Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Spats!

Hammelby

One of the Regulars
Messages
227
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
White zzpats!

What and how should a gent do if he wanted som some swank looking WHITE spats for his black dancing shoes.. I simply must have a pair!So i went to a leathersmith that can do a replica on my everydayspats wollen spats, but.. pricey ($120) so i want to get the pattern right.

This is the closest i think there is on the web. If the front were more straight down across the toecap i would concider buying them.

b&wspats.jpg


So far you have enlightened me in the fabric, thin white leather (but not glove leather- too stretchy, right?). Uhm but what about the cut. I noticed on an old movie that the spats were cut around the cap, straight down and then pretty long across the side and then up in a cut a thats a bit higher at the back of the shoe.

Look. (almost bit curved too?)
11.jpg


12.jpg




Where do you recon the buttons should be placed, along the side 90 degrees or like on the picture here?

If you have tips, pictures, please share!:D
 

Alan Eardley

One Too Many
Messages
1,500
Location
Midlands, UK
I'm worried about spats. I think they are about to go the way of waistcoats. Once a waistcoat was an item of standard masculine wear - for formal as well as work wear. Within my life time almost every man would have considered himself incorrectly dressed without one. Now waistcoats are a parody - a joke. The only occasions on which most men wear waistcoats are weddings and Christmas parties. Such items are often 'joke' waistcoats decorated with amusing motifs (e.g. holly or wedding bells). To a previous generation spats were a similar item of wear - now I think they are equally becoming a joke, subject to the same degree of exageration as 'zoot suits'. And as a long-term wearer of all three items, I'm beginning to fear for monocles, too...

Just my opinion...

Alan
 

vonwotan

Practically Family
Messages
696
Location
East Boston, MA
Alan - I do hope you are wrong about waistcoats and about spats. I regularly wear waistcoats, and we have a few friends who do at least part of the time. It is unfortunate that it has become unusual, and that a decent waistcoat needs to be vintage or bespoke - with a few exceptions. It is unfortunate that most waistcoats are "novelty" items in garrish colors and patterns.

I keep hoping that by encouraging friends and collegues, and participating in fora such as this, we can being back a bit of style to replace fad and what passes for fashion today.
 

Alan Eardley

One Too Many
Messages
1,500
Location
Midlands, UK
Veronica Parra said:
You're only just beginning to fear for them? They're only now becoming a joke? Those trepidations of yours were relevant long before now. Say, around 1950.

I need at least 50 years to work up a healthy degree of fear for things. If anyone is planning to parody any of today's tasteful fashion items (for instance moulded sole silver trainers with flashing lights in the heels) in 2056, let me know now.

Alan
 

Hammelby

One of the Regulars
Messages
227
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
Veronica Parra said:
You're only just beginning to fear for them? They're only now becoming a joke? Those trepidations of yours were relevant long before now. Say, around 1950.

I don't hope they will become a joke either, but maby instead become a womens fashion fling in near future(?). I feel a golden era comming on in the fashion trend (im no expert, but i can smell it). But seriously, here in Scandinavia, people think my spats are outrageously cool, and they keep asking where i got them.. same answer.. eBay :)

Even one buisnessman halted to ask me where he could by some. I really think if you wear your clothes with a dedication towards vintage/retro style, its hard look bad in front of the common man. Offcourse, i have been ridiculed.. but then again by hooded creatures with gangsta attitudes.
 

Hammelby

One of the Regulars
Messages
227
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
Oh.. a spat tip.

Be carefull with too short pants, because when you wear spats and you run
you might be mistaken for a rooster/chicken.

But then again, a gentleman never runs.. so i have been told :)
 

Hammelby

One of the Regulars
Messages
227
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
whoh thats a DAPPER picture of Johnny!

Spring is comming here in denmark (and im moving to sunny LA), so im sad that my wooly spats has to go in the closet for the next cold season.. but hey, suspenders and roll up sleves doesnt look that bad either ;)

On the other hand.. i am thinking of buying a pair of black airris allen danceshoes and just have to dig up someone that can sow me a pair of white leather spats. Know anyone in socal that can do it for a reasonable price?
 

Hammelby

One of the Regulars
Messages
227
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
Speedster said:
Looking forward to seeing the spats on Friday at the informal Copenhagen gathering Hammelby.

Then I will wear them! I am so much looking forward to your outfits as well!
See you at plaza hotel Speedster! :D
 

Dapper Dan

One of the Regulars
Messages
136
Location
Austin, Texas
A decent pair of spats is so hard to find these days. I've been toying with the idea of buying a pair for years now, but I just don't know. They may be a bit much. Looking dapper is one thing; sticking out like a sore (albeit snappy) thumb is another. If I buy a pair, I may try dressing them down a bit.
 

Hammelby

One of the Regulars
Messages
227
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
Dapper dan, i share your greif.
but i did buy a nice pair of light brown wollen spats, they are pretty "dressed down", good feetwarmers, still noticabe and goes very well with brown shoes. Youll get compliments for sure, and the occasional scowl.
But, i think you should try it, just for the fun of it!

Have you tried the english ebay?
But, then again.. texas is maby not the right place for wollen spats? lol
 

vonwotan

Practically Family
Messages
696
Location
East Boston, MA
I have been looking for formal spats (for my small feet), small narrow dress shoes, and detachable collars (for my long narrow neck) for some time now. I am hoping to have everything I need to wear my 1914 tailcoat, vest and pants to my 40th Birthday party in July. We have one or two period events coming as well and I'd love to find the right finishing touches for these events, but it looks as though I will need to find a tailor willing and able to reproduce these items...
 

Nick D

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,166
Location
Upper Michigan
Marty M. said:
I'd wear them and sell them if I knew a manufacture of quality Spats.
Marty

Try here: Spatterdash by Tallarida Some are classic, some are modern. I've wanted a pair of almost every style for quite a while, but I'm afraid I can't afford it right now.

Here's my little collection of spats.
DSC04463.jpg


The white ones are modern, but the others are vintage. The upper left pair is in pretty bad shape, but the others are in great shape. I'd like a pair a little larger.

My great-grandpa wore gray spats all the time, to keep his ankles warm in the winter. I've been stopped in stores a couple times because people wanted to see my spats.

Cheers,
Nick
 

Marty M.

Vendor
Messages
1,195
Location
Minneapolis
Spats a lot.

Nick D said:
Try here: Spatterdash by Tallarida Some are classic, some are modern. I've wanted a pair of almost every style for quite a while, but I'm afraid I can't afford it right now.

Here's my little collection of spats.
DSC04463.jpg


The white ones are modern, but the others are vintage. The upper left pair is in pretty bad shape, but the others are in great shape. I'd like a pair a little larger.

My great-grandpa wore gray spats all the time, to keep his ankles warm in the winter. I've been stopped in stores a couple times because people wanted to see my spats.

Cheers,
Nick

Thanks Nick for the information.
Marty
 

Forum statistics

Threads
109,270
Messages
3,077,669
Members
54,221
Latest member
magyara
Top