Sharp Dressed Man

[filfoster]

I can't find anything specifically on this but if there's a thread, just send me there. Trouser creases. I hate to lose them. When I commute in the rain or snow and they wilt, even with modern treated wools and blends. I hate it: you look like a bum!
I understand creased trousers became fashionable in the late '20's - early '30's. Without 'stay-pressed', how did they cope?
Were there 'trouser creasers', like shoe shine stands? Did they just accept it?

 

[Orgetorix]

 

[filfoster]

Desk Work

I remember seeing TV ads, during the early '60's, for a small iron, that looked for all the world like a woman's hair straightener-a handle with a 'trigger' that opened and closed two opposing flat oblong plates, for men to press their trouser creases at their desks. Probably not "UL" approved.

Does anyone else remember those? How many office fires were caused by those? And how many good trousers were ruined?

(Anyone else from Cincy remember George Palmer, the mid day newscaster, hawking cheesy products like this contraption and "TarnX" glass cleaner between news items? He was our local 'Billy Mays').

 

[Tomasso]

Were there 'trouser creasers', like shoe shine stands?

Yes, they were called Dry Cleaners, and they would clean and/or press a suit for a nominal fee.


Or you might press the suit yourself at home using one of them newfangled Irons.

 

[filfoster]

Too Late to Run Home

Let me clarify: Assuming business suit wearers valued a trouser crease and found themselves arriving at work looking like a drowned cat, what did they do? It seems unlikely they popped by the local dry cleaner and shucked their duds and waited for the presser.
I hate when this happens now, wearing treated wool: I have to think businessmen had the same vexation in the 30's and '40's when they wore wool suits with less 'memory'.

My guess is, it was simply a convention of the time to stoically endure the floppy, uncreased trousers in bad weather, much like wrinkled all cotton shirts then and now. I was just curious if there were any expedients. Still curious.

 

[Orgetorix]

If you have a private office with a door you can close and no windows, you could buy a Corby trouser press and keep it in your office. You could put your trousers in there when you got to work, although it'd necessitate sitting around your office in your boxers for ten or fifteen minutes while the press did its thing.

 

[filfoster]

Mr. Jones, What are you fiddling with under your desk?

If you have a private office with a door you can close and no windows, you could buy a Corby trouser press and keep it in your office. You could put your trousers in there when you got to work, although it'd necessitate sitting around your office in your boxers for ten or fifteen minutes while the press did its thing.

My apologies to all: Orgetorix's posts answered my question. I could not see the illustration because of our filters here at work,(What? Why are you wasting time at the Lounge on work time? Because I can.)
Anyway, it is interesting to note these were still being made and marketed into the '60's (see my post above).

I must find one of these!

 

[Tomasso]

If you have a private office with a door you can close........

.....then you could change into the spare suit you keep there for just this type of occasion.

 

[filfoster]

Pity the poor cubicle clerk

.....then you could change into the spare suit you keep there for just this type of occasion.

That must have been a solution for many executives, at least at the level where they would have been most concerned about their appearance. I am grateful for the replies and will report back if I can score one of these vintage or not-so-vintage trouser creaser do-dads. My office has a window and glass paneled door and really, I am too old for striptease, and hardly much of a tease, anyway.

 

[Tomasso]

If you have a place to store a change of clothes you could always change in the men's room. That's a common and accepted practice.

 

[filfoster]

Is that you, Senator?

If you have a place to store a change of clothes you could always change in the men's room. That's a common and accepted practice.

Tomasso: I know this is a changing room of last resort. I have done it from time to time but I have always felt really strange, hoping no one comes in, which they always do. Superman could manage the phone booth because of his super speed. Me, I'm old and slow and frankly, ashamed I wear underwear that's in need of a mend now and then.

 

[filfoster]

Frumpy trousers

Anyway, from the posts, we must assume the would-be well dressed business gent of the pre-staypressed wool era, having been soaked below the hem of his raincoat on the stormy day, had to sit the remainder of his day in trousers baggy and creaseless below the knees, unless he could manage a change.

One wishes for period photos of this unhappy picture and to see it captured in the films of the day where, instead, everyone is freshly turned out, at least their trousers are creased. Enough already, I weary thinking more about it.

 

[Hamilton_Honey]

sent you a PM that might be helpful