Questionable suits and jackets

[thunderw21]

I thought it would be helpful to all if we had a single thread where people asked for help dating and identifying suits and sportscoats. The collected photos and descriptions could help folks see details and characteristics from every era right next to each other rather than spread out in dozens of threads. This could make for a valuable tool for everyone to learn from.

So, if you have a suit or sportscoat that you need identifying or help pinning down the era, here's the place to do it.




I'll get things rolling.

This jacket is up on ebay and is described as being from the 1930s (and is priced accordingly, way out of my price range ). No photos of the inside or tags, though one tag reads "TAILORED TO MEASURE M. BORN & CO CHICAGO." I did a search and found that M. Born and Co. was around during the 1930s and 1940s, but that is all I could find.

Certain things make me think it's 1970s rather than 1930s but I can't be sure. These include:
-'70s style fabric pattern
-large pocket flaps characteristic of the '70s
-belted back with no accompanying action back (bi-swing, pleated, etc.)
-breast pocket is not highly angled

However, the buttons look like they might be vintage ('30s, '40s), though they could have replaced the original buttons if the jacket is '70s.

So, fellow suit lovers, what do you think?

 

[reetpleat]

That is the real deal. None of the things you mention would be issues for me, although I will admit the pocket flaps are a little big. The fabric is spot on for the right type of wear. sport. The belted back is more subtle than a 70s and 70s ones are almost always single breasted. Belted with no pleats is not impossible. Box back I think I would call it. Late sixties were double, but they were rather different. buttons are very period. This is a very rare jacket, but I think it was part of a suit and a bit of an orphan.

 

[resortes805]

I would ask the seller for more pictures of the inside. Usually '70s suit coats are vented. The pockets flaps don't seem that big, and the I've seen catalog images advertising beltback suits without pleats. Plus that button stance is mighty high for a '70s suit.

 

[thunderw21]

Thanks guys! My lack of knowledge stikes again.

The one thing that struck me as very vintage were the buttons. Everything else just didn't look 'right' to me. It's amazing how close '30s and '70s can be sometimes.

An amazing jacket indeed. The fabric and silhouette are incredible.

Cheers!

 

[mike]

In regards to fabric pattern, is this so much different than the one post above?
This suit is reportedly 30's, and yet the lapels appear slimmer than the typical image of a 30's suit. I'm not saying it isn't, but I do think it's noteworthy how many examples that don't fit into our expectations. Speaking of which, I've been meaning to go through a bunch of my dvd-r's for film still examples of suits and styles that are very interesting. Be it fedora bashes in late 20's films that you would think date from ten years later. Also there's a suit worn in William Wellman's film, Other Men's Women that looks soooooo 70's and yet, the film is shot in the pre-code, early 30's period!

 

[Edward]

Mike - that's gorgeous, that jacket - haute couture for lumberjacks, maybe? I genuinely really like it - as a jacket, at least: with matching trousers, it might be a little much. Then again, in a period when lounge suits were regular, everyday wear rather than the formal option that they have been relegated to today, perhaps such a 'loud' pattern wouldn't have looked 'odd'?

 

[mike]

It was a size 36R sold from Germany I believe a few months ago, I needed to save the pictures!
Too loud you say? I dunno, here are the pants...

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Yes, an interesting suit, that blue one. It was originally sold from a seller in England, then came back up being sold from Germany. There was a similarly wild suit from the same tailor and the same original English seller. It had an equally crazy pattern, and similar features.

I was thinking they were probably stage suits.

bk

 

[just_me]

Yes, an interesting suit, that blue one. It was originally sold from a seller in England, then came back up being sold from Germany. There was a similarly wild suit from the same tailor and the same original English seller. It had an equally crazy pattern, and similar features.

I was thinking they were probably stage suits.

bk

My first thought when I saw the pictures was that it's the type of suit you'd see on stage in a musical about that period.

 

[mike]

Yes, an interesting suit, that blue one. It was originally sold from a seller in England, then came back up being sold from Germany. There was a similarly wild suit from the same tailor and the same original English seller. It had an equally crazy pattern, and similar features.

I was thinking they were probably stage suits.

bk

I saw that one too, I thought it was really odd how similar they were just with different fabrics. Even the same cut. Maybe they were something akin to Cagney's costumes in Yankee Doodle Dandy or something of the sort for a local production.

 

[reetpleat]

I don't know. It seems more like a country sporting suit an upper class gentleman would wear for a weekend in the country. Definitely not a business suit, but even in their sporting time they would wear suits. Similar to tweeds, but not so country. That is my impression. The pockets and belt back would second this. And likely a youngish sportin man.

 

[thunderw21]

1959-dated suit with wonderful fabric.

 

[Tomasso]

Very nice!

Sweet!

 

[cookie]

Wonderful except for the deep gorge that even the tie can't fill adequately.

 

[Creeping Past]

Another similar lounge-type forum based in London (I've just returned from that very same internet place... no oxygen... can't breathe...) suggests that a Harris Tweed suit is an impossibility.

What's your guess about the weight of the fabric?

 

[Tomasso]

Wonderful except for the deep gorge.

The gorge is located at the spot (the seam to be exact) where the collar joins the lapel and forms the notch/peak. Sorry, this common misuse of tailoring terminology is a pet peeve of mine.

 

[thunderw21]

The gorge is located at the spot (the seam to be exact) where the collar joins the lapel and forms the notch/peak. Sorry, this common misuse of tailoring terminology is a pet peeve of mine.

I've always wondered, what is the name of the spot that Cookie referred to where the two lapels come together and overlap one another? It is rather low on this jacket.

One thing I think is strange about that suit is how close together the two buttons are.

 

[JimInSoCalif]

The gorge is located at the spot (the seam to be exact) where the collar joins the lapel and forms the notch/peak. Sorry, this common misuse of tailoring terminology is a pet peeve of mine.

I read three clothing forums and I think I see that misuse about once a week.

 

[Mr. Rover]

I bought the jacket in the 1st photo and returned it because the pictures were not accurate to the actual color. But it fit to a T and it was definitely a real 30s piece, without a doubt.
That 50s tweed is a great piece too- very classic example of the era's silhouette. There was a picture of JFK with his brothers, probably dating to the late 50s or very early 60s in a sportscoat in the same cut with very close buttons placed lower on the waist.

 

[thunderw21]

I bought the jacket in the 1st photo and returned it because the pictures were not accurate to the actual color. But it fit to a T and it was definitely a real 30s piece, without a doubt.

Wouldn't have any photos of it, would ya?