Show us your suits

[reetpleat]

Yeah, I keep seeing their label as well. Must've been a big name out here at one time. I got a couple of '50s-vintage items with their label. And I recently was gifted a hatbox bearing the Fahey-Brockman name.

I don't know when they went the way of all things, but I have no personal recollection of ever seeing one of their stores or even hearing mention of them (excepting around this joint), and I've been living out here since '68.[huh]

As to the '50s and '60s men's wear in general ... man, it's just raining that stuff around here. The simplest explanation is that I'm on the lookout for it so of course that has the effect of making it seem more common than it would be otherwise. But I think that's only a partial explanation. There's gotta be myriad other causes, I'd think, some of them considerably more plausible than others. I'd speculate that the men who acquired that stuff new have no more earthly need for it, so their survivors sent it out into the world. But that theory is easy enough to shoot down. I mean, 1955 was 55 years ago now (hard to believe, ain't it?), and the large majority of the men who were of an age to be routinely purchasing such attire back then have long ago passed on. And besides, they wouldn't have held on to those out-of-fashion clothes all those years anyway. Not many of them would have, anyway. Ours is a mobile society. We move. We discard.

Perhaps the economic downturn has something to do with it. Maybe people are getting a few bucks for the stuff they figure they could live just as well without anyway, such as the old clothing they never wear. So they sell it to the vintage store. Or consign it there. But that does absolutely nothing to explain why so much of it is showing up in thrift stores, where the inventory is donated. I'm finding '50s and '60s stuff at Value Village and Goodwill fairly frequently. For whatever it's worth, I find the pickings (and the prices) better at the stores more removed from the big town. My favorite old junk peddler travels even farther afield -- over to the Olympic Peninsula and out to the ocean towns -- in her searches.

I would guess 50s and 60s stuff is showing up, as it has been for the last twenty years in my experience, because some old guys are dying, some old ladies are getting rid of their old stuff, dying, or going into a home, and also children of this generation may well be getting rid of old stuff left behind.

Lots of people who wore this stuff in the fifties and sixties, are now going into homes or passing on. 40s and 30s, long ago happened. so you rarely see that. When you do, it has usually been through multiple hands in the last ten to twenty years.

 

[tonyb]

I would guess 50s and 60s stuff is showing up, as it has been for the last twenty years in my experience, because some old guys are dying, some old ladies are getting rid of their old stuff, dying, or going into a home, and also children of this generation may well be getting rid of old stuff left behind.

Lots of people who wore this stuff in the fifties and sixties, are now going into homes or passing on. 40s and 30s, long ago happened. so you rarely see that. When you do, it has usually been through multiple hands in the last ten to twenty years.

Yeah, I suppose you get some inkling of how many hands the merchandise has passed through, and how many miles it has covered, by clues such as the original retailer's label. It's very unlikely that a Fahey-Brockman-labeled garment in New York City was brought there by its original owner, for instance.

I would suggest it's remarkable that these relatively "consumable" items of attire exist at all in anything close to good condition, considering wear and tear and all the other things that typically befall them (moths, mildew, etc.). But then, there were untold millions of suits made in the 1950s. If only a small fraction remain, that's still a whole lotta suits. But that's true of lotsa vintage stuff. It's certainly the case with hats.

 

[Yeps]

Can anyone let me know anything about this suit?
I picked it up in a thrift store a while back for $7.50, and it has been doing great. Can anyone help me date it? I am assuming it is pretty modern, but would love some confirmation.

 

[The Good]

Bartenders, pardon me if this is against the rules, but I know that since this finished an hour ago, it is not a live eBay auction, seeing as those are against Fedora Lounge rules. Nobody won it anyway... no bids...

Just how "vintage" does this blazer appear to be? I thought about getting it, but it was still not quite my size.


http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-SHERLOC...SA_MC_Blazers_Sport_Coats?hash=item53dfd748c3

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Just how "vintage" does this blazer appear to be?

I'd say mid 1980s.


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[The Good]

I'd say mid 1980s.


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Could it be the lapels, the brand, or the overall shape? I had my suspicions as well in regard to the term "vintage." People try to pass so much stuff on evilBay as vintage when it's pretty recent anyway.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Could it be the lapels, the brand, or the overall shape? I had my suspicions as well in regard to the term "vintage." People try to pass so much stuff on evilBay as vintage when it's pretty recent anyway.

The label was a dead giveaway.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Pretty much everything about it is a dead giveaway of its recent vintage.

bk

 

[Feraud]

Bartenders, pardon me if this is against the rules, but I know that since this finished an hour ago, it is not a live eBay auction, seeing as those are against Fedora Lounge rules. Nobody won it anyway... no bids...

If it is not a live auction you can post away.

 

[cptjeff]

If it is not a live auction you can post away.

Hence the "Cool but sold" ebay thread.

 

[Yeps]

Can anyone let me know anything about this suit?
I picked it up in a thrift store a while back for $7.50, and it has been doing great. Can anyone help me date it? I am assuming it is pretty modern, but would love some confirmation.

I know I just posted this, but it seems to have gotten overlooked. Can Anyone help me out on the age of this suit?
By the way, the material is minkcash, which, unlike cashmink, is actually a mink/cashmere blend, and not a synthetic.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Anyone help me out on the age of this suit?

Yes. It's mid 1980s.


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[The Good]

Pretty much everything about it is a dead giveaway of its recent vintage.

bk

Heh, well, I'm still learning.

I suppose for sartorial veterans here, it's very easy to place a decade on a certain suit.

 

[Yeps]

Yes. It's mid 1980s.


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Thank you very much. That is what I had thought, but it is nice to have confirmation. As it is, it is a very nice suit, and will continue to get plenty of use.

 

[reetpleat]

Can anyone let me know anything about this suit?
I picked it up in a thrift store a while back for $7.50, and it has been doing great. Can anyone help me date it? I am assuming it is pretty modern, but would love some confirmation.

Can you get better pics, daylight if possible, and pics of the pants, etc. From the label and lapel, it may well be late fifties or sixties, but can't say from the pics.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I suppose for sartorial veterans here, it's very easy to place a decade on a certain suit.

Not always! lol


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[skyvue]

This is a suit I picked up a few weeks back. I like it very much. A nice thick wool, with a 1949 union tag. High-waisted trousers with 1 3/4-inch cuffs.

 

[thunderw21]

"Higbee", why does that company sound so familiar?

 

[Mario]

"Higbee", why does that company sound so familiar?

The Higbee Company, Cleveleand. They used to make hats as well and ended their operations in the 1980's after a buy out by Dillard's (that's what I read in another thread somewhere in the hats forum).

 

[skyvue]

I'll try to get some color pics up soon, but here's a shot of the 1945 DB suit I bought recently. It's interesting to note how prominent the stripes appear in this shot (which was taken by Mr. Clubwitsend). It's a blue-on-blue suit; the stripes are just in the weave.

That's Ms. Skyvue at my side, btw.