Show us their suits

[Flat Foot Floey]

A dandy from Harlem, photgraphed by James Vanderzee in 1932.

 

[Fastuni]

With this jacket he would have felt quite at home in Romania.

Great one! Notice the teddy coat!

 

[Metatron]

Not 1930s, forgive me for the small deviation, but this suit from The Wickerman is wonderful and timeless:




I think the green shirt looks great with that tweed.

 

[Fastuni]

1947 - Zipped knit under houndstooth sportcoat:

Photo by Roger and Renate Rössing
http://www.deutschefotothek.de/documents/obj/88880271/df_roe-neg_0000155_001

German actor Hans Albers (left) and another actor ca. 1940:

Photo by Fritz Eschen
http://www.deutschefotothek.de/documents/obj/80898870/df_e_0050493
Eschen, Fritz, um 1940

 

[MikeBravo]

Mohammed Ali looking formal

 

[Nick D]

I love A. Actor's suit! And Alber's shirt collar.

 

[Fastuni]

1945 - Berlin theater play with famous Communist singer/actor Ernst Busch wearing a very interesting belted sport coat.

The fur-brimmed coat of the other guy in the first photo is rather unique:

 

[Fastuni]

Another nice belted sport-coat and flanell suit:

1936 - Director Mark Sandrich and Ginger Rogers pose with visitor Anton Walbrook on the set of Shall We Dance

http://acertaincinema.com/media-tags/ginger-rogers/

 

[herringbonekid]

Edward G Robinson.

 

[herringbonekid]

Britflannel:

 

[herringbonekid]

Cecil Beaton wearing a seersucker suit by A&S (according to the caption) 1936:

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Good to see some 30s seersucker. Aside from a few ads I don't remember many pictures with it from that timeframe.

 

[TSP13]

Up until the late 1930's seersucker was considered somewhat of a poor mans suit, and wasn't popular outside of the southern United States. Seersucker only gained popularity when the college kids, then the actors, and then the Duke of Windsor starting wearing it.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Even then I am surprised of the lack of pictures. Other working mans suits like blue Serge or even denim workwear have more photographs than seersucker, don't they?

 

[Fastuni]

They were certainly more prevalent than the lack of photos might indicate.

Brooks Brothers ads from 1935 claim that seersucker summer suits are making a revival "in the past few years".
Long popular in the Southern US it apparently became somewhat more prevalent in the Northern states during the 1930's.
Business week of 1932 claims that New York retailers saw an 25% increase in seersucker, Palm Beach and linen sales.
LIFE magazine of 1939 has an article "Northerners succumb to summer suits" describing seersucker: "one of the oldest of cotton fabrics, has been used for men's suit since centuries [...] popular in the South, Northerners balk because it looks unpressed."
Throughout the 20's and early 30's Farmers Bulletin lists the uses of seersucker as: "Night clothing, house dresses, shirts, children's garments ; heavier qualities, men's suits."

Trying to glean information from the English and German wikipedia can be confusing... the English entry describes it as a poor man's suit in the South until the 20's, while the German entry has it as popular among Southern senators after it's introduction in New Orleans at the beginning of the 20th century. Both are dubious at best IMO. While certainly used for workwear, the references above indicate that it was also used for "good suits".

Also, while it usually is associated with the Southern US, it was introduced to the Western hemisphere by the British, who apparently picked it up in India. "Seersucker" is derived from the Persian "shir-o-shekar" (milk and sugar), describing the yellowish-white stripes. A seersucker turban was until the late 19th century a frequent "trademark" of Persian merchants.

 

[Two Types]

The Girl in the Taxi (1937)

Mackenzie Ward wearing a nice four pocket suit:

Lawrence Grossmith in a wide peaked lapel, single breasted suit:

(Grossmith was the son of George Grossmith, author of the wonderful Diary of a Nobody. Furthermore, his niece Ena starred in the 1926 film Oxford Bags, and was married to Montague Lambert who was claimed as one of the inventors of 'Oxford Bags')

How to illustrate the age gap between father and son: father goes out wearing white tie, son wears black tie.

 

[Fastuni]

Wonderful film captures as always, TT. The peak lapel suit appears to have a pearl in the lapel buttonhole.

__________

Travelling musicians, Germany, 1930 ... nice belted corduroy jacket:

http://www.deutschefotothek.de/documents/obj/87801661

 

[Two Types]

I'm increasingly interested in jackets with four patch pockets. I like the way that the extra pocket turns what would be a fairly plain suit into something quite distinctive. That must be my next target.

 

[Two Types]

More film grabs, this time from 'Dandy Dick' (1935)

Esmond Knight:

Another outfit worn by Esmond Knight. I really like this outfit:

Something for the knitwear fans:

Will Hay:

A rather high buttoning waistcoat:

 

[MikeBravo]

They were certainly more prevalent than the lack of photos might indicate.

Brooks Brothers ads from 1935 claim that seersucker summer suits are making a revival "in the past few years".
Long popular in the Southern US it apparently became somewhat more prevalent in the Northern states during the 1930's.
Business week of 1932 claims that New York retailers saw an 25% increase in seersucker, Palm Beach and linen sales.
LIFE magazine of 1939 has an article "Northerners succumb to summer suits" describing seersucker: "one of the oldest of cotton fabrics, has been used for men's suit since centuries [...] popular in the South, Northerners balk because it looks unpressed."
Throughout the 20's and early 30's Farmers Bulletin lists the uses of seersucker as: "Night clothing, house dresses, shirts, children's garments ; heavier qualities, men's suits."

Trying to glean information from the English and German wikipedia can be confusing... the English entry describes it as a poor man's suit in the South until the 20's, while the German entry has it as popular among Southern senators after it's introduction in New Orleans at the beginning of the 20th century. Both are dubious at best IMO. While certainly used for workwear, the references above indicate that it was also used for "good suits".

Also, while it usually is associated with the Southern US, it was introduced to the Western hemisphere by the British, who apparently picked it up in India. "Seersucker" is derived from the Persian "shir-o-shekar" (milk and sugar), describing the yellowish-white stripes. A seersucker turban was until the late 19th century a frequent "trademark" of Persian merchants.

It occurs to me that you have the resources at hand to update the Wikipedia entries. After all the idea of a wiki is for people to contribute information, and if you can reference contemporary publications you can post with some authority. At the moment the English entry has only modern references, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seersucker