Show us your suits

[Powerhouse]

Meets the gold, of the day...

bring it to the Queen Mary!

=WR=

Sure, I bet ya could find a tie in your collection of 100's of the best ties ever seen! Puts my collection to shame. Sort of..hahaha.

I would love to bring it but I have better in mind...How is the weather that time of year? I am thinking of bringing my coonskin. Maybe...not...

 

[Hamsterjeep]

Hey, Nice suit!

I don't think I'm ever going to find a better suit than this.

No union label. A rather odd duck.

That's a nice suit.... looks like one I had years ago that no longer fit me.

 

[Powerhouse]

Belted back #1

Here is one of my daily drivers. I mean the jacket. 2 button, notched lapel, no union tag.

 

[The real Henry]

My new/old suit was made by Middishade Clothes. Today I found a DB coat in the same color, but different pattern and I now wonder if that company was well known or if this is a ver lucky find?!


Regards,
Henrik!

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Middishade was one of the mass production houses that produced relatively cheap suits during the depression and afterward. Of course, cheap back then didn't mean a badly made suit; at least not so badly made as cheap suits are these days. Their suits in 1932 were marketed at $35. Not super cheap, but Dunhill wanted $80 for theirs, to give an example of a very high end contemporary suit maker.

Middishade started out making suits only in blue, grey and brown.Their original slogan was "An Achievement in Specialisation". They quickly moved into other shades/patterns, etc. as their sales figures increased.

It's a nice suit. I have an early 50s Middishade jacket that's a little big for me.

bk

 

[Wild Root]

Sears and Ward's were selling suits for around $25. or less in the same years. Were they cheap suits? Well, I'd say they were less expencive then cheap.

=WR=

 

[Barry]

I told my grandmother that I bought an old Botany 500 suit and I asked her if she and my grandfather ever sold that brand. She really got a kick out of that and told me that none of her customers could afford anything like that. She thought the store up the road might have sold them - but she sure didn't.

 

[The real Henry]

Thanks very much for the information!

Regards,
Henrik!

 

[Tomasso]

Middishade was one of the mass production houses that produced relatively cheap suits during the depression and afterward.

BK, would you rate them around today's Hickey-Freeman as far as construction?

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I don't know that i've ever seen a Hickey Freeman suit, other than horrid 70s polyester numbers. I believe Matt Deckard has an old Middishade suit, and would know more about modern suits than i (i don't think i've been into a department store in 5 years ). Maybe he can give a reliable comparison?

bk

 

[Matt Deckard]

Polo Jacket from Ray and wrinkled trouser combo.

 

[Robert Conway]

Hey Matt, was that picture taken in Griffith Park at the train museum?

There's a nice old golf club nearby. Very 1920 or 30's.
I once did a little putting on their practice green while the park was on fire...


RC

PS: Nice lid. What kind is it?

 

[Matt Deckard]

Hat's my Optimo Graphite that I have been wearing for over a year.

I wont give away the location of the locomotion... let's just say it was a long trip.

 

[undertaker]

Polo Jacket from Ray and wrinkled trouser combo.

That is a great look! Is this your daily mode of dress?
Regards,
JS:eusa_clap

 

[Atomic Glee]

One of my newest acquisitions - Joseph A. Bank Signature, dark blue with light blue & brown pinstripes. Hat is my Carbon Grey Akubra Federation, tie is a '40s vintage.

 

[Matt Deckard]

That is a great look! Is this your daily mode of dress?
Regards,
JS:eusa_clap

Actually... yes. Jacket tie and hat. That is how I went to work daily.

 

[BellyTank]

The Prince of Wales as a Style Icon-

For the Ney-sayers...

Regarding Duke’s influence on Lounge Suits as recalled later by Esky editors

…British influence. During the twenties and early 30s no man wielded greater fashion influence than the Prince of Wales. For almost two decades he was a source of inspiration and income to menswear manufacturers and retailers on both side of the Atlantic. At the peak of his power his influence was so extraordinary that a wealthy Chicagoan left standing orders with Scholte, the royal tailor at the time, for a duplicate of every suit the Prince had made, His visit to the US in 1923 raised the morale of British trade and aroused the interest of fashion-conscious American men.

Red ties were considered effeminate until the Prince of Wales chose to wear the reddest red tie that he could find. Brown suede shoes were considered vulgar until he wore them. Single handedly, he relieved a depression affecting the Fair Isle, in the Shetland Islands, where he chose to appear on the golf links wearing one of the fine hand—knit sweaters made there. In short order, Fair Isle sweaters were selling in American shops for as much as $35 each. When the Prince turned up at Belmont Park, Long Island, wearing a big Panama hat of a type that had not been seen in the US for a decade, almost overnight the panama hat was back in fashion.

More than any other individual, he made London the men’s fashion capital of the world, and during the prosperous twenties, when increasingly large numbers of affluent Americans traveled abroad, British influence affected the wardrobes of American men as never before.

A new style called the “English look” became prominent in the spring of 1923, was promoted by the more expensive American stores, and reached its peak in the fall of 1924. The suit jacket had broader shoulders and its relatively loose lines draping from the shoulders obliterated the waistline. Lapels measuring 3.5 inches* in width rolled to the top button or just below it. In many models the jackets had no vents.
B
T

 

[Marc Chevalier]

If there is any "naysayer" around that denies the Prince of Wales's influence on men's fashion, then he/she is uninformed or misinformed.

BellyTank's quote is undeniably true. That the Prince of Wales was a fashion superstar is not open to debate.

Nonetheless, there are certain things said about the PofW that annoy me. First on the list is the myth that he invented the "Windsor" knot. Untrue; this exact knot has existed since the later 19th century. What the PofW did do was popularize it. Second, the PofW did not invent the cutaway collar (also known as the "Windsor spread"). It, too, has been around since the 19th century. Theodore Roosevelt himself favored it. Even Edward VII, the PofW's grandfather, wore one on occasion.

What is open to debate is whether or not the PofW really was "the greatest of dressers". (I myself prefer the style of his brother, the Duke of Kent.)


.

 

[BellyTank]

...phonetical

..was for them who say; "...big deal...", in regard to 'his' place in/influence on the history of menswear.

I'm sure the PoW didn't claim the knot and collar style for his own...
Don't be too hard on the old chap.

B
T

 

[Tomasso]

That the Prince of Wales was a fashion superstar is not open to debate.

Agreed. But, let's refer to him as the Duke of Windsor.

What is open to debate is whether or not the PofW really was "the greatest of dressers". (I myself prefer the style of his brother, the Duke of Kent.)


.

The DOW would certainly be a member of any sartorial "Dream Team", which would also include Douglas Fairbanks (Sr.and Jr.), Cary Grant, Fred Astaire and Adolph Menjou, among others. But as you say, choosing the "greatest" would be a matter of personal preference.