Where can I get an OLD suit?

[bdbb]

I'm talking truly vintage, like something that is appropriate to wear with a tophat/monocle/pocketwatch combo. I'd appreciate ideas on where i could get something like this, or perhaps what keywords to use on ebay since I don't know what the style is referred to as. This is sort of similar to what I want:

I would probably use a cane and tophat as the gentleman here is doing, but I would also add a monocle and pocketwatch as my special touch.

 

[LabelKing]

That is called, I believe, a morning coat.

Monocles are surprisingly difficult to find--they would have been custom-fitted to the wearer's bone structure and were quite expensive when new.

 

[Golf_Nerd]

Originally Posted by bdbb

... but I would also add a monocle as my special touch.
There are not many situation to wear such a suit. With wearing a monocle you are probably overdoing it?!

 

[texas_jack]

Thrift shops, but it's luck of the draw. The oldest thing I've seen is a grey suit and a tux with tails from the mid 1940s.

 

[Enfo]

http://www.brooksbrothers.com/blackf...le_viewall.tem

 

[bdbb]

Originally Posted by Enfo

http://www.brooksbrothers.com/blackf...le_viewall.tem

Thanks! I'm really hoping to get something vintage, but there were a few things there that could work if vintage stuff is impossible to find.


Also, I'm not necessarily set on the morning coat per se, just old style suits from that era which would not look out of place when worn with a monocle and tophat.

 

[LabelKing]

Monocles were worn quite recently so you could wear a regular suit and not look "out of place".

 

[tlmusic]

This is formal daywear, a very typical outfit for business and formal occasions up to the early 1900's.

The morning coat is still the most correct attire for a daytime wedding.

Manton wrote a great article on wedding attire that talks about this outfit in detail.
http://thelondonlounge.net/gl/forum/...pic.php?t=6562

There is another SF member, Sator, who is quite the expert on Edwardian and Victorian attire. Check out some of his posts.

As to finding clothes like this, I would think UK thrift stores and ebay.co.uk might be a possible way of finding a vintage coat. Then you would have to find/make the trousers--anyway, read Manton's article, and you will know more about formal daywear.

 

[tlmusic]

Here's Fred Astaire dancing in formal daywear. In Swing Time he was late for his wedding, and lost his other clothes, so this was his only outfit.