Richman Brothers suit jacket

[michael78]

Hi,I originally posted this in General Attire but think in belongs here!
Bought this jacket a couple of weeks ago for £14, unfortunately the trousers have long gone....shame!. I believe Richman Brothers where quite big in the states in the 30s & 40s. Q?...is the jacket 40s or 50s
Cheers
Mike

 

[Patrick Hall]

My best guess would be late 30's - early 40's, pre-bold look. It would be hard to imagine more stock details - jetted pockets, skeleton lining, the lapel shape and roll. So I'd doubt there is any means to get more specific than that.


EDIT
Noticing that the jacket is rather short, which means I'd tend towards the earlier part of my fore-mentioned spectrum.

 

[michael78]

Oh, thats great Patrick, i thought it was most probably 40s. Can you explain the term pre-bold look, never heard that before.
Much appreciated!

Mike

 

[willyto]

Such a shame the trousers are missing, it fits you well!

 

[Claudio]

it fits you very well and I second the late 30's/early 40's era.

I personally think it will be complemented better with either beige, off white, black, and even ... blue trousers (*just*), but not those grey ones IMO

 

[Wolf99]

Oh, thats great Patrick, i thought it was most probably 40s. Can you explain the term pre-bold look, never heard that before.
Much appreciated!

Mike

The Bold Look was the defining look of American post-war clothing. It tended to wide shoulders and extra drape in the chest. You see it in movies of the late 40s and early 50s.

 

[Hal]

The Bold Look...tended to wide shoulders and extra drape in the chest...in movies of the late 40s and early 50s.

Also, this style was imitated/copied in western Europe, including the UK, at that time. The tie worn by the OP is very much in keeping with it.

 

[Patrick Hall]

Also, bold-look coats shift the button point lower, to create that long lapel line that was very much in vogue. So you end up with a lot more coat in the top half than the bottom, in terms of silhouette.

 

[Dirk Wainscotting]

Also, this style was imitated/copied in western Europe, including the UK, at that time. The tie worn by the OP is very much in keeping with it.

I'm less certain about this. You do see bold look in some British films, but it's not common. Chest drape was already a feature of some British suits from the 30s, but wide shoulders of the type in post-war American suits was not quite so evident. Neither was the longer length coat of that look.

 

[Hal]

... You do see bold look in some British films, but it's not common. Chest drape was already a feature of some British suits from the 30s, but wide shoulders of the type in post-war American suits was not quite so evident. Neither was the longer length coat of that look.

I'm not familiar with evidence for this style in the 1930s, but in the late 1940s/early 1950s it was certainly much less exaggerated on this side of the Atlantic. It came to be associated with the "spiv" or the "wide boy" - men who prospered during that period of austerity and were suspected of doing so by disreputable means.

 

[Dirk Wainscotting]

I'm not familiar with evidence for this style in the 1930s, but in the late 1940s/early 1950s it was certainly much less exaggerated on this side of the Atlantic. It came to be associated with the "spiv" or the "wide boy" - men who prospered during that period of austerity and were suspected of doing so by disreputable means.

I meant chest drape as a feature in 1930s suits. It was the stock-in-trade of Anderson & Sheppard - as the acknowledged originators of this feature (under Scholte).
When I think of a 'spiv' I just picture Walker from Dad's Army!