Esquire’s Complete Golden Age Illustrations:

[Flanderian]

Cuffed trousers with a stroller! Shocking, I say! Avert your eyes!


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Sharp eyed!

Conventions can be different in different eras, but since you point it out, I am surprised also. Though the mode, which in America during the era was most commonly referred to as semi-formal day wear, is controversial both as to the correct term to apply, and whether it is actually an understood separate level of formality on a level with, for example, white tie and tails as formal evening wear.

So I sought other illustrated examples, but they still left me uncertain, as the illustrations may, or may not, actually depict cuffs. As seen below.

 

[Flanderian]

Lost in translation! Goofed when assigning a file name to the illustration below for my archive. It may be from the March 1935 issue of Esquire, but it ended up in no man's land. And as it's quite nice, I offer this Leslie Saalburg illustration here.

 

[Flanderian]

These are the Esquire illustrations for April 1939.

 

[Flanderian]

This is the balance of April 1939.

 

[Flanderian]

These are the Esquire illustrations for May 1939.

Recommended wardrobe for 1939 World's Fair -

When Brooks was still Brooks -

 

[Flanderian]

These are Esquire's illustrations for June 1939.

 

[Flanderian]

The illustrations are from Esquire July 1939.

 

[Flanderian]

These are Esquire's illustrations for August 1939.

 

[Fading Fast]

Sure, sure the suit is nice, but the luggage is even cooler. Love all the trunks and cases (and their hardware). The Gladstone lower right would be my first choice. Heck, I even like the rivets on the ship. I do like that he's wearing snuff suede shoes with his marine blue suit.

Mohair is not my first thought for a summer material, but maybe with the right weave it is, as argued here.

"...this glorified poncho is really a practical, as well as fetching, item of beachwear..." - uh huh, sure, okay, you go with that.

 

[Tiki Tom]

1939. Before the deluge.

 

[Fading Fast]

1939. Before the deluge.

And these same people defeated Nazi Germany.

 

[Flanderian]

Sure, sure the suit is nice, but the luggage is even cooler. Love all the trunks and cases (and their hardware). The Gladstone lower right would be my first choice. Heck, I even like the rivets on the ship. I do like that he's wearing snuff suede shoes with his marine blue suit.
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Mohair is not my first thought for a summer material, but maybe with the right weave it is, as argued here.
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"...this glorified poncho is really a practical, as well as fetching, item of beachwear..." - uh huh, sure, okay, you go with that.
View attachment 264804

Upon seeing those fellows aboard a train, I was immediately reminded of your fondness for rail travel.

I share your sentiments concerning mohair; looks great, resists wrinkling, wears like iron, but is itchy as heck!

 

[Flanderian]

1939. Before the deluge.

Very droll.

Who needs aerobics!?

 

[Flanderian]

These are the Esquire illustrations for September 1939.

 

[Flanderian]

These are Esquire's illustrations for October 1939.

 

[Flanderian]

These are the Esquire illustrations for November 1939.

 

[Flanderian]

This is the balance of November 1939.

 

[Faux Brummell]

Brogues with a tailcoat? I don’t believe I’ve seen that recommendation before.

 

[Fastuni]

Is it just me or are you guys also getting strong early 60's vibes from a lot of these illustrations from 1938/39?
Plenty of rather narrow trousers, boxy cuts, double vents, short and slim lapels, stingy hats and caps, short overcoats... particularly the semi-sports, campus and country combinations.

The fashion-forward crowd of 1939 was apparently foreshadowing the general style of 20 years later.

 

[Flanderian]

Brogues with a tailcoat? I don’t believe I’ve seen that recommendation before.
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Well, if it was good enough for George VI, I guess it'll have to be good enough for me!

Is it just me or are you guys also getting strong early 60's vibes from a lot of these illustrations from 1938/39?
Plenty of rather narrow trousers, boxy cuts, double vents, short and slim lapels, stingy hats and caps, short overcoats... particularly the semi-sports, campus and country combinations.

The fashion-forward crowd of 1939 was apparently foreshadowing the general style of 20 years later.

Things have changed by '39, but I don't know if it is very comparable to the early '60's in the U.S., the era in which I first attempted dressing like an adult. I think any similarity is more the product of the vagaries of the illustrations and different cuts for different purposes. While a traditional riding jacket was snuggly fitted and shaped, other garments for what was then termed sport would often be cut fuller and boxier as compared to a more fitted business suit.

Both lapels and trousers of the period were still quite full, and far more so than the sometimes 1" or 1 1/4" lapels of the early 60's. All the illustrators, but Fellows most of all, routinely exaggerated figures to create their aesthetic ideal. His male physiques might be generalized as 7' tall men with 45" inseams, on whom any trousers will look narrow.

Another aspect of the fashionable cut of the era was that the jacket shoulders were all well extended, though lightly padded. Proportionately, the lapel will look comparatively narrower. Fashionable U.S. jackets of the early '60's featured narrower, "natural shoulders," whose aesthetic paradigm was pared down modernity. A sartorial analog to the architecture of Mies van der Rohe.