Belted Back Suit Heaven ! Nathan Marsak’s Collection.

[The Wingnut]

...now, if only I was closer to L.A...

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Derby this Sunday, amigo. Nathan may come, too.

It's back on?

 

[Oviatt]

Hello Everybody

That guy's suits are crap!!!

Well, they're ok. I'm allowed to say that. They're mine!

My first post here. I've been a member and visitor for a while and've been meaning to post pix of stuff for some time, but it took the good Mr. Chevalier to act. When I'm not very busy, I'm very lazy, and vice versa.

It's a pretty good collection, but I still wake up every morning, lamenting that I have nothing to wear.

A little history of the collection: back in the early 80s I would go thrifting for 60s suits, since I fancied myself a mortician from 1964 (I watched the Munsters a lot and drove a Vespa). Man, back in the day, thrift stores had racks of zip-up gabardine 50s jackets...all for $4.99...and I never bought one of them. Sigh.

In the mid 80s I became obsessed with the 30s (I'm sure none of you know what that's like) and bought everything I could get my hands on. Stuff from the teens, too, Victorian frock coats, whatever caught my eye and fit me. It helped that I worked in a vintage store in Madison, WI in the early 90s and I worked for the Palace Museum (which was neither) vintage store at 6th and La Brea for a spell in 94-5.

From there, I went to the vintage stores and shows and picked up more stuff, but I haven't really bought anything new (old) in about ten years. I still have closets full of great stuff that doesn't fit me, in part because the amazing Russian tailor-lady I took things to in Studio City moved away...and again, I'm busy and lazy.

There's about a thousand ties and seventy suits. Other elements of the collection are seven Hollywood jackets, about 20 hats and 20 zip-up gabs, lots of collarless shirts (my faves being the striped shirts that still have their matching detachable collars), and all sorts of odds and ends...pajamas, underwear, a box full of deadstock 30s socks, garters, coveralls, etc.

The biggest problem is that ten/fifteen years ago, I had a 29" waist and weighed 135 pounds. One's metabolism slows down in your thirties (I'll be 40 in a few months) and the last ten years, after ingesting more fried food and whiskey than ten normal men would ingest in a lifetime, much of it doesn't fit me anymore. I still find it impossible to diet, but at least I go to the gym a lot, but that has resulted in bulking up my body with muscle, which further serves to keep 1933 vests from fitting across my chest. Sigh again.

I don't really have a favorite piece, but I will tell you about my great regret...we all have one that stands out...fifteen years ago, I saw a tie...burgundy, unlined, short, late 20s I'd say, printed with little signs that read "Repeal the 18th Amendment." It was $90 (at Golyester, if I remember correctly) and since I was poor as a churchmouse in those days, I passed. A couple of days later I woke, all sweaty and feverish for it, decided to bite the bullet, went back and it had been sold. Sigh cubed. Not a day goes by I don't think of that tie.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Welcome aboard, Nathan! If I can play hooky from work Sunday night, I may drop by the Derby for a while.

 

[Wild Root]

Oh man, don't tell me Nathan and Marc are going to be there! Darn the luck! I'll be down in Redlands all day... maybe we can drive up later... oh, crud... I'll have to work something out!

Good to have you Nathan, say, you owe me a phone call!

=WR=

 

[BellyTank]

Welcome to the Freakshow!

B
T

 

[Wild Root]

Welcome to the Freakshow!

B
T

lol lol lol

It's funny because it's true.

=WR=

 

[Oviatt]

Sorry gents, I have a dinner engagement with a lovely young thing, which will likely run quite late. Next time for certain.

Let's see now, since I'm new to posting, let's see if I can't teach myself how to upload an image, so that I may pollute this board with 92million photos of Kum-Apart cufflinks. So...

Looks like it worked. I'm in a gunmetal grey 40s gab leisure coat, which has a belt that wraps around, though for some reason I didn't belt it in this pic. My wife is pulling off some sort of a 70s daredevil look, which may be why I'm not married to her anymore.

Still have the Packard, sold the BMW.

 

[Martina]

this Belted Back Suit: 1920s-30s-40s?

Wow Marc, those suits are awesome! I have to say, this is the first belt backed jacket that I have personally ever seen. Actually, there were two there but I only grabbed this one.

I was hoping that someone could help me figure out when this was made.
The fabric is really unique, in that the weave actually has diamond shapes!
Also the pockets are odd; they remind me of a western style.
The lining is a 3/4" acetate lining and the tag says Royalton Clothes but there are no other tags, Union or otherwise on it. This feels like wool to me.
Soooooo, I'd be very grateful for any imput that you guys (& gals) might have!
Thanks, Martina

 

[Baron Kurtz]

mis to late 60s. I've seen a number of them very similar to this ...

The buttons on the pocket flaps don't work, right?

bk

 

[Martina]

1960s?

Hi Baron! I haven't chatted with you in ages; those suits you helped me date a couple of months back did really well on Ebay and I was able to get a roof put on my house (not that the suits paid for the roof but at least I had a downpayment afterwords), so THANKS TONS!! :eusa_clap

Anyway, about this back belted jacket... the 60s huh?
I thought those belt backed suits & jackets were out of style by the 50s! The shoulders are padded down to about the upper chest area on this... so I was actually thinking this was from the 50s sometime. Darn!

Can you tell me how you know it's from the 60s? I need a clone of you to drag with me to the stores around here.... heck, at least lend me your brain!
And yes, those buttons are quite odd! I thought maybe they were added on later... shows what little I've learned!
Martina

 

[Baron Kurtz]

There was a revival of some 30s styles in the mid 60s, but they 60s-ed them up. Freaky fabrics etc. This one could be earlier. Hard to tell but the first impression is 60s. Is there a buttonhole in the lapel? Let's see the lining, too ...

bk

 

[Marc Chevalier]

It is absolutely, positively from the late '60s -early '70s.


The wide pocket flaps with nonworking buttons on them; the long, chunky lapels with the sharp notches; the rough-hewn thick plastic buttons: all are from the "groovy" era.


.

 

[LuckyKat]

The shoes, I can't get over the shoes...simply amazing.

Several of Nathan’s Golden Era fedoras. The colors you see are accurate:











Some of Nathan’s ties.

Note the 1940s "cigarettes and matches" print, the 1940s handpainted robot, and the 1939 New York World’s Fair tie (shiny purple).

See the handpainted woman on the yellow plaid tie? "She" was created with glow-in-the-dark paint:









The 1940s brocade silk tie at far left has a foreign and U.S. currency (paper money) design:







.

 

[Martina]

Ok, the 60s it is!

Hi Baron & Marc,
Baron, the jacket had a 3/4 steel gray lining. I think you and Marc are both right though... it's a 60s remake of a 30s jacket!

Hey, I posted something in the General Attire area about a jacket from the Civil Rights March 1965 in Alabama... can you give it a look?
I guess I'm going to go right now and take a few pictures of it!
Thanks,
~Martina~

 

[GangstaBoy02]

The shoes, I can't get over the shoes...simply amazing.

What is the exact contrast ligneing on the black grosgrain ribbon on that grey fedora? Is it a 16 or a 22? Thanks

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Actually, the contrast ligneing is exactly 98.2, GangstaBoy. And the color isn't grey; it's clearly bright orange. Colorblind, eh? :icon_smil


.

 

[jake_fink]

In the immortal words of Arch Hall Jr.

Wowee-wow-wow!

And I love The 1947 Project too.

 

[Orgetorix]

You never realize something isn't sticky anymore until you go to find it...

Nathan also has some extraordinary suits that aren’t belted-backs. For example:


A 1920 “Jazz” suit:

Saw this family photo posted by Tourbillion over in the display case, and the suit vaguely reminded me of the jazz suit here from Marsak's collection. A really toned-down version. Well, maybe it's a stretch.

 

[Rooster]

I'd like to thank you guys for bring these posts back to the surface, they have been very helpfull for me. Many thanks!