Vol. I No. IV (July 05') Summer / Resort guide AA / Esky

[miumoi]

...

[exigent]

Wonderful post, as are all your fine efforts--your place in heaven is secure, and I mean that in the most inclusive sense. Thank you for taking the time to create these excellent compendiums.

[Etutee]

Dear andrey,
sorry about the delay in reply. I have been rather busy for past few weeks.

Dear Etutee,

If you don't mind, a couple of questions:

1.) Among other things, suggestion of a recommended wardrobe for a short cruise enlists "a couple of sports shirts in lisle, cotton or wool". What do they mean by a "sport shirt"? Polo shirt? Or just ordinary shirt made from knitted (as opposed from weaved) cloth?

Usually when they implied sports shirts they meant regular shirts intended for sports wear not polo shirts...even though the illustration has what seems like a polo shirt. They usually referred to knitted shirts as knits or in “knitted” section...& were specific about it. However, for these occasions of resort & cruise wear...both are perfectly correct, especially in this day and age.

2.) On everyone's favourite topic -- trousers length. It seems that all trousers from b/w pictures have definite (although not very big) break. On the other hand, all but one pair of trousers from coloured pictures have no break et all. Or do them? I'm not sure of trousers on a gentlemen in maroon blazer (because of his posture), of trousers on a gentlemen in a striped shirt (because he bent his legs) and of trousers on a gentlemen on a bicycle (because the caption reads that the cuffs on his trousers are made just by folding -- so, probably in unfolded state his trousers are somewhat longer). Gents, what do you think on this?

I know the rules in the most correct sense require some sort of a break no matter how minimal. Usually, it was observed very often that the casual the outfit was, the more freedom you had with the length of your trousers. Actually, in sports wear the length of the pants only went one way…that is on the shorter side and were usually spotted without any break…often colorful hosiery showed beneath. Reasoning was that…maybe the full length of the pants were often found to be troublesome, and “getting-in-the-way” of the game. Analogous to probably how turn-ups on pants… got started to prevent dirt and debris from gathering at the hem.

Conversely speaking, the formal evening or daytime pants were more than often of slightly longer length with breaks often observed. However, there were some who insisted on zero breaks even on their most formal of pants. Duke of Windsor is the first one who comes to mind, closely followed by Fred Astaire.

Also bear in mind that a HUGE part of this (trouser length during that era) had to do with the abolition of dress boots after WW I, and the rise of oxfords. Since with boots there was never a chance of showing socks…& hence the length was spotted to be a tad bit short. Now during the late 20s & 30s, with the rise of oxfords, longer trouser lengths were in order….mainly to compensate for the low-cut shoes. So the pants length during the 30s were a tad bit longer on average than from…say mid 20s, which in turn were longer than what was observed in the pervious decade.

3.) The text has many suggestions on trousers' colours, but not so much on type of cloth. Linen? Linen / cotton mix? Fresco?

Andrey

Over here…they rarely mentioned Fresco. However, there are instances when the name appears…actually more so in Tailor & Cutter than AA/Esky. For them either Linen or Palm Beach cloth (light weight tropical worsted) was in the best of taste for summer / resort wear. Gabardine was also often suggested with weights for pants noted to be as high as 11-13 oz for summer months. Another interesting note was the use of covert cloth for pants during spring months. Rayon blends with silk, & wool were also very common.

sincerely
etutee

[tteplitzmd]

Magnificent drawings and commentary. Thank you.

[andreyb]

Etutee,

Thank you for wonderful and informative response!

If is a big luck for all of us to have you on board. Please keep these posts going!

Andrey

[JLibourel]

Loved this post. If nothing else, it alone made it worthwhile to join this forum. Although I love learning from Etutee's sartorial knowledge and classic illustrations, I can't help feel a twinge of envy when someone so far surpasses me in one of my own areas of interest.

Amused to see myself referenced in Etutee's post. I was the (charitably described) "gentleman" who had the misgivings about green and maroon blazers causing the wearer to be mistaken for hotel staff. Anent this, one member of this forum told, on another forum, of taking a lady to a posh hotel in Carmel, CA. He was wearing a very classic blue blazer and grey flannel ensemble with a red & blue striped tie. Image his mortification to find that the entire staff at the hotel were in attire virtually identical to his!

[Alias]

Yes, the hotel near the area I live has its staff dressed in maroon blazers.

[DonB]

Dear members,

I was pondering over for the topic for our regular AA/Esky writing when I read Mr. Alden’s “summer chic” thread. That…along with the summer days made me want to expound on this topic of summer time dressing. I was fortunate enough to find a very interesting (& incredibly detailed) article about summer-wear along with its original text. It was a tedious task to type all the info but I am happy at the final result. The hard part was Not the article itself…it was the pictures. I figured, if I were to type a long detailed guide it will always be prone to being somewhat boring….Unless it accompanied some well rendered pictures. So the hunt began. More than often I run into the obstacle of finding only black and white or mono-chromatic illustrations that accompany their text. While, those still being perfectly gorgeous…can never compare with their full color counterparts, which are on par over much else. So I had to delay this post over and over until I was fully satisfied with my search for color illustrations. Fortunately it all turned out well…at least in my humble opinion. I will let you fine gents decide on the rest.

Truly wonderful.

Might I seize the moment to ask you to which picture you are referring with the 'SB Patch Pocket Silk Suit' link? It points to the photoalbum at the moment.

Regards,
Don

[Etutee]

Might I seize the moment to ask you to which picture you are referring with the 'SB Patch Pocket Silk Suit' link? It points to the photoalbum at the moment.

Regards,
Don

Go through the link below to be directed to the specific thread. In there scroll down to section III. It is the 3rd illustartion (gent in the seat having a drink) from the top.

Vol. II No. IV (April 06') AA / Esky

sincerely
etutee

[rewozz]

I'm a new member and I've been reading up on all the posts under "Features and Articles" on my iPad. The Esky series are particulary entertaining, seeing also where Will has gotten many of his inspirations for his blog (which I also highly admire). Now that I've revived this old thread I just want to bring some attention to Sketch 5 which seems to be missing the color picture.

On another note, wouldn't it be wonderful if the Esky/AA pictures could be scanned at a higher resolution? I'm sure a lot of members wouldn't mind having them framed on a wall.

Etutee, would it be possible to have all the magazines professionally scanned and distributed as PDFs? Is it possible to recover all the magazines or are some of them lost forever? Is there no archive somewhere with all of them intact?

Thank you for your time

[arkirshner]

I believe the Fashion Institute in New York has them all.

[Etutee]

I'm a new member and I've been reading up on all the posts under "Features and Articles" on my iPad. The Esky series are particulary entertaining, seeing also where Will has gotten many of his inspirations for his blog (which I also highly admire). Now that I've revived this old thread I just want to bring some attention to Sketch 5 which seems to be missing the color picture.

I will try to find it. Being that I posted this over 6 years ago I am not sure how quickly I will be able to locate that issue. I have always urged members to save these posts as soon as I put them online.

On another note, wouldn't it be wonderful if the Esky/AA pictures could be scanned at a higher resolution? I'm sure a lot of members wouldn't mind having them framed on a wall.

Etutee, would it be possible to have all the magazines professionally scanned and distributed as PDFs? Is it possible to recover all the magazines or are some of them lost forever?

Yes there is a lingering thought in my head for years now that I should start scanning old issues fully but that will be AA issues before Esky in fact I will not rescan them likely, for numerous reasons. AA issues are MUCH more rarer, harder to get and certainly cost 10 to 20 times more than an average issue of Esquire. While each esquire only had 7-9 illustration maximum, AA on the other hand was almost all devoted to clothing matters albeit with some trade stuff in there as well.

If you are really determined you can collect all Esquire issues from 1933 to 39. So there are 6 full years with 12 months each making a total of 72 issues plus the first one 73 total. It is not hard to get an esquire issue from 30s for $15-20. Let us say even if you pay $25 average per issue you can have the all for $1825. A large sum of money indeed but compare this with AA for a second. Any issue of AA that is remotely decent with all pages goes for $250-$300 easily on ebay and ones with fabric swatches intact goes for $350-$450. There are 8 full years of AA from 1932 to 1939 with average of 6-8 issues per year. Let us make it 6 even. You multiple that with 8 you get 48 issues at least. I think they are over 60 for this time period but I have to count them again.

So even for 48 issues at $250 a piece, that is a Whooping $12,000 for the cheapest possible price and that is IF you can find them all. There are some issues of AA that I have seen only once in market for past 8 years. Realistically, if any person aims to collect them all... you should easily be prepared to spend $15000-$20000 for the full set. Unless, you can find an extensive collection from a dealer and get a bargain price.

So long story short the idea is to get AA issues scanned if it is even possible. Sadly, I have been rendered ineffective due to my personal issues and there seems to be no one else who is willing to start this effort.

AA and Esky are great for understanding sartorial matters but only as a supplement later in your studies. These are not to be taken as the sole best all inclusive reading material ever published on menswear. If you do that, you will likely get a very limited view of menswear and that is bound to be limiting in its effectiveness. However, in so far as supplemental reading material go... both AA & Esky are fantastic at that.

Is there no archive somewhere with all of them intact?

Alas! If only it were that easy.

[Etutee]

I believe the Fashion Institute in New York has them all.

unfortunately, they do not anymore. I recently inquired and all of that remains is in microfilm. However, NY public library still has hardcopy issues, at least for the time being.

[arkirshner]

unfortunately, they do not anymore. I recently inquired and all of that remains is in microfilm. However, NY public library still has hardcopy issues, at least for the time being.

The legend is back!!

[arkirshner]

AA and Esky are great for understanding sartorial matters but only as a supplement later in your studies. These are not to be taken as the sole best all inclusive reading material ever published on menswear. If you do that, you will likely get a very limited view of menswear and that is bound to be limiting in its effectiveness. However, in so far as supplemental reading material go... both AA & Esky are fantastic at that.

Sir,

As a foundation for supplemental reading, what do you recommend as primary reading?

Regards,

Alan