Complete this James Dean look...

[Parker]

Originally Posted by johnnyhandsome

Hi. Long time reader, first time poster, etc. etc.

I want to copy this look by James Dean, namely the pants and sweater vest. Any suggestions?

http://magnificentbastard.com/dev/im...ancopy-big.jpg

Thanks!

The pants actually look like donegal tweed, which might be hard to find off the rack. I think Hickey had them last season. The crew neck vest seems like it would be hard to find, too. You gotta make sure to get a vintage-y looking one, not a big argyle pattern like they have at BR or J Crew. For the shirt you should go Brooks Bros Black Fleece oxford cloth or Band of Outsiders.

Of course, what really makes it is all the retro accessories: Rollieflex, watch, glasses and, yeah, unfiltered smoke. That one looks like wrong.

 

[johnnyhandsome]

Awesome. Just the response I was looking for. Thanks!

 

[MBreinin]

Hit E-Bay. Hit the Vintage Men's Clothing, Post-War. Get the real deal.

Mike

 

[hamish5178]

Originally Posted by Peak and Pine

Yeah, but I don't know what recent is to you.

There used to be something called a 'regular' cigarette. (FDR smoked these before they invented the filter which is why you see him with a cigarette holder. 'See him', as in pictures. If you really see him, call Eleanor.)

Nobody, I think, makes regulars any more. As mentioned, when filters first came out they weren't added to the length of a regular, they replaced some of it. The tobacco part was very tiny. We called them 'Baby L&Ms' (my cigarette of choice at 10). Probably because they were so damn small, they soon added the filter withiout sacrifcing tobacco length, thus 'king size' was born' But I'm not sure any of this had happened by '53, which would be about the time of the Franco portrayal.

Thanks, this is interesting. I'm imagining a Lucky Strike that is half-filter, seems a little silly to me. So were non-filters a much better value back in the beginning or were the filtered ones cheaper to account for the lack of tobacco?

Reminds me of The Fifth Element, where, in the future, 90% of the cigarettes are filter!

 

[Makeshift_Robot]

Originally Posted by johnnyhandsome

Hi. Long time reader, first time poster, etc. etc.

I want to copy this look by James Dean, namely the pants and sweater vest. Any suggestions?

http://magnificentbastard.com/dev/im...ancopy-big.jpg

Thanks!

Pants look like grey tweed, which you can get MTM from Thick as Thieves.

Sweater vest might be tough if you're looking for that exact color/pattern, but just look around. olive greens, burgundy reds, and dark desaturated purples might also look nice to preserve the vintage, earth-tone feeling.

The most important part is having bags and bags of style, then you don't need to worry about particulars too much.

 

[johnnyhandsome]

I found a site that sells vintage glasses, and they have a pretty good selection. I ordered the model from the top of this page:

http://www.allynscura.com/vintage_me...mensbrown2.htm

One item down, two more to go...

 

[Journeyman]

Some of the more traditional clothing stores should have a pair of trousers that are pretty similar to the ones in the photo - Brooks Brothers had a couple of different colours of tweed and Donegal tweed trouser last autumn-winter. I'm sure that San Franciso has some traditional menswear stores - is Cable Car Clothiers still around? They could probably help, although I'm sure that they would not be cheap. The button-down collar shirt will be easy - Brooks Brothers, J.Press, Lands End, LL Bean - an absolute multitude of places offer such shirts. If you want a slim fitting one, then look at Brooks Brothers' slim-fit range, or their Black Fleece range. The vest could be more difficult. As others have suggested, you could try hitting up the vintage section on eBay. Or, whilst it's not quite the same and it's not cheap, you could think about this Brooks Brothers Black Fleece (BBBF) sweater vest: http://www.brooksbrothers.com/IWCatP...=&sectionsize= It comes in either grey or navy and I think that navy more resembles the look that you're going for. Or, for something a little bit different, how about this Brooks Brothers tweed and cashmere cardigan? Once again, not cheap, but it's got more of the "period" look going on: http://www.brooksbrothers.com/IWCatP...=&sectionsize= If you wait another month or so, I would think that a lot of places will start to introduce their autumn-winter range and so you should have a greater variety of sweater vests to choose from then.

 

[johnnyhandsome]

Cool man. Thanks for the reply!