Apparel Arts and Esquire Images

Read all the excellent articles written by the LL style scholar, Etutee.
Minh
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Tue Feb 18, 2014 3:23 am

Glad that you're enjoying the images Michael, Russell, and Milo! I have part 1 of a two part post on Esquire February 1934 today:

A three-piece navy suit with a double-breasted vest and a double-breasted grey suit. Both suits are worn with starched collar shirts, the navy suit with a blue and white striped shirt body and the grey suit with a solid blue body.

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Brown Harris tweed double-breasted overcoat, grey twill wool suit, capeskin gloves, tab collar shirt.

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The 8x4 DB ulster overcoat in a grey herringbone combining cheviot and shetland wool. It's worn with a navy suit. An interesting detail is the soft grey checked shirt.

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For the college student, a three-piece suit with a DB vest, paired with a brown Glen Urquhart shirt, and a solid knit tie. The student on the left is wearing a brown Shetland sportscoat with medium grey flannels, suede shoes, and, in a nice touch, a yellow flannel tattersall vest.

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Two grand overcoats of a type rarely seen today. A 6x3 DB English ulster in a grey windowpane, worn with a grey cheviot suit, brown brogues, and a Scottish tartan plaid cashmere scarf. On the right is an 8x3 DB tweed ulster in a Lovat color worn with a wool scarf and grey windowpane suit.

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used2Bwegimental
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Fri Feb 21, 2014 4:00 pm

Dear Minh,
It's never too late to say Thank You! I have just stumbled upon your AA posts containing the iconic illustrations of the 1930's. Superbly useful as I try to assemble shirt, tie and suit combinations. The pictures also evoke treasured memories of my parents, who wore their classic 30's clothing well into the 50's - my Dad was never a skinny ties guy a la "Don Draper".

many thanks!
Minh
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Wed Feb 26, 2014 7:34 am

We continue today the February 1934 issue of Esquire. Thanks to my friends Michael, Bill, Derek, RJ, David, and Dopey for sharing your sartorial insights and very generously discussing the images. Thanks too to Regimental (used2Bwegimental) for enjoying the Esquire posts.

For wear around the house, a crimson velvet smoking jacket, cut like a double-breasted suit. A shawl collar silk paisley robe. In the center, a three-quarters length cocktail jacket with wine colored silk lapels and cuffs. At the bottom, a house jacket and a robe, both in wool flannel.

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A brown herringbone three-piece suit "in the campus manner."

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In the background, a brown herringbone tweed coat, worn with a heavy-weight Lovat color cheviot suit and plaid cashmere scarf. In the foreground, a grey hand-loomed Shetland suit in a diamond pattern, with a wide wale corduroy vest, a blue-white striped shirt of flannel taffeta, and blue wool tie with white polka dots.

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Winter sport accessories. An interesting choice in the upper left is pairing the heavy-weight tweed jacket, not with a blue shirt, but a flannel shirt in a bold checked pattern (it appears to be a tan ground with burgundy check). Moving down the page, there's a flannel tattersall waistcoat, a riding coat of 20 ounce Harris tweed, and a heavy tweed coat with a fur collar. The profusion of heavy weight tweed fabrics should rightly warm the heart of any LL member.

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Cruise and resort style. A double-breasted white dinner jacket, soft white shirt, and black trousers. A white linen mess jacket (which looks like a tailcoat without tails), starched wing collar dress shirt, and black silk cummerbund. White flannel tennis shorts (!) with a polo shirt. A light-weight tweed topcoat in a windowpane pattern, odd jacket, grey flannel trousers, and white bucks. A natural linen Norfolk jacket. At the bottom of the page, a shawl lapel dinner jacket.

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(R) A dark green 22 ounce Irish tweed jacket, very well coordinated with a matching cashmere tartan scarf. (L), A tweed short warm with fur collar. The man on the right is dressed for skating.

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hectorm
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Wed Feb 26, 2014 4:25 pm

Thank you again, Minh, and keep´m coming.
As enjoyable and inspirational as the illustrations might be, it´s also a similar delight to be able to read the little articles writen in a language -witty, biting and free of politictal correctness- that unfortunately is long gone.
Regarding the stroller: "unafraid of offering a striking similarity to a Socialist cartoonist´s rendition of a Capitalist...... you didn´t stray in under the impression that the affairs of the day were a morning musicale and afternoon tea"
Edited: quote from Esquire magazine.
Last edited by hectorm on Thu Feb 27, 2014 4:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
jb
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Wed Feb 26, 2014 10:23 pm

Minh,

Thank you again for these images. The winter sports attire is really outstanding, and the accessories leave me with a sense of loss because we just don't see anything like them today.

This is a good time for inspiration, as Chris Despos and I are talking about how to make up the gray Donegal herringbone test. I am leaning toward a shorter, more casual DB outer coat to wear with cashmere sweaters rather than over a jacket. The green coat worn for skating is nice also. The bellows pocket is difficult to do well on really heavy cloth though.

Joel
bestsummerever
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Thu Feb 27, 2014 10:09 pm

Excellent, excellent, excellent.

Thank you again, Minh. As hectorm already mentioned, the text really elevates these pages with its description and wit.

I personally can't get enough of these odd waistcoats, and the wintery fabrics in general.
Minh
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Mon Mar 10, 2014 2:53 am

Thank you hectorm, jb, and bestsummerever. I appreciate your enjoying the photos! Today we have Esquire from September 1935, starting with shirts, ties, and accessories in the Guard's colors of blue and red. An unexpected detail is the pleated bosom on the business shirt.

There are fashions in colors, as there are in the cut of clothes. The photos from 30s often feature deep reds, burgundies, and maroons. The most popular color of boutonnière is Harvard crimson. Today red seems less common, as a reaction to its popularity in the 70s and 80s. But in its deeper, more distinguished shades it can complement the earth tones of the Esquire era handsomely, making browns appear richer and more refulgent.

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David Isle had an excellent article on how the 30s had a wide color palette, especially in shirts, than today, and I was reminded of it in this photo. It's not often that you see a green striped shirt. The blue buttondown in the center looks like a Brooks Brothers shirt from the label. At the top is a Mohr District plaid Saxony on the left, and a Prince of Wales plaid on the right. The sweaters are made of Shetland wool. Shoes are plain toe suede bluchers.

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A covert topcoat, but in the rarer double-breasted model. The suit is a mid-blue hard-finished worsted in a herringbone pattern, worn with reddish-brown capeskin gloves and black wax calf shoes.

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A college freshman and sophomore. The freshman is wearing a brown herringbone Shetland suit with natural shoulders. He's paired it with a dark green knit tie and, what's now a rare sight, a cream tattersall vest with brown check. The sophomore's suit is a Glen plaid Saxony, worn with a striking double-breasted large herringbone overcoat in Connemara tweed. The pin collar, tan striped Oxford shows off the expanded color range of the time in shirts.

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The college junior and senior. A brown, beige, and red hound's tooth sports coat with grey flannels and blue oxford shirt. A surprising detail is the white cable-knit sweater vest. The other college student is wearing a suit in Irish Donegal tweed, "a fabric just being taken up by well dressed sportsmen and destined to acceptance in dress-conscious university circles." The cotton plaid shirt is in a spread or Prince of Wales collar. Note the earth toned shirt.

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In addition to the well-known Lawrence Fellows, another major illustrator was Robert Goodman. Grey and white candy striped button-down shirt; red and white hound's tooth tab collar shirt. The fly-front raglan sleeve, peak-lapel overcoat is patterned after one worn by the Prince of Wales (the future Duke of Windsor). The suede shoes are in a two-eyelet model that the Connery Bond often wore in black calf in the early 60s.

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The sophisticated dresser of the 1930s was drawn to pattern-on-pattern combinations. An instructive match is the brown and white shepherd's check tie with the Glen plaid sports coat in rust brown. On the right, a grey Saxony gun club in a three-piece, double-breasted suit.

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Minh
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Thu Mar 13, 2014 12:32 am

An 80th anniversary: today we have Esquire from March 1934. Thanks especially to Michael, Bill, Derek, David, Dopey, RJ, and Mitch for their inspiring and insightful conversations on style.

The fabric picture for town wear, featuring a navy guard's coat with turnback cuffs and grey chalk striped suit. The detachable collar shirt has a horizontally striped body. While it's widely known that men wore hats more often in the 30s, these pictures show that they thought no outfit to be complete without gloves.

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The double-breasted navy overcoat is a classic, with navy suit, checked shirt, black bluchers, and fawn-colored chamois gloves.

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Esquire called the navy guard's coat the "one overcoat to have, since it is in excellent taste for daytime wear and can do double-duty, in a pinch, by appearing after six o'clock over evening clothes." The authors note that "a deep navy blue" is "the color best suited to this model." For fun, I've included a few images from other Esquire issues of the guard's coat.

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With a half-belt and inverted pleat in the back:

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The terrors of trigonometry are assuaged by this Glen Urquhart suit in a soft Saxony wool. It's worn with an oxford button-down shirt, one of the most popular shirts for campus wear along with the round collar shirt in "oxford, Scotch cheviot, chambrays, and broadcloths -- the collar fastened with a gold safety pin." Esquire 1934 reports a "big vogue for the bow tie." Like the braces in the previous picture, the bow-tie is in a color that seems to follow a certain tiger-themed university in New Jersey. Though it does not say, the shoes look like deep burgundy-brown No. 8 shell cordovans to match the tone of the red overplaid.

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The fabric picture for country wear. The men of the 30s were as fearless as they were tasteful in combining patterns. Here we have a beautiful match between the brown houndstooth suit and the brown and cream enlarged shepherd's check scarf.

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This college student is wearing a balmaccan topcoat with a windowpane check. The popular campus shoes are brown brogues and white bucks; the most common neckwear is knitted ties or bat-wing bow ties. Note the unusual clay colored shirt with soft pinned collar.

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The gentleman at the box office has a grey double-breasted coat in Shetland, "a cloth that is highly prized by the knowing for its softness and fine draping quality." It's paired with a blue-grey worsted suit and black cap-toe oxfords. In the background is a single-breasted, fly-front covert coat.

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In the foreground is an Irish Donegal tweed suit with flapped patch pockets in what looks like a 3-roll-2 model. The shirt is, surprisingly, made of white flannel. The shoes are suede, unlined, and plain-toe, with a heavy crepe sole.

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I like the sound of this: "a formality that would pass muster for an afternoon among the diplomats." On the left, a double-breasted navy worsted suit. The shirt is grey broadcloth with a soft pinned collar, and the tie is a blue silk foulard. On the right is a three-piece draped suit in brown cheviot. The tie is a deep maroon Spitalsfield.

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The standing gentleman has a grey cheviot suit with blue windowpane, a blue flannel pinned collar shirt, and repp tie with blue bar stripe. Esquire points out that the suit's side vents are "much better in coats intended for out of town wear than the usual center vent." The man on the fence, sitting like a Paul Stuart model, is dressed boldly in a green Harris tweed suit, blue and white striped shirt, woolen plaid tie, and reddish-brown shoes.

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The sportsmen of 1934. The combination of brown hat with black band is "a stunt the boys at Yale and Princeton started." The man in the center has a single-breasted Shetland suit with a brown windowpane, covert cloth topcoat, and blue polka dot muffler worn as an ascot.

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For rainy days, Mr. Fellows suggests a double-breasted raglan raincoat. The tab collar is recommended for combining "a trim appearance with a maximum of comfort." A surprising touch: the peach collared shirt fabric.

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Clothes for the golfer:

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The sweater. Note the patterned knit ties in the bottom right.

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Gido
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Thu Mar 13, 2014 7:40 pm

My appreciation again to Minh, for making this thread greater and greater with each new addition. Thank you.
The man on the fence, sitting like a Paul Stuart model, is dressed boldly in a green Harris tweed suit
Looking at that picture, my mind went, that color is really underrated. Why don't we ever see a suit like that? It's both wonderful and useful.

... And then I remembered the LL sage tweed project. :o :D
lgcintra
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Thu Mar 13, 2014 9:53 pm

I do totally agree with you, Gido.
ballmouse
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Fri Mar 28, 2014 10:38 pm

Just wanted to say 'Thank you!' for taking the time to share these wonderful images! This thread has been a wonderful resource on timeless style, something which I hope to emulate (not necessarily duplicate) in my future.

This board has been a great encyclopedia of menswear knowledge, but this thread shows a picture is worth a thousand words!
theoldesouth
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Wed Apr 02, 2014 7:06 pm

Dear Minh,

These fabulous images continue to be delightful. As we (in the northern hemisphere, of course!) transition into the warm seasons of the year, however, I'm curious if you'd have similarly inspirational images for spring and summer wear?

Best,
'South'
schmayck
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Mon Apr 21, 2014 6:55 am

theoldesouth wrote:Dear Minh,

These fabulous images continue to be delightful. As we (in the northern hemisphere, of course!) transition into the warm seasons of the year, however, I'm curious if you'd have similarly inspirational images for spring and summer wear?

Best,
'South'
Absolutely essential thread; also awaiting similarly inspirational sommer looks; thank you again!
Minh
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Sat May 10, 2014 6:56 pm

Thank you Schmayk, Gido, Theoldesouth, Ballmouse, and Lgcintra! I should be posting more pictures later this month; things have been busy at work but I have summer issues of Esquire stored that I'll be sharing.
davidhuh
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Sun May 11, 2014 12:59 am

Minh wrote:Thank you Schmayk, Gido, Theoldesouth, Ballmouse, and Lgcintra! I should be posting more pictures later this month; things have been busy at work but I have summer issues of Esquire stored that I'll be sharing.
Dear Minh,

yes please - was missing you and we need some summer here :D

Many thanks! David
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