- Joined
- Mar 13, 2006
- Messages
- 19,672
- Reaction score
- 1,555
I like the general shape, but I think I'd prefer the gorge a tad higher.
I could be wrong, but I think the angle of the shot makes the gorge lower than it seems.
STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.
Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.
Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!
Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.
I like the general shape, but I think I'd prefer the gorge a tad higher.
Edward Sexton currently makes the nicest DB to my eye. I would post the photo but he has one of those damned Flash websites. There are examples of his work including him wearing them there.
Good idea and thread Bill.
I'm a big fan of TCM movies from the 1930s and 1940s. It is very obvious that DB suits were much more common and in fashion then than now. It even seems like the vast majority of suits were DB then.
I wonder if a sartorial historian like Sator, FNB, or perhaps Will or Manton would provide an explanation why DB suits were so popular back then. Was it just the vagaries of fashion? Or were there other factors too?
I don't know that there was a single reason. Seems the younger English guys wore them because the walrus moustached set that sent them out to die in Flanders did not. Mustve been fun to wear those vulgar double breasted's while the monocled set were scandalized by terms like right-o and 22-skadoo.
Rita Hayworth likes DB suits!
Akamine Yukio.
Rita Hayworth likes DB suits!
+1 Yes, even candid photographs from this time period confirm that at least 50% of the men wore DB suits. Many insightful points here. I also think men embraced DB suits in the 1920's-40's for several practical reasons. Shirts were still considered underwear. It appears that (at least in polite society) one was not supposed to reveal anything but the cuffs, collar and a small area below the collar. Vested suits hid the dress shirt effectively. The photos I recall seeing from around 1900 consistently show men with three-piece-lounge suits. This would include men from bankers to construction workers. The DB suit, like the vested suit, also hid the dress shirt. But, a DB uses less fabric than a vested suit. A DB suit provides one layer instead of two. That explains why DB suits are often promoted as summer resort wear in Apparel Arts. That one layer is (slightly) cooler than a vested suit. To gain comfort, I bet the modern, young man of the 1920's - 1930's was pleased to discard the vest, just as men would discard hats in the 1950's and ties in the 1960's. I don't think most pre WWII guys were ready to accept the two piece suit (at least in the city or polite circles), since it would reveal their shirt, so they went for the DB. A DB suit (with no vest) is less expensive and less difficult to make than a three-piece suit. Anyone into bespoke suits will know about the significant additional cost of a vest. In the Depression era people would have saved money by getting a 2 piece DB suit. It also takes a great tailor to fit a vest properly. Off the rack vests rarely fit anyone--if you think a RTW DB usually doesn't look good, try a RTW vest! Too long, too short, too baggy, too tight, wrong proportion in relation to the rest of the suit, etc.. During WWII, there were laws rationing cloth. Vests were affected by the rationing. I'm pretty certain that DB suits with vests were outlawed. This always reminds me of the character, Sidney J. Mussburger, played by Paul Newman in the movie The Hudsucker Proxy. Mussburger is a slimy corporate VP in NYC in the late 1950's. He consistently wears three piece DB suits. At first I thought it might have been a mistake by the costume department. But really it shows he so nasty he chose to wear three piece DB suits after they were fashionable, and presumably after they became illegal and unpatriotic! BTW, I think DB suits with vests are fine--if it's really cold. Also, I have a big collection of 1930'-40's vintage ties, and most are very short, say 48"-51". I don't think this was an issue to men of any height, because they had vests and DB suits to cover up most of the tie.
I don't own that many suits, maybe 20. I would say that half of them are DB. I couldn't really tell you what makes me like them at least as much, if not more, than SB.
I think the proportions of this attolini are absolutely perfect.