phrase: to wear one's hair like a German. Meaning long on top and brushed straight back. The idea of national hairstyles is amazing, too! Of course North Korea doesn't count since it's a law!

I was a little disappointed by my first trip to Europe, and just seeing everyone in Nike t-shirts and fanny packs. I wanted to see "It's a Small World" old-world cultural dress, not just their version of trashy Americans.

 

You are right. I recall Munich in the 80s still had some very German clothes in the shops, and a few men wearing leather raincoats, which you never saw in Canada, where I come from. In London in the 70s I recall seeing people in bowler hats and stiff collars in the city and in offices, but not recently. I haven' been in continental Europe in the last 30 years, but suspect clothing has been homogenized. Hair "in the American style" meant a crew cut, back in England in the 70s, as I recall.

 

The American Empire may be in decline, but it is still an empire. It's not only about military bases, waging war against those who won't bend the knee and terror management. Cultural imperialism plays a big part in staying the top dog.

 

Not so sure about the "national differences" back in the day... fashion was already largely international, although the undeniable differences in tailoring details and certain styles allowed to differentiate (at least to those with an eye for it) between the American, British, French and German "schools of dress". The big trends of fashion and overall cut was pretty much the same all over the world.

In men's dress the German and British school were internationally the most influential until America eclipsed them in the second half of the 1940's.

As to hair cuts... look at photos of American, British, German or any other country (where modern dress was worn) from the period... long top and shorter sides was the overall norm.
Of course there were some more extreme examples of German political and military figures with more pronounced hair-cuts.

 

If you went back to the 1930s and 1940s there were other significant differences that could be used to identify people:

I recall reading a British Army report about the physical differences between British men and Germans: the average British male was significantly smaller than the average German and had comparatively bad teeth.

But in terms of clothes, I think to people with any experience would have known certain differences. We can still generally say 'that isn't a British jacket' from features like scalloped yokes, buttoning pockets etc. But, as we have seen on this forum, telling the difference between a German and a Finnish suit isn't so easy!

 

Back on track with this thread, two interesting poses here: William Powell, always dapper, and a curious shot of George Raft.


Raft's jacket is open, unusually, and the trouser rise is lower than usual, so the picture was probably taken in the 40s. Note the lapels.

 

And another one with George Raft in what looks like a tweed suit. A genuine clothes horse, Raft's suits seem to have upstaged his acting ability. The camera angle distorts the proportions, but it seems a classic three-button from the 30s.

 

Sorry, two-button, with the top one fastened. Breast pocket is a patch pocket, and the pocket square looks like a carnation. Is that a spear point collar with a bar? Good width in the thighs and knees of the pants. I get all mine made like that. I tell the tailor that I don't want to feel any cloth on my legs.

 

Even in a gunfight, Raft manages to look as if he just stepped out of the dressing room. . The armhole seems a little low.