What killed the '40s suit?

[Dr Doran]

+1 Fletch needs to throw that stick he plays away and get writing full time...put that fantastic classical education to work IMHO.

Fletch on Fashion - The Post War World... is the first title of the book...

I would buy it.

 

[Feraud]

For that period, no one did it like Desi Arnaz.


http://images.google.com/imgres?img...hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&sa=N&start=42&um=1

Desi always looked great!

 

[Fletch]

I would buy it.

Fletch on Fashion would be one of the shortest books ever, right up there with Great Irish Belly Dancers. Even so, I'd probably blow the advance on some bespoke threads.

 

[John in Covina]

What killed the 40's suit?

A repeated theme in fashion you would see certain trends, an idea developed and evolves at some point it moves to exaggerated details. At some point the overuse of the exaggerated stuff creates a backlash and the pendulum swings to the other side. Super wide lapels swings to very slim, etc.

In the late 60's early 70's bell bottom pants come back into style with a period of what was called elephant bells really big bell bottoms. Slowly we moved to straight leg pants and the hippie era lovers have tried to bring back bell bottoms several times.


It is almost a planned change as it seems to repeat a lot. Same in car styling sharp corners get rounder and rounder or vice a versa.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Desi always looked great!

I'd say that Desi Arnaz in I Love Lucy sported the "Mr 'T'" look, and not the "Continental" look.

.

 

[reetpleat]

I'd say that Desi Arnaz in I Love Lucy sported the "Mr 'T'" look, and not the "Continental" look.

.

Yes, I think his look was all american. Not sure what you mean by Mr T. Lucy, I pity the fool who doesn't do some splainin.

 

[MisterGrey]

A couple of points...

1) I'm surprised by how many people here are saying that not everyone looks good in flat fronts. For me, flats have always been the "standard," with pleated trousers being the extravagance not everyone can pull off. I, myself, very rarely come across a pair of pleated pants that look right/good on me. They've a tendency to wrinkle funny when I sit and make it look as though I'm either hiding a tent or additional stomachs in there.

2) I've thought a lot about this, especially in a college history course I took that examined American History from 1900 to 1990 through the perspective of its popular culture. I think that pop culture repeats itself, essentially, every 30 years. This is especially true for fashion. The 20s begat the 50s begat the 80s. The method of delivery may be slightly different, but the style is essentially the same. Think of the lesiure suit of the 70s as the direct descendant of the zoot suit of the 1940s and you'll get my gist.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Not sure what you mean by Mr T. Lucy, I pity the fool who doesn't do some 'splainin.

From Esquire magazine, 1950:

“Mr. T, introduced in Esquire last month, has been booming across the country. In every major store in every community, he’s right on target – and will stay there throughout 1951. This man has everything the American male has been wanting in his wardrobe- from tapered hat to trim shoes, a strictly new and masculine closetful of clothes. Around the clock, twelve months a year, the Mr. T idea is to make a man look taller, trimmer, and always in perfect taste. Mr. T has that comfortable, custom look that you’ve been waiting for in your apparel: straight-hanging lines; restrained colors; fresh, new designs. Examine our man at the left; he’s Mr. T personified. Everything he wears is right in the T-formula: Tremont hat ( snap brim, tapered pinch crown ), pinpoint collar shirt (fastened with a pin), tartan checked tie, Tower model suit (three button notched lapel jacket), and trim, straight-tipped shoes.”


.

 

[cookie]

Fletch on Fashion would be one of the shortest books ever, right up there with Great Irish Belly Dancers.

That was the title of you next book... ho hummm... no secrets in the literary world eh what?

 

[Hal]

...flats have always been the "standard" ...I, myself, very rarely come across a pair of pleated pants that look right/good on me. They've a tendency to...make it look as though I'm either hiding a tent or additional stomachs in there.

Exactly! You bear out the point I made earlier. I cannot recall seeing pleated trousers before 1980, though they must have been usual before the early 1950s.

 

[zetwal]

Fletch on Fashion would be one of the shortest books ever, right up there with Great Irish Belly Dancers. Even so, I'd probably blow the advance on some bespoke threads.

Not as rare as you may think Fletch. Perhaps you can carve out that career in fashion publishing after all -

http://www.irishbellydancing.com

 

[Widebrim]

Exactly! You bear out the point I made earlier. I cannot recall seeing pleated trousers before 1980, though they must have been usual before the early 1950s.

Pleats were common during the 1930s, generally left the scene between 1942-45, then were in style again until the mid-1950s.

 

[cookie]

I used to get a lot of stuff made in BKK during the 80s and I seem to remember alweays getting double pleated pants with those finished pockets (besom?) that close.

 

[Widebrim]

I've noticed that '40s-early-'50s pleats drape longer than modern ones, but that they hold their "shape" better while one is seated. I would attribute the latter to thicker material, though.

 

[John in Covina]

I think that there are a couple of ways to sew and construct pleats, there is a chance that the old way was better but more complicated. Costs always pushes for simplicity in construction.

 

[jamespowers]

I think that there are a couple of ways to sew and construct pleats, there is a chance that the old way was better but more complicated. Costs always pushes for simplicity in construction.

Particularly if you are talking about inverted pleats on trousers. I love that look. I have a suit from 1955 that has inverted pleats.
I won't wear anything but pleated. The flat front stuff reminds me of work pants one buys at Ben Davis.

Pleated fronts take on a more formal look I suppose. Tuxedos, suits etc benfit from the extra flair of the pleated pants.

 

[Lauren]

the 50s

HA! That's what I was going to say.

 

[John in Covina]

What killed the guy in the 40's suit? In the movies it was 38's, 45's or some dame with a little automatic smilin' as she shot him!

 

[jamespowers]

What killed the guy in the 40's suit? In the movies it was 38's, 45's or some dame with a little automatic smilin' as she shot him!

lol lol lol lol lol lol lol

 

[Widebrim]

Particularly if you are talking about inverted pleats on trousers. I love that look. I have a suit from 1955 that has inverted pleats.
I won't wear anything but pleated. The flat front stuff reminds me of work pants one buys at Ben Davis.

Pleated fronts take on a more formal look I suppose. Tuxedos, suits etc benfit from the extra flair of the pleated pants.

Thank you! :eusa_clap