Men's 3 Piece Suit - 1940s? sorry - pic hvy

jauntyrooster

jauntyrooster

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Men\'s 3 Piece Suit - 1940s? sorry - pic hvy

I found this mens 3 piece suit yesterday. I am hoping I am close on dating using the union labels. It does have 2 different union labels and I think I have one of them dated as the 1939-1949 label but I am not quite sure. These 2 labels don't actually 100% match up with any of the examples I can find. I can only see the copyright date on 1 of them and it is fuzzy at best even under heavy magnification.

So this suit feels like wool - it is heavy and kind of scratchy really. I guess you would call it a teal color, which first made me think it was newer - that along with the shoulder pads and narrow ankles had 80s written all of over it at cursory glance. It was also buried in a rack of ladies suits so I had to double take when I saw it. I have shown pictures as I thought might be helpful but please let me know if there is something else that would help.

Jacket and vest don't fit my manni - well pants dont really either so I hope you can still get an idea of the suit. It is rather lovely and is in mint condition - not a single issue that I can find.

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Looks like the real deal to me - these suits date from the '30s to the mid '50s but most of them are '40s.

I'm not up with the US Union labels so hopefully someone can narrow the date down. As for me, I could if the shape was clearer, but of course it's hard on a ladies manne.

N
 
Nicole - it is actually a male manni but a really bad one. It is a half form and it stinks. I am pondering whether this might look better on the girl manni. Lol. My husband has been giving me a really bad time about my male manni - he fnds him hilarious.
 
Ah, yes I can see now how he is a male...silly me.

have you looked in the pocket with the "Stone Brothers" label? If you're lucky there will be a tailor's label with a name and date.

N
 
Is there no tailor's tag inside any of the pockets? It's usually inside the breast pocket in the lining. It looks c. 1939-46 to me from the pics, and men's suits really didn't change at all during that period because most men were in uniform.
 
Oh yes, that's a beautiful early 40s suit. The color is one I have seen before, too - a great sort of deep teal blue

Hollis
 
Fantastic suit! It is really a wonderful piece and looks to be in great condition. I can't read the copyright date on the label, but if it says 1939, which is what I "think" it does, it would date to between 1939 and 1949, though I think this is earlier in that timeframe than later. The previous label would have had a copyright date of 1934. I was researching a men's coat just yesterday and found this great site on ACWA history and labels: http://www.steelzipper.com/ACWA.html. There are other sites out there with good information, but this one seems to have the widest pictorial history of the label.

I think I really like menswear more than women's these days!
 
Additional ACWA labels - kind of interesting

No tailor's tag anywhere - I have searched high and low. I thought for sure there would be something but can't locate.

I did check out that website yesterday - it is great and really informative. My tags don't quite match up with anything on their site but I am guessing I may never really solve the tag riddle. I am dying to remove a couple stitches on the one on the vest to see the copyright date but am not sure I want to risk it...my curiosity may get me though. I think two stictches and I could see it.

I did find this label too yesterday - at a different website but it had no information - just examples of union labels. It is a better match for my label but the dating is wrong. It is weird because under magnification the date is 1919 which all websites say doesn't exist...hmmm.

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I also found this add which dates from 1912 and clearly shows a picture of a UGWA label (lower right hand corner - sorry a little blurry) - which is very interesting. This one appears to have the AFL-CIO handshake in the middle. Not really relevant to my suit I guess but I just love the history.

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I think I am finding the union label research as interesting as this suit!

Thank you all for your help. I greatly appreciate. As always, I am enlightened.

Maureen
 
Well, it's definitely not the 1949 label, as that date's in a different place altogether on the tag.... I see something that looked like 1919 on your tag, but since the lettering isn't clear, I "assumed" it was 1939--but you know what happens when one assumes..... I still like the late 30s/early 40s dating on this.
 
The high button stance...way up there by the pocket, and the zipper instead of buttons on the pants, lead me to think late 30s or early 40s.
 
I will always go with you experts on dating. I did pop a stitch on the vest tag. It has a nice clear date of 1939. Will stick with early 1940s as a general dating for the suit.

Thank you all so much. I learned a ton from this one.

Now to find a better model for the suit. My poor male manni - he is a little disproportionate to say the least!
 
I love it too. Any chance it's a 34-38 chest? ;-)

I have a waistcoat/vest with a tailor's tag on the inside of the back strap (the strap with the buckle that you use to tighten the vest's back), which always struck me as unusual and had been overlooked by the seller. Did you check there too?

Jen
 
Darn! Got all excited for a new idea. There isn't even a strap on the back of the vest. Thanks for the idea though - also good information for future.

Jacket appears to be dead on at 38" for chest and the vest is 36. Pants appear to be 32" waist.
 
With dating men's suits you need to look at width of trouser, width of trouser cuffs (turn-ups), trouser pleats and jacket styling. You have already given a clue by saying the trousers have "narrow ankles." Generally speaking that is a good indicator of an early 1940's suit. The trousers don't look to have a pleated front and that also is an indicator of that period. Are there cuffs?
 
Can't tell you how fabulous this suit. Just fabulous. There were so many in thrift shops when I was in high school. Annie Hall thing was big and we wore them, the guys wore 'em. Wish I still had mine. The pinstripe suit!
 
One last question

So one last question on this one...would you think that ebay or etsy is a better selling forum for this suit? I have really gotten away from ebay for vintage but I know that some people do have luck. Is there criteria some of you use when deciding which site to use for certain items? I would be interested to hear input about listing this suit but also on a more general level as far as thoughts on deciding where to list.

Thanks again!
Maureen
 
Love the colour of this suit. I have almost the identical suit in brown pinstripe. The label in the inside of the breast vest pocket
reads, Dec. 27, 1945 (and it was for a Mr. Everett).

I don't have my pic hosting site anymore, however I believe you can see pics of my suit here on my Picassa album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/SPBarton/VintageMen#

(hope that works)

As to Ebay or Etsy - not sure which way you should go.

Sue
 
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