1920s suits

[cpdv]

I found the clip from "Tell it to the Marines" with the "Jazz suit" in it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NClACbk_ZVk They seem to be making fun of it but alas they ARE Marines...my apology to any Marines on here.

 

[herringbonekid]

whacky proportions. notice that if you fastened the jacket you wouldn't see any of the waistcoat. the three buttons couldn't really get much closer.

Harold Lloyd's early 20s suits , although similar in proportion, have less extreme button stance:

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Look like frat boys.

don't know who these are:

 

[cpdv]

I like how he's wearing it with the price tag still on haha. The film is from 1926 or 27 so it would have been obvious to the viewer that he's way out of style. But I know what I'm wearing to the jazz age lawn party this summer. I like the wacky proportions.

 

[DamianM]

Jazz suits are whacky and are considered to be extreme examples of the time but for the sake of being extreme. They where not popular. They fall into the same category as the Rah Rah suit and the Zoot Suit. The Jazz suit influenced the Zoot suit. Sometimes kids that could not afford to get a Zoot would go into there fathers and/or Grandfathers closet and pull these suits out to wear.

 

[cpdv]

Naturally, worn by young eccentric men who liked to stand out. In other words the 1919 version of me. The more interesting the cut of the suit the better. Conservative suits are too droll. That's part of the reason the early 20s appeals to me.

 

[DamianM]

Good luck finding one. I know of one man that has 4 full JAZZ suits. The jackets come up every couple years on ebay. But just the jacket.

I only have one suit, one jacket and a couple trousers, some knickers with matching cap+ some other caps, a stetson straw and a handfull of neckties from the early 20s.
Very difficult to come by nowadays

 

[cpdv]

I would love to acquire any early 20s jackets. I do have a bottle green wool from the dorr mill that I'm going to have one of our fellow loungers make me a replica based off of the brown one with pink piping that is in the jazz suit thread. Personally I opted for purple piping.

 

[cpdv]

I don't have nearly enough cash to compete with the Japanese fellows on eBay. Its rather dissapointing to see your reasonable bid go up by $700 in the last 10 seconds.

 

[DamianM]

Tell me about it. at the moment they are snatching anything they can from the early 20s. Boardwalk empire craze.
I have a pattern of a jacket that I am in the process of making. With this wool that is from the 1920s
A diamond twill wool in contrasting checkers. I have yards and yards of it. I made a couple of caps from it

 

[Dinerman]

 

[cpdv]

What a modern gab between his pants and waistcoat!

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Yes. Those trousers were not designed to go with that waistcoat & jacket.

 

[herringbonekid]

20s criminals:

 

[DamianM]

Yes. Those trousers were not designed to go with that waistcoat & jacket.

Didnt stop people from doing it though.

 

[Dinerman]

My great grandfather. I think these two pics are the same suit.

 

[volvomeister13]

Just ordered on Ebay- it shipped today!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-PRE...6JYHRcjwsM4GciAcoSu3c%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

The 20.5" chest size seemed perfect for me. The only strange thing is that the shoulders are listed as being 16", which seemed bizarre for the chest size. I just went for it anyway, thinking that maybe 16" was just the distance between the seemingly narrow shoulder seams as much of the body of the shoulders looks like its actually comprised of the sleeve piece past the shoulder seam itself. Is this in line with 1920s/30s clothing?

Also, when do you guys think this is from? The listing said 30's, but that's not necessarily reliable. It caught my attention because it looked more like something from the 20's to my comparatively untrained eye.

 

[herringbonekid]

^ looks circa 1923 with the height of the buttons / long front cutaway. the shoulders would be narrow if it was from that date so 16" sounds correct.

 

[Rudie]

Shoulder width is something I don't get. Everybody says the shoulders have to fit. Most everything can easily be altered, but not the shoulders. How do the narrow 1920s shoulders translate to that? I would imagine that if the shoulders are 2 or 3 inches narrower that makes for some serious fit problems? I mean, there are no "action backs" in the upper sleeves to compensate for the narrow shoulders, right?

 

[herringbonekid]

Rudie, some early 20s suits had a very narrow shoulder seam to shoulder seam measurement, meaning that your shoulder fills out the sleevehead like this:

later suits, have a much wider shoulder seam to shoulder seam measurement. e.g...

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/show...-1930s-Suits&p=1674602&viewfull=1#post1674602

the difference is in the angle of armhole. on the Harold Lloyd suit the armhole seams look roughly vertical when viewed from the front.
on BK's 30s suit the armhole seams are angled outward. both 'fit' but in different ways.