Suits - Pre 1920

[cpdv]

Ooo where did u find that at?

 

[Dinerman]

I was the only bidder on it on ebay a bit over a year ago.

 

[volvomeister13]

I was the only bidder on it on ebay a bit over a year ago.

Very nice!

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Photographer is Tormod an t-Seòladair (Norman Morrison)

Somewhere 1910-1920ish. Wingnut, grim grandmother, Lewis Scotland.

Slightly earlier family shot. Again on Lewis.

 

[DamianM]

Pre 20s related
From the late 1910s It measures at 5 inches wide

 

[herringbonekid]

 

[Rudie]

When did the turn-ups become common? I think even though the teens and early 20s had a skinny look going on it is aesthetically much more pleasing to me with the two-inch turn-ups than modern trousers without them.

 

[herringbonekid]

Rudie, according to this site, 1890s:

http://parisiangentleman.co.uk/2013/07/24/a-second-look-at-trouser-turnups-cuffs/

 

[herringbonekid]

Dapper group of workers posing on boiler, Lovett, Alberta, 1916:

 

[herringbonekid]

HS&M 1919:

1917:

1910:

 

[Baron Kurtz]

From The Guardian today, a picture of the glorious poet Isaac Rosenberg, killed in 1918.

 

[The Good]

When did the use of all buttons on coats fall out of practice? Was it during the 1910s or 1920s that most men stopped doing the bottom button? I think it's a bit of a shame that King Edward VII was what effectively caused it to become improper. Because of that one man's influence on fashion, it is still incorrect, and people today generally don't know why that is a convention. I think I remember reading that modern suits and sports jackets are made in a way that it is to the benefit of the jacket's shape that the bottom button is undone, although all of the buttons done do give a slimming effect.

 

[Fastuni]

Though misunderstood today (as so many things) as a "rule", it was mostly a matter of fashion and preference.
It was and is perfectly fine to button the bottom button or button all buttons (say that ten times quick ).

It is of course also a matter of the cut of the jacket - or more specfically the button stance.
Jackets with a high button stance need the lowest button to be closed. From the early-20's to the mid-30's there were many coats with such placements.

Todays jackets have mostly very low set buttons (as do late-40's and 50's garments). Closing the lowest button often looks very silly on them.

(However don't get me started on modern suits... one actually feels the need to close the lowest button to close up to the terribly low pant waist.)

 

[Tomasso]

Yeah, the bottom button rule is a relatively recent enactment. As is showing linen (shirt cuff). Back in the day both were considered a matter of individual preference. My grandfather buttoned up and covered his linen and was considered to be among the best dressed men in NY and Paris.

 

[herringbonekid]

 

[esteban68]

They look like a likely bunch HBK!

 

[Tomasso]

Lotsa Sprezzatura there.

 

[DamianM]

The buttoning of the bottom button was all in the cut of the jacket.
Anything prior of the mid 1920s was able to have the bottom button buttoned ( )
After that the cut started changing and buttoning the bottom button would distort the shape of such jackets.
So it can be considered preference until a certain period. I have lots of old pictures from the teens and most of these men and young men have only the bottom button buttoned and it goes with the cut of such a jacket.

 

[Rudie]

The guy with the cardigan and the button shoes looks great!

 

[Tomasso]

The buttoning of the bottom button was all in the cut of the jacket.
Anything prior of the mid 1920s was able to have the bottom button buttoned ( )
After that the cut started changing and buttoning the bottom button would distort the shape of such jackets.
So it can be considered preference until a certain period. I have lots of old pictures from the teens and most of these men and young men have only the bottom button buttoned and it goes with the cut of such a jacket.

If the cut of the jacket is such that all the buttons can be buttoned then it is a matter of personal preference as to how many buttons you chose to button. Jackets cuts allowing all buttons to be buttoned have always been available on the RTW market.