Cowboy Joe Las Vegas shirt

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271177383301
This vintage gabardine shirt was made in the early-mid 1950s by Cowboy Joe. It is their “Las Vegas” model. It is made of two tone gabardine, seafoam for the body, and green for the contrast. It has Rau-Klikit pearl snaps. The male side of the snap second from the top is missing. There are white piped “smile” pockets and fancy five-snap cuffs. The shoulders and collar are chainstitched with rainbow colored ribbon in abstracted flowers and plants. This is the same model of shirt worn by Elvis’s bass player, Bill Black and guitarist, Scotty Moore c. 1954. This example bears the marks of a lifetime of use, with stains and wear to the fabric.

Chest (pit to pit): 22-1/2″
Shoulder to Shoulder: 17″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 22-1/2″
Collar: 15″

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Cowboy Joe shirt

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281082726086

This vintage gabardine shirt was made in the early-mid 1950s by Cowboy Joe. It is made of two tone gabardine, sandy tan for the body, and black for the contrast. Scotty Moore and Bill Black wore this model of shirt in their early days with Elvis, c. 1954. This particular example probably dates from just before that, as it has buttons instead of pearl snaps. It has rainbow ribbon chainstitching of abstracted flowers and plants on the front yoke.

Chest (pit to pit): 21″
Shoulder to Shoulder: 16″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24″
Collar: 15″

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1950s Brent striped shirt

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281082030208
This vintage shirt was made under Montgomery Ward’s “Brent” label. It is made of a cotton and silk blend in a silver, red and black striped pattern. It has a top loop collar, horizontal buttonholes and long sleeves There are several small holes, the worst of which are pictured, near the collar.

Chest (pit to pit):
Shoulder to shoulder: 17-1/2″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 23-1/2″
Collar: 15″

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Marshall High School Band Jacket

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281082023284

This band uniform was made by Sol Frank Uniforms of San Antonio, Texas for Richard Hyder, of Marshall High School. Marshall, Texas. It has a double breasted bib front with a large M on it in blue and white. The white vinyl piping around the stand collar is badly cracked. It is tagged as a size 36, and the tailor’s tag indicates the wearer had a 40-1/2″ chest. The jacket’s 46″ chest measurement indicates it’s more in the size 42 territory.

Chest (pit to pit): 23″
Shoulder to shoulder: 19″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24″

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Italian Police jacket no. 2

A second version of a jacket I sold a couple of months ago, in much better shape.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271175519611

This vintage jacket was made in Italy by “Giusti”. It is police issue, a double breasted style. It has raglan shoulders, buttoned tabs on the sleeves, a buttoned throat latch, and slash handwarmer pockets. It has a blanket wool lining. The leather is in great shape.

Chest (pit to pit): 25″
Sleeve (center of collar to cuff): 33″

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Leather Jerkin no. 2

http://www.ebay.com/itm/271175509970
This vintage leather jerkin was made in 1950 for the Belgian military. It is a similar model to that used during WWII by British forces. These were popular, both pre and post war among European laborers and hunters as an overgarment. This one has an olive drab blanket lining and plain shoulders. The tweed jacket pictured under the jerkin not included, and is pictured only to illustrate this vest’s use as a piece of outerwear.

Chest (pit to pit): 22″ (doubled =44″)

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New Mode 1950s leather utility jacket

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281081116224
This 1950s vintage leather jacket has classic styling of the time period, with a zipped breast pocket and handwarmers. Examples from the 1930s generally would have had a half-belt back and side adjuster belts. This one has a plain back, with elastic in the side panels. With a nod to motorcycle jacket styling, it has zipped cuffs. The hardware is somewhat unusual. The jacket has super-early YKK zippers, from when that Japanese company first came onto the American market in the 1950s. The brass slide fasteners are near clones of the Talon zippers made at the time, with the logo replaced. The jacket has a snap front leather vest sewn in, so that the jacket can be worn open and still offer some protection from the wind. At the bottom, there is a double snap fastened tab, a detail more commonly seen on European jackets. The panels between the leather vest and the zipper are lined in corduroy, and have a leather reinforced pistol pocket. The rest of the body of the jacket is lined in a velveteen material. The leather collar of the jacket has a knit collar inside of it to hug your neck and keep the wind out. There are marks from where there originally would have been knit storm cuffs in the sleeves. The jacket has an earlier style label which reads “New Mode – Special Product”. A secondary label, sewn directly above the main one, also reads “New Mode”. The underside of the collar has reinforcement stitching. With a 48″ chest, this would best fit a size 44-46, depending on how you wear your leather jackets.

Chest (pit to pit): 24″
Shoulder to Shoulder: 19″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 22″

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Joseph Jaeger Jacket

Here’s one from my collection, which is not for sale, but certainly is worth sharing.

I found this jacket at a Salvation Army thrift shop in Halifax Nova Scotia. It was custom made by Joseph Jaeger, a furrier in Berkeley, California, and is truly one of the most unusual pieces of vintage menswear I’ve lucked across. The detailing is odd enough that dating is difficult.

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Powr-House shawl collar mackinaw

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281078381329

This vintage shawl collar mackinaw was made under Montgomery Ward’s workwear label, Powr-House. This style was popular from the 1930s-1950s and the style remained basically unchanged during that time. It has a cotton shell, with a mouton collar and sheepskin lining. There are leather reinforcements at the corners of the pockets, and a throat latch under the shawl collar. The label and the quilted material in the sleeves make me think this is probably a ’50s version of the coat- earlier ones, while nearly identical on the exterior, would likely have had blanket wool linings in the sleeves. There is some light colored staining to the mouton collar, and at the bottom of the coat, some light colored staining, which cleaning has not been able to remove. The coat is labeled in the pocket as a size 42.

Chest (shoulder to shoulder): 24″
Shoulder to Shoulder: 20″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 24″

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Red Stripe Blanket Coat

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281078373691
This vintage coat was made in the 1950s. It is made from a red and black double-stripe blanket material. This particular coat no longer bears its original label, so the manufacturer is unknown. The Hudson’s Bay Company was the most famous maker of these blanket coats, but I have not seen a red double-stripe by them. This coat is the iconic cut for this blanket material: double breasted, belted, with handwarmer pockets and patch cargo pockets. These coats descended from the blanket capotes worn by fur traders in the 18th and 19th centuries. Due to the costly blanket material, these coats were extremely costly new. They were the ultimate in outdoors garments at the time, particularly in Canada, balancing style and rugged practicality. This example bears evidence of a lifetime of heavy use at a cabin in Ontario.

Chest (pit to pit): 25″
Shoulder to Shoulder: 21″
Sleeve (shoulder to cuff): 25″

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