Masterpieces and fashiondrawings from "old" German

[schneidergott]

Hello, gentlemen!

I recently purchased some books and old ads, so I decided to share the pictures with you.
It's a compressed file(rar) which you can download here:
http://www.file-upload.net/member/downl ... s.zip.html

Here are a few samples:










Hope you like it!(and the download works)

SG

[angelo]

schneidergott,

very rare beautiful images, mainly the coloured ones , somehow reminding those from AA and Esquire. Thank You very much for sharing them with us and for Your valuable downloading work.

Angelo

[Degendorff]

What a wonderful thread, schneidergott!

There are some very nice pictures, I especially like the Knize sportcoat of Adolph Menjou.

But what does "ganz auf Hänsel gearbeitet" mean? Ich mein, ich "verstehe" es zwar, aber ich begreife es nicht so recht...

Also interesting is that Staben (a renowned haberdasher in Hamburg) is entitled "Reichsmodewart" - it is hard to translate and sounds simply stupid, and I'm sure it did sound stupid even in the Third Reich.

[Guille]

Scheidergott,

thank you for sharing these wonderfull illustrations and photographs from your tailor magazines from the times of sartorial excelency.

[schneidergott]

"Hänsel" is a company which did and still does make horsehair and other interlinings, although mostly fusible stuff nowadays.
So "ganz auf Hänsel" simply means that these coats and overcoats were made with Hänsel horsehair of probably different qualities, names were "Senta, LmK, and Hänsel-Forsta"(for collars). Hänsel Complet made of "Senta" was a ready to use interfacing, which just had to be adjusted to the pattern.

The title "Reichsmodewart" is/ was in fact given in the Third Reich, but soon he became "Bundesmodewart", nicer title with just the same job behind it. The model wearing his coat looks a bit like the "Führer", but so did many men in those days. Willy Staben edited a little book with hints and tips about tailoring and the new silhouettes. Very nice, but printed in "old" german letters. The following images are taken from that book.


Staben does still exist, but I'm afraid it is far from it's past sartorial glory. They won several tailoring awards over the years, I don't know if they would today.

The "Wanderpreis" does still exist as far as I know, but competition is small nowadays.
Willy Staben was very modern way back then to be among the first to introduce "group work" in his tailor shop.
What is "group work" in tailoring, you ask?
Well, it simply means, that a garment is not made by a single tailor, but goes through different stages during the making process, making sure that only the best man(available) for the job does it. I read an article about the advantages, which Herr Staben described like this:
Constant quality, changes in tailoring techniques or fashion silhouettes are only explained to the respective craftsmen, plus higher output due to greater efficiency(also made more money this way, which he partly spent in higher wages for his tailors).

SG

[Degendorff]

Thank you for your explanation, schneidergott, very informative.

Even today Staben is a well known and respected haberdasher in Hamburg. I like him more than Ladage&Oelke, because it's not so "british". Germans have the tendency to say that everything nice in clothing must be 'british' or 'english', if it is conservative, or 'italian' if it is fashion forward.

P.S.

A friend of mine uses a former tailor of Staben for his wedding outfit.

[schneidergott]

@ Degendorff:
The "Reichsmodewart" was kind of responsible for organizing special events like "Deutscher Schneidertag"(including handing out the awards), plus the translation of new silhouettes into tailoring(higher shoulder line, slimmer waist and so on) every year. He didn't do it all alone, of course, he had help in form of a council, consisting of a few of the best german tailors of their time. So they gave out a sort of guideline every year according to the latest "trends", which were sometimes hard to distinct from one year to another.
Apparently he was responsible for a standardized basic tailoring training as well, organizing the courses held for several tailor's guilds by request all over Germany.

The training seems to have been complete, including some "training" on "political world-view"(position IX at the left bottom)!
He held this office for decades, I think he retired as Bundesmodewart in the late 50's or early 60's, but I'm not sure.

SG

[Kate]

Thankyou for posting them for us to see, I really enjoyed looking at them!

[storeynicholas]

Great stuff!
NJS

[le.gentleman]

Thank you for your explanation, schneidergott, very informative.

Even today Staben is a well known and respected haberdasher in Hamburg. I like him more than Ladage&Oelke, because it's not so "british". Germans have the tendency to say that everything nice in clothing must be 'british' or 'english', if it is conservative, or 'italian' if it is fashion forward.

P.S.

A friend of mine uses a former tailor of Staben for his wedding outfit.

Staben went out of business (http://www.abendblatt.de/daten/2007/10/16/805114.html)
When I walked around at the Rathhausmarkt in Hamburg last week, there were still the Staben signs on the windows and a few things were left inside the store. However, it seems Staben plans a reopening in May 2008.
Other than that, I never liked the store. The brands they sold were far from being top notch and things were highly overpriced as well. Their former tailor, Mr. Zaurins, claimed to be one of Europes most important tailors although their "bespoke" garments were simply cut and fitted by him and sewn together by Regent.

Anyway, he now opened his own store - http://zaurins-tailor.de/ - According to his homepage a"bespoke suit" with a "semi-traditional workmanship" (whatever that is supposed to be)starts at 799 EUR whereas the "traditionally handtailored bespoke suit" 1499 EUR. I have yet to visit his store and hence cannot make a judgement in regard to his suits at this point in time.

[HappyStroller]

Thank you, Schneidergott, for your wonderful images. I enjoyed looking at them very much, Sir.

The images gave me a totally different idea of what Germany was like and what German people were vis-a-vis WWII and Berlin Olympics 1936.

[gherrmann]

Thanks, indeed, schneidergott. I find particularly interesting the somewhat soft or rounded nature of the peaked lapels on the suitcoat of the gentleman in the second illustration from the top. The style is one with which I am not familiar. Has anyone any experience with these sort of "soft peaks" on a coat's lapels in "real life" (or, at least, in photos thereof)? There is something appealing to me about the softer, less angular styling, but I'm wondering whether it is a look that would appear at all cartoonish or affected when rendered in real like. I would certainly be interested to hear any thoughts of this forum's cognoscenti concerning this style of a peaked lapel.

Best, &c.

[jklu]

Thanks, indeed, schneidergott. I find particularly interesting the somewhat soft or rounded nature of the peaked lapels on the suitcoat of the gentleman in the second illustration from the top. The style is one with which I am not familiar. Has anyone any experience with these sort of "soft peaks" on a coat's lapels in "real life" (or, at least, in photos thereof)? There is something appealing to me about the softer, less angular styling, but I'm wondering whether it is a look that would appear at all cartoonish or affected when rendered in real like. I would certainly be interested to hear any thoughts of this forum's cognoscenti concerning this style of a peaked lapel.

Best, &c.

I have a couple suits with such peak lapels. They work well to soften the somewhat angular cut of the coat. I find them preferable to the lapels that end in a sharp point.

Edit: here is a photo.

[gherrmann]

I have a couple suits with such peak lapels. They work well to soften the somewhat angular cut of the coat. I find them preferable to the lapels that end in a sharp point.

thanks for the photo, jklu. I do quite like the look of that coat.

[oldog/oldtrix]

I have always (but not in many years) heard such lapels referred to as "floor level" lapels. The derivation of the term seems obvious. They were favored and popularized, at least in the US, by Harry S. Truman, our only haberdasher President, though he wore them double breasted. Here's an example as worn by the dapper gent:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... otohosting

Please excuse the commercialism associated with the photo. I'm not selling anything; this is just the image I had in mind when I started looking.