"Holy Grail" Suit I Wouldn't Have Expected

[Marc Chevalier]

.

Ten or fifteen years ago, these were easily found (and cheap) in American thrift stores around older, wealthier neighborhoods. Now ... holy grail? The auction isn't over yet, and the price is already more than I sold a vintage '40s zoot suit for.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/250909186552


Funny thing is, a similar-looking vintage Brooks Brothers suit just sold for much, MUCH less: www.ebay.com/itm/160658487932

 

[resortes805]

I'd imagine it is 2 really committed bidders jacking each other's prices up.

This suit is boring with a capital 'B.'

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Boring = "iconic" to the AAAC 'Trad' crowd ... and to a niche of Japanese buyers who love Teruyoshi Hayashida's 1965 photo book, Take Ivy. To avoid snoozing, down a shot of espresso before looking at it.

 

[Tomasso]

I like the cloth on the first suit. It cries out for brown suede shoes.

 

[Mario]

To avoid snoozing, down a shot of espresso before looking at it.

Marc...I know you gave out a warning but...that's...not...fair...!

​

Words fail me...

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Marc...I know you gave out a warning but...that's...not...fair...!

​

Words fail me...

Words failed me when I saw some folks in AAAC's "Trad" forum insist that George H.W. Bush was the 20th century's best-dressed U.S. President. Not "well-dressed": "best-dressed".

 

[Oldsarge]

Fortunately, being a born-and-raised Left Coaster, Trad-lieness has passed me by without so much as a wave. Better a Hawaiian shirt and a panama!

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Trads and preppy are not my taste at all. I find most of the stuff downright ugly. Worse than "boring".

 

[Marc Chevalier]

.

Agreed, agreed, agreed. And yet ...


Mr. Shosuke Ishizu, one of the authors of "Take Ivy", thoroughly redeems himself via this comment (made in a recent interview):


"Dressing well is supported by both a consciousness of oneself as a human being and an intelligent expression of one's attempt to enjoy life."


Very wise, and most elegantly put.

 

[Patrick Hall]

Hey now! Let's take care not to piss on the aesthetic sensibilities of others. While I have only lurked on occasion at the aforementioned trad forum, I am a fan of the old faithful sack suit, and have a number of them in my closet. Living in Texas I draw the line at "go-to-hell" pants and sport coats. A man who wore madras and embroidered critters in public might not survive the day. I wish BB still offered high quality sack suits these days. They've largely ceded their prep-cred to J Press and moved into the mainstream.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

... I draw the line at "go-to-hell" pants and sport coats. A man who wore madras and embroidered critters in public might not survive the day.

Then you're all right!

 

[resortes805]

Hold the phone, The Gilligan look was cool once?

 

[Oldsarge]

In the Ivy League, apparently.

 

[Tomasso]

Tennis hats were big in the 60s.

 

[David Conwill]

I would wear that suit in a minute. Maybe I am boring. My wardrobe has this strange mix of preppy and midwestern to it. Frayed button downs and three-rolled-to-two sport coats occupying the same space as double-welted Florsheims and pleated pants. I blame Detroit.

-Dave

 

[Nick D]

Marc, you owe us some fully scanned '30s and '40s catalogues for that

While lacking belts and pleats and other such details that are popular on the FLounge, it's a serviceable suit. I would gladly wear it as part of my weekly wardrobe, but it's nothing particularly special. I would be more impressed if the seam allowances were bound rather than simply folded over as seems to be the case.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

I would wear that suit in a minute.

Would you pay over $500 for this particular vintage suit as the winning bidder did? If so, I've got a few to sell you. Really.

 

[Orgetorix]

That is certainly very high for that suit. I'm inclined to think that it was a bidding-war fluke as well.

For those who do like the Trad style, and I'm among them, the suit is somewhat distinctive in that, being from the '50s, it's from the very beginning of the Trad heyday years. '50s examples, while not rare, are a good bit harder to find than '60s BB suits like the other one you linked to. Partly that's because in 1950, IIRC, Brooks only had stores in NY, Boston, and Chicago. By the mid- to late '60s, they'd expanded quite a bit more.

And as for Trad as a style generally, all you guys who live in glass houses better be careful with your stones. I've seen the kinds of nutty '40s and '50s styles you guys love and wear.

 

[Oldsarge]

IMO, it's a regional thing. Trad simply doesn't work on the Left Coast. I don't know about the country east of the Rockies but from Denver west you're going to get really odd looks. However, around Bah-ston I'm sure it's quite the bees' knees.

 

[Mario]

I'm with David. I'd definitely wear the suit - but I wouldn't pay that much for it. I had the suit on my watch list and was rather surprised to see it go that high. Someone really wanted it.