Vintage Movie Suits

[Forgotten Man]

Cooper always had a classy look about him! He was rather popular then... seems he kinda falls through the cracks when the topic of well dressed stars come up! I think he had a great style and his stature is close to mine... sure would love to find some of his suits!

Lately, I've been watching a lot of early Cagney films... I really dig his style in the early 30s. High cut double breasted suits, patterned ties, tall crown reverse taper short brim hats... oh man, why is that look of the early 30s so appealing... I don't know, it just is!

From "Mayor of Hell"...

 

[CigarMan]

Spencer Tracy was always a great dresser . . .

 

[Sefton]

Cooper always had a classy look about him! He was rather popular then... seems he kinda falls through the cracks when the topic of well dressed stars come up! I think he had a great style and his stature is close to mine... sure would love to find some of his suits!

Lately, I've been watching a lot of early Cagney films... I really dig his style in the early 30s. High cut double breasted suits, patterned ties, tall crown reverse taper short brim hats... oh man, why is that look of the early 30s so appealing... I don't know, it just is!

From "Mayor of Hell"...

Wonderful photograph. 6" crown and 2" to 2 1/4" brim at the most? Probably has a center dent deep as the Grand Canyon too. What a fantastic look. The suit ain't bad either.

 

[thunderw21]

1946 to be exact.

Very true, though it seems a bit odd that the wardrobe folks would have the low-down, poor 1930s businessman character far away from Hollywood wear a suit such as this. It boggles my mind why they put George Bailey in it. Maybe Stewart supplied this own clothing?

Bailey's rich "heehaw!" friend would seem a more likely candidate for that suit.

 

[thunderw21]

Spencer Tracy was always a great dresser . . .

One question about this suit:
Is that pattern the suit itself or just a shadow? 'Cause if you look at his hat, it has a similar shadow pattern as does the hat behind him.

If it is the suit pattern, that's awesome.

 

[Tomasso]

Is that pattern the suit itself or just a shadow?

It's a shadow caused by the home plate screen at Yankee Stadium. The photo is from "Woman of the Year".

 

[Mr. Rover]

I also like Gary Cooper's suit in Mr. Deeds Goes To Town:

It doesn't appear to be anything special, I just like it for some reason.

Check out the sleeve crease in that suit! Can't be period accurate without sleeve creases!

 

[Mr. Rover]

It's a shadow caused by the home plate screen at Yankee Stadium. The photo is from "Woman of the Year".

Yeah you can see that the actual pattern is a subtle stripe

 

[Matt Deckard]

Look at that creased sleeve.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Check out the sleeve crease in that suit! Can't be period accurate without sleeve creases!

How right you are! But, when you tell the cleaners to do that for you they give ya the dead gold fish look! Big dumb eyes, open mouth and upside down!lol

 

[Forgotten Man]

Very true, though it seems a bit odd that the wardrobe folks would have the low-down, poor 1930s businessman character far away from Hollywood wear a suit such as this. It boggles my mind why they put George Bailey in it. Maybe Stewart supplied this own clothing?

Bailey's rich "heehaw!" friend would seem a more likely candidate for that suit.

You must remember, back in the 30s and 40s that in the movies, wealth was displayed by flashy clothes... bold stripes and glen plaids... Stewart's suits in "It's a Wonderful Life" were mostly tweeds and somewhat less flashy then others. Sam Wainwright (played by Frank Albertson) was an out spoken, loud go getter who had a very colorful personality... so, they put him in many flashy types of clothes. He made it big in his plastics company and then was living high off the hog. George was the simple home bound man with a family in an old drafty house so, his clothes were less appealing to that of Sam's in 1940s regards... they did think differently then we do today about fashion. We look at the suits Stewart wore in those films and think they're amazing... and rightfully they are however, they are classy and attractive, but not the best that Hollywood could do. After all, they wanted Stewart to look poor but, not that poor! It is Hollywood after all!

 

[filfoster]

Check out the sleeve crease in that suit! Can't be period accurate without sleeve creases!

Also check out how short the jacket is. Nowadays, and it was not uncommon then, the jacket hem would end near the ends of the first knuckles, the hand could 'catch it' with curled fingers. This suit emphasizes Gary's height and slim hips. He could wear anything and look good.

 

[Orgetorix]

Jimmy Stewart, from The Philadelphia Story

One of Cary Grant's suits from the same film

Grant also wore some weird, unfortunate lapel-less things in this film, but the suit above is pretty nice.

 

[Tomasso]

Also check out how short the jacket is. Nowadays, and it was not uncommon then, the jacket hem would end near the ends of the first knuckles, the hand could 'catch it' with curled fingers.

Any tailor or haberdasher worth his salt (today or back in the day) would not use the location of the hands as an indicator in his criteria for determining proper jacket length. Jacket length is determined by assessing overall body proportion, with the primary goal to cover the posterior. It has nothing to do with arm length. If you find yourself being fitted by someone using your hand position, RUN, fast and far.

 

[filfoster]

Any tailor or haberdasher worth his salt (today or back in the day) would not use the location of the hands as an indicator in his criteria for determining proper jacket length. Jacket length is determined by assessing overall body proportion, with the primary goal to cover the posterior. It has nothing to do with arm length. If you find yourself being fitted by someone using your hand position, RUN, fast and far.

Thankfully, I have been spared that measure by any tailor; it is my own observation. By your criteria of covering the posterior, the wardrobe department may owe Mr. Cooper a few inches. It simply looks short, to me. It evidently met the tastes of the time.

 

[CaddyKid21]

Joseph Cotten's Double Breasted Jacket in Shadow Of A Doubt. No Picture.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Nice little SB PL number with two breast pockets! Patch pockets at that. Can't remember if this was a belted back or not.

Awesome!!!! Very 1940's Hollywood...

... it seems a bit odd that the wardrobe folks would have the low-down, poor 1930s businessman character far away from Hollywood wear a suit such as this. It boggles my mind why they put George Bailey in it. Maybe Stewart supplied this own clothing?

Yup! This was, in fact, Jimmy Stewart's own suit. He wore in in several films over the years: the first was Made for Each Other (1939),a comedy in which he co-starred with Carole Lombard. Note that this was a 7 years before It's a Wonderful Life.

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[thunderw21]

Yup! This was, in fact, Jimmy Stewart's own suit. He wore in in several films over the years: the first was Made for Each Other (1939),a comedy in which he co-starred with Carole Lombard. Note that this was a 7 years before It's a Wonderful Life.

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Thanks for confirming that, Marc. Welcome back.

 

[donCarlos]

I love this one

Belt all around the waist. Never seen anything like this.

 

[thunderw21]

I love this one

Belt all around the waist. Never seen anything like this.

What movie is this from? Interesting jacket.