Show us your British suits

[Baron Kurtz]

That's the one! Wow wow wow. yes, the eBay pics were terrible, but it was sold by a very reputable Northern husband and wife team seller.

hate to tell you, hbk, but it went around eBay twice. And twice, I couldn't afford it. (The first time, I hate to admit, I was going to put it on credit, but I forgot to bid and it went unsold.)

this must be the baby blue one that Baron said he passed up on. i missed it being on ebay. you realise that you own one of the rarest suits in the Uk ?

 

[herringbonekid]

hate to tell you, hbk, but it went around eBay twice. And twice, I couldn't afford it. (The first time, I hate to admit, I was going to put it on credit, but I forgot to bid and it went unsold.)

it's too small for me anyway Baron, but i'd still like to have it for historical reasons.
can't believe i missed it twice !

 

[Baron Kurtz]

It's just been pressed badly. It should be pressed so that the lapel seam end just at the top of the lower button - you can see the slight flare in the front that is indicative of the shifted pressing point in many vintage DB jackets of the 4x1 persuasion.

i share your heartache for the demise of the once great industries of this country. particularly the textile and garment making ones.




p.s. is there really no buttonhole where the lapel turns over ? it looks like it's pressed for the top button.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

The trousers, incidentally, are very similar to the CWS suit I have that was made in your very own Pelaw, hbk. Very, very wide legged and with that weird double rear suspender button feature. The only difference being the fishtail back on my CWS trousers.

bk

 

[herringbonekid]

The trousers, incidentally, are very similar to the CWS suit I have that was made in your very own Pelaw, hbk. Very, very wide legged and with that weird double rear suspender button feature. The only difference being the fishtail back on my CWS trousers.

i don't have any with that double brace button... i have four Burtons suits and three of them have that same dart-less rear.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I think I also have a Burton's suit with the double rear suspender button feature, but I'm not sure.

bk

 

[Two Types]

It's just been pressed badly. It should be pressed so that the lapel seam end just at the top of the lower button - you can see the slight flare in the front that is indicative of the shifted pressing point in many vintage DB jackets of the 4x1 persuasion.

I was impressed by that jacket. Now that I can see how the lapel would originally have been pressed, I am even more impressed.

 

[herringbonekid]

It's just been pressed badly. It should be pressed so that the lapel seam end just at the top of the lower button - you can see the slight flare in the front that is indicative of the shifted pressing point in many vintage DB jackets of the 4x1 persuasion.

well spotted... actually, if you look really closely i think you can see the pad stitching heading down to the top of the bottom button.

 

[herringbonekid]

since we've just seen one of the rarest Burtons suits in the UK, let's come back down to earth with a more everyday 1940s Burtons example:

as you can see, styles didn't change very quickly in Britain from the 30s to the 40s:

i really like the fabric of this one. it's a kind of battleship grey with electric blue and light grey stripes.
it's a thick worsted flannel with a fuzzy surface but an underlying toughness. frankly, modern flannels wilt in comparison to flannel like this.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Indeed you can.

well spotted... actually, if you look really closely i think you can see the pad stitching heading down to the top of the bottom button.

I love that grey fabric. I traded bestephens something (can't remember what) for a suit of very similar fabric, made by Drescott. I think it's late 40s-early 50s. I have no pics, sadly.

bk

 

[Qirrel]

... weird double rear suspender button feature.

bk

The double buttons for braces are simply backups in case one should fall off in wear.

 

[Rudie]

What's this button hole for? For a watch fob?

 

[herringbonekid]

What's this button hole for? For a watch fob?

exactly; clip it on there, then drop it one of the 4 pockets !

(i must say as i get older the idea appeals more and more to me)

 

[peaklapels]

It's just been pressed badly. It should be pressed so that the lapel seam end just at the top of the lower button - you can see the slight flare in the front that is indicative of the shifted pressing point in many vintage DB jackets of the 4x1 persuasion.

Absolutely correct although I only realised this a couple of years ago from reading threads on the Lounge, so thank you. I meant to steam and sort out the lapels but haven’t got round to it yet which means I haven’t worn the suit for quite a while.

I have 1 other pair of trousers with the 4 rear brace button feature, which I am by pure coincidence wearing today. They are 30's (could be 40's) Morning trousers from, you guessed it Burton.

 

[Two Types]

They may well have been recycled long before that. Many of the pamphlets put out by the Government encouraged women to cut up old clothes for a variety of uses. One use for old men's felt hats was to make (shudder!) slippers.

Further to the earlier discussions on the reasons for the shortage of British vintage clothing, I dug out some research notes for a book project that never reached publication. It was to be entitled ‘Almost Over’ and examined the situation in winter 1944/45:

By January 1945 civilian clothing stocks were at a wartime low. Announcements were made that no men’s raincoats would be available until at least 1946, whilst deliveries of children’s Wellington boots manufactured in Canada were in too short supply to meet demand. In the midst of the appalling winter all the available boots were promised to children in rural areas. In one humorous parliamentary encounter MPs raised the question of when long socks would once more become available for men. They were told wool supplies were being channelled into the production of garments for infants.

Rayon and cotton yarn stocks were exhausted, with many of the nation’s weavers on short time. They had no shortage of orders but there was little cloth left to work with. Even when there was yarn some mills could produce little cloth since many of their skilled workers had been enticed away by the high wages paid in armaments factories. One shopkeeper reported having around six hundred customers to whom he could sell the single suit left in stock. Nor did he expect any replacement once that had been sold and the standard waiting time for a new suit was between three and six months.

Ironically, in 1945’s first issue of ‘Picture Post,’ the question was posed: ‘London – Can it become a world fashion centre?’ They pointed out that whilst Paris, even after four years of occupation, still had large stocks of satin whilst British cloth reserves were all but exhausted. Further contrast was that Parisian clothing enterprises retained around ninety five per cent of heir highly skilled workers whilst in London nearly all the needle workers have left to do war work.

(If I remember correctly, much of the research came from features in 'The Times' in late 1944/early 1945)

 

[Two Types]

Here are a few 1937 adverts for Horne Brothers Ltd:

 

[Gin&Tonics]

exactly; clip it on there, then drop it one of the 4 pockets !

(i must say as i get older the idea appeals more and more to me)

Go for it, I say! I wear my pocket watch "Prince Albert" style on almost a daily basis back home, and I only just turned 30!

 

[Matt Deckard]

I must place an order.

 

[Flat Foot Floey]

Two Types, thank you for the affort and the scans. Very good stuff. We need more british and european scans.:eusa_clap

 

[Two Types]

My pleasure. I have been working through some old magazines I found online. There aren't many clothing adverts, but I will post all that i find.