Fresh fashion follies of Fedora Loungers?

[Matthew Dalton]

When a subculture is born one of the first, and possibly only, major differences that come about between it and the rest of society is of course the style of dress its followers adopt.

Often the group will take elements of existing styles of dress and put their own spin on them. This can distinguish one from merely being a re-enactor of a particular time in history.

Do you deliberately do anything semi-unique and/or interesting in your dress to claim it as your own?

Have you consciously adopted a style preference of another lounger? One that would be addressed by the previous question.

 

[maintcoder]

I was called out recently...

for buttoning both buttons on a 6 x 2 double breasted suit, something I have always done since I like the look. I would take that as a fashion faux pas from the direct way in which I was 'corrected'.

BTW, both buttons are still buttoned, so I guess I am a freak.

 

[Sefton]

I mix my eras with reckless abandon! (Gasp!)I stop at 1980 though...I just can't find anything from that decade's fashions that I really like very much. As for buttons, I say do as many as you like. That whole business about how many you can close is just silly.

 

[Michaelson]

for buttoning both buttons on a 6 x 2 double breasted suit, something I have always done since I like the look. I would take that as a fashion faux pas from the direct way in which I was 'corrected'.

BTW, both buttons are still buttoned, so I guess I am a freak.

What made them the expert? I was watching a 1937 'The Shadow' movie last night, and the star in that move was wearing his double breasted suit coat exactly as you wear yours....and what's more, he wore a VEST underneath. When he was inside, the jacket was unbuttoned, and he used his vest pockets constantly. WHen he walked out, he buttoned up the double breasted suit coat exactly as you state you button yours. I recently read here that you NEVER wear a vest with a double breasted jacket....but there's proof from 1930's films this was done often.

So, wear what you want and HOW you want. There's vintage documented proof that what you're doing is exactly what was done in the 1930's, as well as many OTHER things stated here as being a 'faux paux'.

Regards! Michaelson

 

[Will]

I recently read here that you NEVER wear a vest with a double breasted jacket....but there's proof from 1930's films this was done often.

Whoever wrote that you never wear a vest with a DB was mis-informed. They are less visible due to the closing of the DB jacket and many men began doing without an expensive but nearly invisible part of the suit as buildings began to be heated.

I agree that men have been wearing both buttons closed on their DBs for as long as there have been DBs, which originated as a uniform jacket worn completely closed.

 

[reetpleat]

for buttoning both buttons on a 6 x 2 double breasted suit, something I have always done since I like the look. I would take that as a fashion faux pas from the direct way in which I was 'corrected'.

BTW, both buttons are still buttoned, so I guess I am a freak.

Well, it is silly for anyone to correct you on that one. While vests are made for some reason to not be buttoned on the bottom, and it will not look right if you do, double breasted coats were designed to be butoned up, but the style of not buttoning the bottom developed form a stylish attempt to look dashing and too busy and active to be fastidious enough to button all buttons. It is along the lines of tieing a belt instead of buckling it on an overcoat. Somewhere along the line, it became the norm rather than a variation. I intentionally don't button it so as to match the style of the thirties of looking dashing. I don't go so far as to drape a tie over my shoulder as some did, but I do often tie the skinny end longer for the same reason.

As for me, while I wear some fifties jackets with my new wardrobe, I tend to wear vintage exclusively and whole hog for a distinct non fit in look. I guess that is my fashion statement. I do not want to people to just consider me well dressed. I know some here do and I respect that. But for me it is a costume. I admit and embrace that.

 

[CharlieH.]

I tend to wear blue argyle socks with almost anything.

 

[adamgottschalk]

Two little things I've noticed about myself are:

1. I dislike the look of a shirt & tie with no jacket, on myself and others.

2. When a fedora is snapped down in front/up in back, I want it to be dead straight and flat at the sides. I don't like any curl at all at the sides. This only really gets to be an issue which needs to be tended to with really stingy brims or stiff felt. My beaver lid from Art, with a 1 7/8" brim, my widest, does whatever I ask of it.

 

[PenMan]

I am considered peculiar at work because I wear a jacket and tie (and no doubt for many other reasons, including the fact that I am an American). I have recently taken to wearing a pocket linen on a regular basis (thanks to talk here at the lounge). I teach at a graduate school in Sydney, where the uniform for faculty tends to be chinos and polos or a decent button down. I don't want to conform too much I guess, so I dress the way I like.

 

[jamespowers]

for buttoning both buttons on a 6 x 2 double breasted suit, something I have always done since I like the look. I would take that as a fashion faux pas from the direct way in which I was 'corrected'.

BTW, both buttons are still buttoned, so I guess I am a freak.

You wear it the same way I do. I might leave the bottom button unbuttoned on a single breasted but never a double. I suppose that is just my thing. [huh]

Regards,

J

 

["Doc" Devereux]

I generally fasten the bottom button and leave the top one open on my three-button single breasted jackets.

 

[jamespowers]

[QUOTE="Doc" Devereux]I generally fasten the bottom button and leave the top one open on my three-button single breasted jackets.[/QUOTE]

Well, that blows away the Always, Maybe and Never types. On a three button, I don't see anything wrong with it really. There are three buttons to contend with and those who actually first wore the clothing probably didn't take that much care in how they wore it. Men tended to put on things and go---no standing in the mirror looking at buttons.

Regards,

J

 

[SamReu]

Spokes Man

Let's hear it for bow ties. I don't mean the sort of clip-on you got, way back years ago when you rented a tuxedo for the prom. No, I mean the lustrous, tie-your-own variety. I have seen some FL'ers in bow ties, which has prompted me to loop a few around my own neck. For that I say: Gentlemen, thank you. Your sartorial splendiferousness has not gone unnoticed in my part of Georgia.

Few people wear bow ties. Some are daunted by having to learn a new knot. Others fear ridicule. Also: You cannot partially loosen a bow tie while nursing the ol' restorative after work. Bow ties, like wives, require total commitment. You are bound to one, or you are not.


Wearing a bow tie is fraught with peril, too. Wear one too large, and you look like someone spilling out of a miniature car under the big tent -- a clown, in other words. Too small? Nothing says "anal retentive" like a little bow tie.

But when you knot it just right, oh! You're stylin', man.

 

[jamespowers]

Let's hear it for bow ties. I don't mean the sort of clip-on you got, way back years ago when you rented a tuxedo for the prom. No, I mean the lustrous, tie-your-own variety. I have seen some FL'ers in bow ties, which has prompted me to loop a few around my own neck. For that I say: Gentlemen, thank you. Your sartorial splendiferousness has not gone unnoticed in my part of Georgia.

Few people wear bow ties. Some are daunted by having to learn a new knot. Others fear ridicule. Also: You cannot partially loosen a bow tie while nursing the ol' restorative after work. Bow ties, like wives, require total commitment. You are bound to one, or you are not.

You can always undo a bowtie and let it hang. You see that all the time in golden era movies. If the need arises for retying, then it only takes a few minutes to get it back into a respectable bow. Really no more work than a regular tie.
I have a silver one that I wear with my blue seersucker suit. It looks great to me. No one has ever called me Matlock---yet.

Regards,

J

 

[Senator Jack]

I tend to wear solid pocket squares that nearly match the color of my shirt. Except for the white/white combo, I haven't seen many men do this.

 

[Orgetorix]

You can always undo a bowtie and let it hang. You see that all the time in golden era movies. If the need arises for retying, then it only takes a few minutes to get it back into a respectable bow. Really no more work than a regular tie.
I have a silver one that I wear with my blue seersucker suit. It looks great to me. No one has ever called me Matlock---yet.

Regards,

J

This is one of the things I like best about wearing a bow tie--you can untie it and let it hang, proclaiming that you're among the elite minority of men who actually know how to tie one.

 

[jamespowers]

This is one of the things I like best about wearing a bow tie--you can untie it and let it hang, proclaiming that you're among the elite minority of men who actually know how to tie one.

lol lol We can't be that small a faction. Stores that sell them would go out of business if we were.

Regards,

J

 

[Orgetorix]

lol lol We can't be that small a faction. Stores that sell them would go out of business if we were.

Regards,

J

I dunno...I've seen the same ties sitting on store racks for weeks at a time. And out of the scores of tie-wearing men I see on the streets of DC every day, rarely are more than one or two wearing a bowtie.

 

[jamespowers]

I dunno...I've seen the same ties sitting on store racks for weeks at a time. And out of the scores of tie-wearing men I see on the streets of DC every day, rarely are more than one or two wearing a bowtie.

I guess it is those one or two that keep them in business then. One or two here one or two there....

Regards,

J

 

[Dinerman]

I've joined the ranks of people who know how to tie a bow tie.
It was strange though. I wore it to school and no one even noticed. I guess nothing I wear phases my friends anymore.