Can anyone date this suit?

[Robert Conway]

http://tinyurl.com/7t8fw

Last week I won an ebay auction for a three button, notch lapel, pinstripe suit.

It arrived yesterday and folks, this is a gorgeous piece.

It may have been custom tailored, since it's structure and shape are very fitted and sculped. It just doesn't look like an off the rack suit. Also note how the pinstripes don't line up on the shoulders.

There are lots of nice little details, like the trim on the skeleton lining appears to be made from the same material as the back of the vest.
The material is very good, although there is some shine from wear.

But of course the darn thing doesn't fit me.

The pants are about a 32 waist, with longish legs, perhaps a 36.
The jacket looks like a 38 or 40?

The label says:

Style-Mart Clothes
Tailored for Toev's Men's Wear
Newton, KAN,

I'm not sure about the date. There's no union label or other marking, besides the one mentioned above. Late 30's to late 40's? Anyone want to hedge a bet?

Cheers,

Robert Conway

 

[Matt Deckard]

Since it is skeleton lined I can only guess it is 40's or before... the tailored in waist is not an indicator of a custom suit as they did that to alot of off the rack garments in the Golden era... fitted was in more so in the 30's than the 40's. Stripes matched and didn't match, depends on the tailor and the maker.

With the vest and the tapered waist on the jacket and the very little taper from the knees on the trousers I'm guessing 30's.

 

[Robert Conway]

It's not the pinched waist that makes me wonder if it was custom tailored.

When you see this thing in person, it looks like it was molded on to the owner. The back, is for the lack of a better word, heavily sculpted. Especially from the top of the shoulders, down over the shoulder blades.

But then again, maybe he just had it very tightly fitted.
My dad's vintage tux from Saks Fifth Ave is like that.

Is the lack of a union label unusual, or weren't all shops unionized?

I think you may be right about the date.

By the way, I saw a very vintage looking three button job, similar to this one, by Calvin Klein a few days ago. The lapels were a little small, but the armhole was fairly high and the pants even had that little diamond shaped patch, between the base of the zipper and the base of your gluteus maximum. It was difficult to tell just how tapered the legs were, but they may be ok. It was a dark brown or charcoal, with widely spaced pinstripes.

Price was about $400-600 dollars.

Thanks,

Robert Conway

 

[Baron Kurtz]

style mart clothes looks to have tailored suits for many different companies. I suspect it was not a bespoke tailor. Rather a company that catered to the tailoring needs of many different men's stores around the country who didn't employ tailors.

I've seen taped seams on 50s suits, too, but the style (takes too much time & money) was dying out. The lapels certainly don't look 50s so this will probably turn out to be a 30s/40s suit. The waistcoat is nice. Are there only 5 buttons? I like how close together the points are at the front.

Nice suit.

bk