Were there no 6'2" people born before the 1950's?

[Warden]

Re the orginal thread, I was at the Imperial War Museum a few years ago and they had marked on the wall the height of WW2 leaders. DeGaule was the only one who was 6foot + but Hitler & Stalin by todays standard small in stature.

 

[ButteMT61]

Good company then

 

[Flicka]

This thread actually made me curious about how tall we were in the Golden Era. Because Swedes love statistics and we've been measuring the male population for about 150 years when they registered for military service (which everyone did up until a few years ago), it's fairly easy to look up - for the years app 1935-50 the average Swedish man was about 174,5 cm tall (the average in 2008 was 181,5 - about 6 ft - which makes us the second tallest after the Dutch) which if I converted it correctly is almost 5'9''. Since there were most certainly several men who were far shorter, I think it's safe to assume that there were most certainly plenty of men over 6'2'' in Sweden in the 40s. What I've seen of vintage Swedish military equipment matches that - you can find plenty of old jackets in larger sizes for example.

Ergo, you should come here for vintage shopping! Or just for shopping, really. Swedish brands such as Tiger usually make both shirts and jackets with extra-long sleeves (without being big - my rather skinny, tall ex loved Tiger for that very reason).

But try being a woman of 5'2'' here... Nothing fits. I'm supposed to be tall!

 

[2jakes]

My A-1 by Willis & Geiger is my "barometer" especially after the holiday festivities in helping me to work out in stay fit.

 

[ButteMT61]

Thanks flicka! I'll check it out. Sweden is on our list of places to go, and we love to shop!!! lol

 

[Undertow]

...But try being a woman of 5'2'' here... Nothing fits. I'm supposed to be tall!

lol
Come visit Iowa! I'd say our women average 5'2" - 5'5". Everything here is made for shorter ladies. Tall ladies? Good luck finding clothes!

 

[John in Covina]

For me at 5'11" or so and about 250-260 I find that there are few vintage items that will be my size. I think that while there were people aroound that were larger then , they were fewer and probably bought less clothes than the smaller and more svelt at that time. I figure they were buried in the one suit they had.

 

[Graemsay]

Henry VIII was over six foot tall. I've heard everything from 6'1" to 6'3".

I agree with the sentiments on modern clothing. (I'm 6'3", 225 lbs.) I tend to take a UK XXL, which are generally cut for someone whose waist has similar circumference to their chest, and that's not a good look.

I'd second Flicka's comments about Scandinavian clothing, though for modern rather than vintage. I picked up a few t-shirts in Copenhagen a few years back, and they're much more fitted.

 

[ButteMT61]

Lincoln was tall as well - but those examples weren't the norm. I wish they were - we'd have more choices in nice vintage stuff. As it is, it's rare, and I have to go repop 99% of the time.

 

[John in Covina]

Out this way i find that it depends on the cut of the clothes. Some clothes an XL will suffice but sometimes they seem to run smaller than usual and I go with XXL. If I am lucky I can sometime find an XL-Tall which works often.

 

[John in Covina]

Modern dress shirts are crazy, if i buy for my neck the shirt is big enough to smuggle Mini-me underneath it.

 

[ButteMT61]

Out this way i find that it depends on the cut of the clothes. Some clothes an XL will suffice but sometimes they seem to run smaller than usual and I go with XXL. If I am lucky I can sometime find an XL-Tall which works often.

XLT is my new norm. Those generally are perfect for me.

 

[Undertow]

Modern dress shirts are crazy, if i buy for my neck the shirt is big enough to smuggle Mini-me underneath it.

Yep, same here. I get a 17.5 w/37 sleeves. Might as well load Noah's Ark while I'm at it. On the other hand, I believe Van Heusen has started cutting shirts as regular, fitted and slim. Too bad they never have my size - or when they do, it's in some horrendous poly blend!

 

[ButteMT61]

Yup 18"x37.5" The body is like a sail boat! But the wife found "Faconnable" which make a trimmer shirt. My buddy is trying to get me to use his tailor to just have custom shirts done. It's fine for dress shirts, but they have limited choices and I usually am more casual these days. PITB!

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I have a very hard time finding shirts that fit right. If they're long enough, they're too big around. If I buy them that fit me around, the sleeves are wayy to short. I almost can never find sleeves that are long enough.

 

[Stearmen]

Modern dress shirts are crazy, if i buy for my neck the shirt is big enough to smuggle Mini-me underneath it.

I feel your pain, I am the same height as you. When I got out of highschool, I weighed a whopping 135lbs, if I bought a shirt to fit my neck it looked like I was a kid in his dads shirt! I still have to buy custom tailored if I want to close the top button on my shirts. Incidentally, Napoleon was 5' 6 1/2" which was average for those days. Wellington on the other hand, was probably around 5'10" in his prime, but developed bad arthritis and stooped, bringing him down to maybe 5"8" or less.

 

[nevadapd]

Just add this to the "life's lessons learned the hard way" file. I recently purchased a beautiful, old school CHP black leather jacket from a vintage online clothing store. Most likely it was custom-made for a motorcycle officer in the 1960's, but it may be from the 1950's - nice Talon zippers, may be horsehide but I'm not sure, etc. It was my size - 50, which was written in pen on the lining of the inside chest pocket. I'm told that was a common practice back in those days. The jacket arrived, and no doubt about it, it's a fine jacket, but way too small for me. It fits more like a 46 I think. I can't send it back because the store will only issue me a credit and they don't have anything else I want. But I like the style of this jacket so much that I just ordered a modified Columbia from Langlitz that should match the vintage one, and actually fit. I'll hold onto the old one, compare my new Langlitz to it, then sell the old one I suppose. But the real lesson for me is: NEVER buy without trying it on. Most of you vintage jacket buffs probably already know that, and I shoulda known, but I let desire overcome common sense.

 

[bonnieprince]

I'm 6'5" with a 6'10" wing span and weigh 204 lbs. There are NO vintage items that fit my arms anywhere on this planet. My neck is naturally in the 15's with a 37" sleeve. I workout in the gym to keep my neck over 16" just so I don't have to order bespoke shirts since I can't really afford them en masse. Food for thought, my Great-Grandfather was from England and was 6'4" around the turn of the century. There were always tall people, but the numbers probably tend to be higher now due to better nutrition, etc.

 

[stultus77]

I feel your pain, but from a different perspective...

I'm 5'6 and weigh 140, with a 36-inch chest and a 29-30 inch waist. I don't have many problems finding nice vintage stuff, but if I'm buying off the rack in the US and Europe I pretty much have to shop at GAP kids or go bespoke/full made to measure. For some very "fashion-conscious" brands I wear a 34.

I always thought the average height of a US/western European male was about 5'8". Are everyone just wearing cloths 3 sizes too big?

Jackets from Aero Leathers in their standard sizes hang off me like leather curtains...guess it's time to use that custom-order service.

 

[John in Covina]

I'm 5'6 and weigh 140, with a 36-inch chest and a 29-30 inch waist. I don't have many problems finding nice vintage stuff, but if I'm buying off the rack in the US and Europe I pretty much have to shop at GAP kids or go bespoke/full made to measure. For some very "fashion-conscious" brands I wear a 34.

I always thought the average height of a US/western European male was about 5'8". Are everyone just wearing cloths 3 sizes too big?

May be that clothing manufacturers are sizing for the more heavyset that are a geater portion of the population these days.