William Powell's JACKET from "Love Crazy"

[Marc Chevalier]

.

Scotrace loves the jacket that William Powell's character wore in the 1941 movie, Love Crazy. So, I thought that he (and you) would enjoy seeing one that is very similar to it.

I picked this one up at a Hollywood vintage clothing store. It's labeled as a size "large", which really means that it's a size 40 R. (It fits me.) The jacket is probably from about 1940, and is made of deerskin suede and houndstooth check wool. Bellows pockets at the thigh area. Double-button barrel cuffs. Bakelite buttons. VERY high armholes, taped seams at the inside armholes.

I especially like the turquoise blue yarns woven into it. (Today's world has forgotten that turquoise, darker brown, and cream look well together.)

What do you think of it?

.

 

[scotrace]

Fantastic!

It is very similar, isn't it? Not Howard Huges, but very wearable and snappy. What a find! Suede cuffs would have been a neat addition, but it's a stunner as it stands.

Thanks!

 

[Marc Chevalier]

What makes it a bit different from the norm is that it has a suede body, instead of the more usual gabardine.

.

 

[pablocham]

Those pockets are nuts. Never seen those before.

 

[Feraud]

oooohhhh. That is an amazing jacket! I love the suede & material combination.

 

[Sefton]

I have to agree with everyone...swell jacket! Are they rare (other than the seude part)?

 

[Absinthe_1900]

Wow, sharp!:eusa_clap

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Those pockets are nuts. Never seen those before.

They're called "bellows pockets", because they expand outward like a bellows.

.

 

[scotrace]

This film turned up on TCM last night and again I was trying to get a really good look at this Jacket Powell wears. Love Crazy may be my least favorite Powell film, but his clothes, as usual, are worth study.

I think the main fabric is a sort of glen plaid with a wide over pane. Very drapey.

Hemingway Jones has had some good luck having some custom items made up, and Magnoli Clothiers might also be a great source to give this one a try.

I wish I could get a better screen grab, but it's on my Tivo box (and i don't have the gizmos to transfer it).

 

[dhermann1]

A lot of interesting clothes on Powell in that film.
I agree, tho, about the film. Funny how comedey took such a "3 Stooges" turn in the 40's.
But I still picked up a fistful of comedy pointers from the man. And of course his gear in "Libeled Lady" was cool. As were his pratfalls.

 

[herringbonekid]

They're called "bellows pockets", because they expand outward like a bellows.

.

i've heard then called 'saddlebag' pockets too.

 

[Indy Magnoli]

I've been wanting to make a two-tone "Ricky" jacket for sometime. I just saw "Lonely Hearts" and one of Jared Leto's great two-tone jackets reminded me that I need to add something like this to my site. Any takers?

Kind regards,
Indy

 

[Fletch]

I'd never seen one of these till now. In fact, I wondered for years whether they existed at all after reading a 1946 S.J. Perelman short story called "Physician, Steel Thyself," about a psychiatrist who goes to work for a movie studio.

He wore a pea-green playsuit with deep, flaring lapels, tailored of a rough, towel-like material, arbitrarily checked and striated in front but mysteriously turned to su?®de in back. [...] he would not have been caught dead in these vestments, but his sack suits had seemed so conspicuous that, chameleon-like, he soon developed a sense of protective coloration.

 

[The Wolf]

Love Crazy came out on DVD recently. You should be able to get a good screen grab now.

Sincerely,
the Wolf

 

[Alan Eardley]

They're called "bellows pockets", because they expand outward like a bellows.

.

...and 'game pockets' because they can be used to carry poor dead creatures.

Alan