Vintage menswear : a collection from the Vintage Showroom

306 Pages·2012·120.62 MB·English

by  Gunn

XY2081_sourcewear_UK_001 3/9/12 4:15 PM TK_UK
VINTAGE MENSWEAR
A COLLECTION FROM
THE VINTAGE SHOWROOM
DOUGLAS GUNN, ROY LUCKETT & JOSH SIMS
XY2081_sourcewear_UK_SP_002-003 3/9/12 4:15 PM TK_UK
Published in 2012 by Laurence King Publishing Ltd
361–373 City Road
London EC1V 1LR
United Kingdom
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
e-mail: [email protected]
www.laurenceking.com
© text 2012 Doug Gunn, Roy Luckett and Josh Sims
This book was produced by Laurence King Publishing Ltd, London
Doug Gunn, Roy Luckett and Josh Sims have asserted their right
under the Copyright, Designs, and Patent Act 1988, to be identifi ed
as the Authors of this Work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-1-85669-883-2
All photographs by Nic Shonfeld /www.nicshonfeld.com
Design: Studio8 Design
Senior editor: Peter Jones
Printed in China
XY2081_sourcewear_UK_SP_002-003 3/9/12 4:15 PM TK_UK
VINTAGE MENSWEAR
A COLLECTION FROM
THE VINTAGE SHOWROOM
DOUGLAS GUNN, ROY LUCKETT & JOSH SIMS

contents
Introduction 6
chapter 1 10 chapter 2 104 chapter 3 206
sports & Leisure miLitary workwear
University boxing blazer 14 Hussar’s tunic 108 Tweed jacket and waistcoat 210
College blazer 16 Boer War keepsakes 110 Three-piece suit 212
School rowing blazer 20 Royal Navy grouping 112 Farmer’s corduroy work trousers 214
Utility rugby shirt 22 Duffel coat 116 Buckle-back work trousers 216
Cable-knit sports sweater 23 Stoker’s pants 118 Peasant’s boro jacket 220
Sports blazer and cap 24 Foul weather deck coat 119 Sapeurs-pompiers’ uniforms 222
Racing coveralls 26 Foul weather suit 120 Work jacket 226
Driving gloves 28 Anorak 122 Spanish postal worker’s tunic 228
Driving jacket 30 Ursula suits 124 Denim sailor’s smock 230
Double-breasted motorcycle jacket 31 Military-issue motorcycle suit 128 Sailor’s smock and jacket 232
Motorcycle suit 32 Despatch rider’s jacket 130 Fearnought smock and jacket 236
Aviation jacket 36 Paratrooper’s smock 132 Donkey jacket 238
Phantom racing jacket 38 Paratrooper jump jacket 134 Work jacket 239
Trialmaster motorcycle jacket 40 Paratrooper’s Denison smock 136 Railway conductor’s jacket 240
International motorcycle jacket 42 C-1 survival vest 138 Leather work vest 242
Motorcycle trousers 44 Aviator’s kit bag 140 Horsehide work jacket 244
Trialmaster motorcycle jacket 46 B-15 flight jacket 142 Fireman’s jacket 246
Sporting club top 48 Sidcot flight suit 144 Expedition parka for USARP 250
Car club jacket 50 Buoyancy suit 146 Riding boots 252
Sailing coat 52 Escape and evasion boots 150 Metal worker’s jacket 255
Mountaineering smock 54 Pilot’s suit and accoutrements 151 Ammunition worker’s canvas overshoes 256
Norfolk jacket 56 Pressure jerkin 154 Foul weather smock 258
Alpine walking suit 58 B-7 sheepskin flight jacket 156 Fisherman’s sweater 260
Skiing trousers 60 D-2 mechanic’s parka 158 Brown denim work jacket 262
Mountain pack 62 Pilot’s ‘Channel’ jacket 160 Metal worker’s jacket 264
Walking smock 64 Cold weather parka 162 Merchant navy trousers 266
Mountain jacket 66 Military snow parka 166 Patched denim chore jacket 268
Solway zipper walking jacket 68 Mountain parka 168 Denim waistcoat 270
Hunting coat 70 Mountain jacket 172 Work jacket 272
Gentleman’s walking coat 72 Snow parka 174 Denim work jacket 273
Hunting jackets 74 Prisoner trousers and boots 176 Railroad jacket 274
Canvas hunting jacket 78 HBT POW grouping 178 Blanket-lined chore jacket 276
Fishing jacket 80 Summer uniform 179 Denim ranch jacket 278
Game bag 82 Tropical uniforms 180 Work jacket 280
Hunting parka 84 Jeep coat 184 Rider’s letter wallet 282
Sportsman’s hunting coat 86 Smock and trousers 186 Miner’s work belt 284
Hunting trousers 90 Windproof camo smock and Worker’s belt 285
Hunting jackets 92 combat trousers 190 Buckle-back work trousers 286
College sports jacket 96 Camo tank suit 192 Salt and pepper overalls 288
Varsity jacket 98 Chindits sweater 194 Bonedry logger’s boots 290
Hockey club jacket 100 M1934 water-repellent jacket 195 Denim work trousers 294
Native American US varsity jacket 102 Mackinaw jeep coat 196 Denim work bibs 296
Officer’s trench coat 198
Despatch rider’s coat 200
B3 flying suit and boots 202 Index 300
Military greatcoat 204 Acknowledgements 304
t
he Vintage Showroom is one of the world’s
leading dealers in vintage menswear and
The Menswear Sourcebook is a collection of
some 150 of their pieces. The London-based
company was established in 2007 but has already
built a prestigious archive, elements of which it hires
out and sometimes sells to the design teams behind
some of the biggest names in fashion. These brands
find inspiration in the design details – the way a collar
is shaped here, the way a buckle is set there – in the
fabrications, even simply in the ‘mood’ of a garment.
Many are highly evocative of a bygone time – historic
artifacts as much as pieces of clothing. Increasingly,
The Vintage Showroom is asked to help brands
organize their own archives – the vintage garments of
the future.
Vintage as a clothing category is widely
misunderstood as representing simply the old. This is
why younger generations will regard any clothing from
as recently as ten years ago as ‘vintage’, all the more so
since ‘vintage’ has become a fashion in its own right.
Not so for the curators of The Vintage Showroom: it is
rare that a piece in their collection is not both at least
50 years old and a benchmark example of its kind.
Many are hard to find, now that history has taken its toll
and old clothes have been lost, destroyed, fashionably
customized (which for The Vintage Showroom
amounts to the same thing) or recycled. More than
that, many are one-offs – coveted by those companies
who perhaps should but do not have examples in
their own archives – or have been improved by their
wearers in order to meet some need or circumstance
unseen by the manufacturer. These are the pieces that
The Vintage Showroom’s founders Douglas Gunn and
Roy Luckett spend many months of the year trawling
through dilapidated barns, warehouses and outhouses
all around the world to uncover.
Every vintage clothing collection has its leanings,
and The Vintage Showroom is no exception. Gunn
and Luckett favour those pieces with some technical
or design pedigree – functionality before fashion.
Consequently it leans heavily towards items of deliberate
6
utility: sportswear, workwear and military clothing, the
three areas expressed in the three chapters of this
book. For each of these areas clothing had to be fit-
for-purpose, an ethos that has permeated menswear
design more broadly throughout the twentieth century
and into the twenty-first. Men tend to like their clothes
to be functional, with style following from that. The
garments in this book may belong to the era of
Gunn and Luckett’s grandfathers, or even their great-
grandfathers, yet they are recognizable templates for
what is worn today.
Without becoming a victim of nostalgia, there is,
of course, a class and a quality to menswear of the
1960s and earlier that is hard to find today. In part
that is because the economics of mass manufacturing
do not allow for investment in considered design
or acceptable pricing. In part it is because the attire
of some professions and activities have come to be
dominated by overtly technical clothing – no doubt
superior in function if not in aesthetics. And in some
small part it is because of a lack of pride in appearance:
cheap, everyday casualwear seems enough for most
men today.
Small wonder that Gunn and Luckett, and other
often fanatical enthusiasts of vintage clothing, feel
there is also a romance in this choice of vintage
menswear – in the adventurousness of sporting,
working and even fighting men – that is less apparent
in the today’s clothing, not even in the rapidly growing
vintage reproduction market that seeks to tap into this
romance. A garment that has lived is not the same as
one that merely looks as though it has: patina is more
than superficial, more than physical.
The Vintage Showroom might well have selected
a different 150 garments for this book. There was just
an indefinable something about these that made them
stand out at the time. Many of them have since been
sold into private collections (and parting is such sweet
sorrow), possibly not to see daylight again. Others Gunn
and Luckett say they will never part with. But they keep
hunting too. They’re going to need a bigger studio.
7