Mens vintage clothing, suits & accessories from and in the style of the 1940s.
Austerity in the 1940's affected men's civilian clothes during the war years. The British "Utility Suit" was made of wool-synthetic blend fabrics and utilized fabric carefuly. Fabric was scarce so as 1940's civilian menswear was made without pleats, cuffs (turn-ups), sleeve buttons or patch pockets. Jackets were shorter, trousers were narrower, and double-breasted suits were made without waistcoats (vests). By the early 1940s Hollywood tailors introduced suits with heavily padded chests, big shoulders and wide flowing trousers. Musicians and other fashion forward experimenters adopted the most extreme form of the drape, the zoot suit, with long coat jacket and very high waisted & pegged trousers. Tweed sports jackets were worn by many gents for casual wear. At the end of the second world war the Demob suit was issued to soldiers and the suits were usualy double breasted, wool and often pinstriped. Montague Burton supplied many of the Demob suits at the end of ww2. The double breasted, pinstiripe suit was also worn by many Gangsters of the 1920's/1930's and 1940's and is still seen as the classic Gangster style of suit.