The Thread to Display 1950s Suits

Very subtle, Dinerman.

 

Fifties, western cut, orange Panhandle Slim suit. It is my dad's he is now 79 yrs old.

Sorry so small.

Nice horse heads in liner.

 

A bold look jacket,
Very low button stance
selling one to a lounger but with peak lapels and in cream ivory Gabardine

 

Personally, I am a fan of the Bold Look, I think well executed it can look really good. That being said, I think you should combine it with very discreet slacks, maybe dark brown? I've never seen a tie like that... Looks a lot like a modern art painting...

 

getting of topic but that's a 40s hand painted tie, and well modern art really started in the 20s- 60s. So a lot of design, architecture, and fashion really did blend.
For example have you seen the 50s lampshades that look like Jackson Pollock paintings?

 

Hand painted tie... If only something like that was available these days... (At least as far as I know, nobody makes them anymore). And yes, I have seen those lampshades that you mention! Not really my taste, but they're really interesting...

 

Furmbilt Double-Breasted suit.

This is my first DB suit, and I like it. Apologies for the poor photos.

 

Just a heads up I posted a bunch of 1950s suits in size 44 in the classifieds section.
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?73634-Vintage-suits-in-44-blowout-sale!

 

Here's how the Allen western suit fits. The fabric is great.

 

You can see the 'slubbed' effect of the suit's fabric quite well in your first photo Dinerman. It looks like it was made for you, the fit is so spot-on!

 

50s does 40s?

Frankly, when I picked this up, I was thinking 40s but then I found the dated name tag and the union label. 1952. I'm still learning suits... is this one still in the style of the 40s?

I've been trying to find out more on Scotland Woolen Co. or Scotland Woolen Mills. Apparently, this Scottish woolen mill sent over fabric to the US and Canada where stores had been opened for men to buy made-to-measure suits. I've found quite a bit of advertising from the early 20th century but nothing from the mid-century. And I haven't been able to find any recent sales records for these vintage suits.

Anyway, it's a lovely suit in a nice thick gray wool. And even though the name label says "Kay Woo" the monogram label is "RW" so maybe the original owner was actually named Ray Woo. Lots of nice details, including a fully-lined jacket, button-fly trousers with a diamond gusset crotch, and even an extra pocket in the lining of the pants. Beautiful condition.

 

The button stance is extremely low and the shoulders look like they're quite built up. Also, it looks like there is very little waist supression. These features put together as well as the button stance all by itself give the suit a late 40s/ early 50s look.

 

Thanks! Yes, the shoulders are very well padded. So is this suit in the capital "T", rather than hourglass, style? (I'm trying to develop an eye for varying silhouettes.)

 

Yes, that pretty much nails it. When differentiating between silhouettes that are thought of as typical for a certain timeframe, the question is how far one can go in narrowing down the timeframes without making it too artificial.

For U.S. suits, I think it makes sense to use the following categories, but keep in mind that these are very simplified descriptions, and others might find a different categorisation than this one to be more helpful.

A lot of change in suit styles happened during the 1920s and again during the 1930s.

- early 20s (up to ca. 1925 or "pre-bag" trouser style): very different from what we know today as a lounge suit, a totally different cut with the closing button high on the chest (in the case of the sack suit, although the later, more familiar cut was beginning to emerge already), narrow shoulders with padding more towards the back

- late 20s and earliest 30s: still fairly narrow shoulders, not much padding, overall a somewhat more "feminine" cut with heavy waist suppression, the chest lying close to the body

- mid 30s: a very balanced cut, right in between early 30s and late 30s, with a shoulder that usually ends at the anatomical shoulder, not much padding, the chest is beginning to have drape

- late 30s and earliest 40s (up to ca. 1941): slightly wider shoulders but still rather well balanced, and a supressed waist look that is achieved more by adding drape to the chest rather than by nipping in the waist down to the anatomical waist, like earlier cuts tended to do

- WWII: a more "manly" silhouette with wide shoulders and less waist supression, or you might call it a more anonymous silhouette because it tends to hide the wearer's physique.

- post-WWII: the short-lived bold look with its exaggerated dimensions

- late 40s and early 50s: still more padding, and very little waist supression. A somewhat boxy look.

The button stance was high throughout the late 20s and 1930s, in accordance with the stronger waist suppression, and beginning to descend at about the beginning of WWII (for the U.S.)