I come from the City of Big Shoulders, and around here we know that lightly padded jackets make guys with big shoulders look even more powerful, ready to stack some wheat and down a couple of Italian-beef sandwiches with cheese fries. Fully padded jacket are for guys who need to look stronger than they are, who don’t work with their hands and arms, who wear wafer-thin Italian loafers made from unborn calfs, who think dinner is itty-bitty pieces of raw fish flaked with a few grains of rice or a salad with pomegrante seeds in it. New Yorkers, in other words.
Big padded shoulders and loose fit killed the drape suit in late 40s.
Are a garish exaggeration.
Nothing wrong in my opinion in a lightly padded structured shoulder or in a roped shoulder.
But BIG shoulders non make you more powerful,but more boor.
I do think they make you look physically stronger, but being physically strong and powerful (in terms of business) are very often diametrically opposed.
@DSF? Really? What world do you live in? Most folks in the Loop are wearing dual vented english cuts with padded shoulders these days. In fact unless you buy MTM, I know of only a few shops that even know how to make a natural shoulder. Paul Stuart and BB MTM from Southwick. So no, the unwashed masses here eschew euro cut and the younger you are the skinnier that cut is…
Mr. E: I’m not talking about little “shops” that “make” a natural-shoulder suit for $2,000. I’m talking about the low-end suits assembled with glue by robots and Malaysian teenagers and sold by mass-retailers at discount malls at $350 a pop. The shoulders on these suits are only slightly padded, and the armholes are big enough to accommodate rolls of muscle or flab, or both, defining the Chicago style. These suits actually look good on Chicagoans whose bodies reflect the fact that they work for a living.
“Historically, real power in this country wore natural shoulders”.
Well,with some exception: Harry Truman,JFK,Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan did not wear Ivy natural shoulders.
Eisenhower,Nixon,Ford had a mixed wardrobe (but if i remember well,Ike not wear Ivy sack suits).
Clinton dressed ugly 90s loose fit-dropping shoulders suits.
Bush sr was the only real all Ivy American boy (unlike the son) and was a good President (unlike the son).
Obama is a Hartmarx guy. Proper but not Ivy at all,
FDR is a separate discussion.
He was a Brooks Brothers man,but the type of between the wars.
Great sacks,but also a lot of darted double breasted suits in the typical Brooks Brothers style of the age.
Carmelo, you’ve merely offered various presidents and had them stand as representatives for all that the word “power” implies. I’m not talking about the president, I’m talking about the much larger group of mostly WASPs that comprised the Eastern Establishment up until the late ’60s, who attended prestigious universities and went on to prominent positions in law, finance, publishing, governement, etc.
This all comes back to my original question, namely, who runs Bartertown? The answer, of course, was not Tina Turner with her massive shoulder padding, but “Master”, the brains of the Master-Blaster cabal, a diminutive gentleman played by Angelo Rossitto who is last seen in the film wearing a natural-shouldered three-piece tweed suit.
Eddie Hayes?
Yes. And the effect is enhanced by a very thick New York accent.
Most likely Anderson & Sheppard. They are known for having the most natural-shouldered jackets on Saville Row, however.
I come from the City of Big Shoulders, and around here we know that lightly padded jackets make guys with big shoulders look even more powerful, ready to stack some wheat and down a couple of Italian-beef sandwiches with cheese fries. Fully padded jacket are for guys who need to look stronger than they are, who don’t work with their hands and arms, who wear wafer-thin Italian loafers made from unborn calfs, who think dinner is itty-bitty pieces of raw fish flaked with a few grains of rice or a salad with pomegrante seeds in it. New Yorkers, in other words.
Big padded shoulders and loose fit killed the drape suit in late 40s.
Are a garish exaggeration.
Nothing wrong in my opinion in a lightly padded structured shoulder or in a roped shoulder.
But BIG shoulders non make you more powerful,but more boor.
Well it’s true, isn’t it. Does anybody really believe Tina Turner could have risen to a supervisory position at Thunderdome without hers?
@JPS But this begs the question, who runs Bartertown?
i have big shoulders. I look like frankenstien or a linebacker if get padded shoulders…
I do think they make you look physically stronger, but being physically strong and powerful (in terms of business) are very often diametrically opposed.
Yes, OCBD is on to why I thought this audience would get a kick out of this quote. Historically, real power in this country wore natural shoulders.
David Byrne, Talking Heads
@DSF? Really? What world do you live in? Most folks in the Loop are wearing dual vented english cuts with padded shoulders these days. In fact unless you buy MTM, I know of only a few shops that even know how to make a natural shoulder. Paul Stuart and BB MTM from Southwick. So no, the unwashed masses here eschew euro cut and the younger you are the skinnier that cut is…
Mr. E: I’m not talking about little “shops” that “make” a natural-shoulder suit for $2,000. I’m talking about the low-end suits assembled with glue by robots and Malaysian teenagers and sold by mass-retailers at discount malls at $350 a pop. The shoulders on these suits are only slightly padded, and the armholes are big enough to accommodate rolls of muscle or flab, or both, defining the Chicago style. These suits actually look good on Chicagoans whose bodies reflect the fact that they work for a living.
“Historically, real power in this country wore natural shoulders”.
Well,with some exception: Harry Truman,JFK,Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan did not wear Ivy natural shoulders.
Eisenhower,Nixon,Ford had a mixed wardrobe (but if i remember well,Ike not wear Ivy sack suits).
Clinton dressed ugly 90s loose fit-dropping shoulders suits.
Bush sr was the only real all Ivy American boy (unlike the son) and was a good President (unlike the son).
Obama is a Hartmarx guy. Proper but not Ivy at all,
FDR is a separate discussion.
He was a Brooks Brothers man,but the type of between the wars.
Great sacks,but also a lot of darted double breasted suits in the typical Brooks Brothers style of the age.
http://www.americanheritage1.com/assets/images/presidents/franklin-delano-roosevelt-photo-3.jpg
https://price4prez.wikispaces.com/file/view/Franklin-D-Roosevelt.jpg/179604041/Franklin-D-Roosevelt.jpg
For me Mr “Prepsident” is Bush Sr, but FDR is the American style at his best.
Carmelo, you’ve merely offered various presidents and had them stand as representatives for all that the word “power” implies. I’m not talking about the president, I’m talking about the much larger group of mostly WASPs that comprised the Eastern Establishment up until the late ’60s, who attended prestigious universities and went on to prominent positions in law, finance, publishing, governement, etc.
This all comes back to my original question, namely, who runs Bartertown? The answer, of course, was not Tina Turner with her massive shoulder padding, but “Master”, the brains of the Master-Blaster cabal, a diminutive gentleman played by Angelo Rossitto who is last seen in the film wearing a natural-shouldered three-piece tweed suit.
This sounds like something Joan Crawford would say.
But seriously, Jock Whitney and Averrill Harriman come to mind as non-presidential examples of WASP power.