Belted back, double breasted, and linen - by Ralph Lauren?!?

[Jerekson]

At the mall, I stepped in the Ralph Lauren store, not really expecting to find anything particularly interesting. Literally after 3 seconds in the door I was magnetized to this jacket sitting on a dummy.

A white blazer. Upon closer inspection it was made of a heavyweight linen - I would imagine it would breathe well in heat.

Double-breasted, two-button closure. The good stuff. The lapels are stingy, but they are still quite obvisouly DB lapels.

When I looked at the back of this already wonderful jacket I wa almost blown away - it had a belted back! Yes, totally!

Unfortunatly the store carried none of the jackets in my size, and a look at the website shows they are not listed there currently. :rage:

They were on sale for around $150!!!

Highly suggest checking this out!!!

 

[KObalto]

Ralph Lauren does some beautiful things with vintage touches. It can be pricy, depending on the line, but I like his stuff.

 

[Matt Deckard]

Saw them myself... very 30's material. I'm sure in some cases he has it manufactured just for Polo. Good stuff.

 

[MrBern]

We saw something like that earlier in the summer. I believe Dinerman bought one & posted pix...On second thought is was a beltback but not a DB.

I wouldve picked it up for the Gov Island picnic, but the knifepleat back wasnt functional.

You have to be careful w/ RL, some of his pieces are fine copies of vintage originals, and some have been abbreviated. I picked up a really nice suspendered & striped summer wide leg pant, but the waist is very low. Frustrating.

 

[Fletch]

Hey, he's got a large sales and marketing organization back of him. He has to keep them happy, too.

 

[flat-top]

It's only recently that I've come to appreciate all the vintage details in Ralph Lauren's stuff. I'm a collector of RRL, which is 100% vintage styled, but there are so many Polo collections that are based on old world styles---and I never really noticed. I can't think of another company that uses buckle backs on pants so liberally!

 

[Baron Kurtz]

The last time i saw RL belt backs was in San Francisco (maybe 2004?). They looked great on the mannequin but were boxy and mis-proportioned when worn. They were pinned onto the mannequins. Unfortunately most of the market will not accept - or cannot fit into - a jacket with a period cut, and therefore RL will not make them with period cut.

So their jackets generally look like pieces of crap when worn.

bk

 

[Flitcraft]

So true...

RL has broken my heart many a time... items that looked great on a mannequin turned into burlap bags when I tried them on... invariably, these items are on sale because the modern person doesn't like the vintage look and the vintage person doesn't like the modern fit...

 

[Jerekson]

RL has broken my heart many a time... items that looked great on a mannequin turned into burlap bags when I tried them on... invariably, these items are on sale because the modern person doesn't like the vintage look and the vintage person doesn't like the modern fit...

Gee, that's a hard problem for them to fix...:eusa_doh:

 

[Sefton]

Gee, that's a hard problem for them to fix...:eusa_doh:

Should be an easy fix: First, get about a million people to ask for and then buy and wear period cut clothes. Supply and demand..presto!

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Unfortunatly the store carried none of the jackets in my size, and a look at the website shows they are not listed there currently. :rage:

They were on sale for around $150!!!

Highly suggest checking this out!!!

You should have asked a salesperson! They can either look it up online to see what other stores have it or call around and have them send them to your local store if you're interested in getting that suit. I'd go back to the store or give them a call.

 

[thunderw21]

You should have asked a salesperson! They can either look it up online to see what other stores have it or call around and have them send them to your local store if you're interested in getting that suit. I'd go back to the store or give them a call.

A big +1 on that. It's always good to check and see what they have in back or what they can order.

 

[Jerekson]

I did actually talk to the saleperson. He said that they carried no other sizes than what was on the shelf.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Exactly - in this day and age, most stores' "cash registers" are computers and they can search for inventory at other locations. I was at one Eddie Bauer store looking for a particular sweater and they were out - they got on the computer, it was at a store on my way home from where I was, I paid on the spot and got to the other store just before closing, and the sweater was all boxed up, sitting on the counter and ready to go. If I hadn't wanted to go to the other store, they would've UPS'ed it or I could've picked up the next day at any local store I specified. The Internet makes it so easy for stores to do things like this these days. A few years ago, the clerk would be calling individual stores or warehouses trying to find the item and could spend 30, 60, 90 minutes or more. Now it's in the blink of an eye. So there's one thing that's better non-vintage I suppose.

 

[Tzedekh]

Unfortunately most of the market will not accept - or cannot fit into - a jacket with a period cut, and therefore RL will not make them with period cut.

I highly doubt that people today can't fit into a period-cut jacket. Sure, people are heavier today -- and considerably taller, too -- but there were heavier-set people in the 1930s, and they wore the more form-fitting jackets of the period. I just think that since the 1970s, when clothes were uncomfortably form-fitting, until now, the trend has been to looser clothing, and that's what most people are used to. In all fairness to today's expanding girth, undoubtedly more men wore custom-made suits seventy years ago, when there were more and arguably better-skilled tailors, whether custom-making or simply altering a suit.

 

[CharlestonBows]

I got curious and walked down the street to the RL store here on King. I tried the jacket in question on, and ehh. This jacket just plain didn't fit. At all. I can't say I'm sorry that they didn't have your size. [huh]

I don't know about period vs. modern cuts, and whether or not people today can fit into cuts of yesterday (I think it has more to do with cheaper production more than anything else), but I do know that I'd be embarrassed to be the pattern maker responsible for that cut.

 

[Feraud]

I think I have seen this blazer as part of a complete suit. One of our members has it and is unhappy with the cut.

 

[tonyb]

So help fill me in on this stuff, guys. (Seriously, I ain't pulling your legs here. I really wanna know.)

"Golden Era" suits were more "form-fitting" (is that the right phrase?) than what we typically see these days? They came in more at a man's "natural" waist? And waistlines were higher until, what, the early 1960s? And arm openings were higher? Which did what? Made for a more upright-looking, less slouchy line? Or not? Maybe I've seen too many idealized images, but men did appear to carry themselves better way back when.

My interest in vintage attire has expanded from hats to other items (I've found a couple of low-cost local sources, which I'm keeping to myself, thank you very much), because I like old stuff in general and because I've found that I prefer the way I look in clothes older than I am (believe me, that's old), provided those clothes fit well, of course. It's not at all unusual for me to spend considerably more on alterations than the purchase price of the garment.

 

[donCarlos]

tonyb - As I see it, the vintage jackets (and suits generally) were really more tight around the waist, letting your slim waist "distinguish" (I don´t know the word). And the armholes were higher just because it allowed more free movement as the jacket was everyday clothes and it had to be comfortable. You have surely noticed that when you´re wearing a modern "bad" suit, when you raise your hands, the jacket raises too. The point is to eliminate that. And about the waistlines - they were much higher. Today´s trousers tend to hold on your hips whereas the vintage ones were meant to be worn really high, I´d say as high as possible.

I´m sure there are many people who will tell you better than I.

 

[Senator Jack]

The birth of low-rise trousers:


From Wikipedia

Hip Huggers were first designed by Cal Vainstein in 1964 for his women's clothing line OOPS! of California. His inspiration for the hip hugger design came from growing up in the Bronx where it was fashionable for young men of the time to wear their pants low on their hips.



Let's say Vainstein was in his mid-twenties when he came up with the hip-hugger. That means the low-rise fad of the Bronx had to happen around the early-fifties if not earlier. Would like to see some pics of the pioneers.

Regards,

Jack