Jackets, Shirts, Slipovers, Pullovers, & Coats for Gentlemen

Most men during the 1930s and 1940s wore suits, even manual labourers in the factory! Ofcourse there was a big difference in the quality of the suits and during the war cloth became rationed and hard to get by.
Many men mixed suits, one style of jacket worn with another style of trousers, sometimes large patches and repairwork.
The suit was often a 3 piece suit, a jacket, trousers and a vest.
The jackets where very well tailored, usually with a taille, not too long and with often very wide and pointy lapels.
Most clothes where made from wool, cotton or silk. Apart from wool, cotton and silk became very difficult to find as the war started.
There where not a lot of synthetic clothes in Europe untill 1945.

Jackets

The jacket is very important, even if you dont wear a suit you would almost alway wear a jacket, even over simple clothing. If you are going to buy a suit or jacket you must look for those details, in the 1960s and 1970s the same style of suit came back into fashion and you can use those.
As long as the cloth is wool (or resembles it) and the coat is the same as ive written above.
As far as I have found most jackets had always more then one button to close the front, most post-war suits may look the same but are made of different cloth and also only use just one button to close the front.
Although often just one button was used to close the jacket, you can always spot that there are more buttons available.
The only jackets that used only one button are smoking jackets for special occasions.


Dutch farmer 1945, You'll notice that this farmer, even on the field is wearing what we would call a rather nice suit! But you can see that its a cheaper suit made from strong material. Also notice the hat.

This farmer looks a bit more like a typical farmer, a simple jacket, strong trousers and a proper flatcap. He is not wearing wooden shoes or clogs but many farmers did and many cityfolk did as well as the end of the war.


Again another typical 1930s suit (in front of a nice plane!)


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This proud father is wearing the typical 1930s suit, note the huge lapels.

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A rather fine suit with the very fashionable pointy lapels.

 

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This gentleman is wearing a suit with very simple lapels, much like the ones we can find in shops today.

By the way, he is sampling some homegrown tobacco, only way to get some proper smokes back then.

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A very Dutch image, a young couple cycling along.
On their free day the man is wearing a loosly fitting suit and a basic shirt.

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A whole row of men in typical late 1930s suits, they are wearing their comfortable streetsuits, they are having shootinglessons to train for reserve policemen.

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A nice 1930s suit, pinstripe was very populair and his lapels are wide and pointy.
Its the end of the war, it looks as if this gentleman has lost a lot of weight, the suit seems very wide.


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This mens lapels are wide but not pointy, although there are at least 3 buttons, only one is used, something a lot of men did.
Although this is the end of the war his suit is in remarkable good condition, his face seems to tell a different story.
This man MAY be a dealer at the blackmarket offering cigarettes.

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This amazing picture shows a line of people at a foodkitchen right at the end of the war
The clothes of these two young men obviously show the difficult situation in the Netherlands around 1945.
They are lucky they havent been forced to go and work in Germany.

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Shirts

Under their jacket, vest or slipover men would wear a shirt, at first sight there isnt a lot of difference between the 1930s/1940s shirt and most modern shirts on sale.
But there are some differences.

First ofcourse the cloth was usually pure cotton or thin wool, no synthetic fibers.
Cufs needed cufflinks to close, and in many cases the collar was detachable and made of hard stiffened cloth.

Slipovers & Pullovers

To keep a gentleman warm and healthy you need to give him attention, Slipovers and Pullovers!
You can still find these in stores, ofcourse they should be made of wool, handknitted by gran would be even better!
They had all sorts of patterns and although they may look a bit 'nerdy' to our modern friends, you will be amazed to realise how comfortable they are and how smart they make you look!

Thes dashing young chap on the left is wearing a rather nice and not too flashy Slipover while on his bicycle ride.
Unmisable as such a trip can be drafty!

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Pullovers back then were not very wide or loose.
They usually were tight, short and practical.
And yes, smoking a pipe makes you look interesting and becoming

Coats

Coats where long, heavy and big looking.
They had to be practical and in most cases where made of heavy wool, although these models are still available you will find that the cloth back then was much, much thicker and heavier.
This can give you a nasty suprise when hanging the original coat youve found on your coathanger...I am speaking from experience here...my coathanger...may he rest in peace.
The coats often had the same wide lapels and were rather long.
There were short coats as well but these were usually worn at special occasions like sports.
This gentleman looks upperclass but looks can be deceiving, most men in winter would look very much like this man.
A long coat, note the wide and pointy lapels, just like most jackets.
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This happy couple are celebrating the liberation of Amsterdam, their coats have made it trough the war quite well.
Again note the lapels.
Also note the ladies shoes.


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and finally...
Here is a rather nice picture of a large family, it shows all sorts of daily clothing from the late thirties or early fourties. Dresses, suits, jackets, hairstyles, its all there! May take some time to load.

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