In the fifties, men wore suits….and fedora-style hats; it was the nearly universal attire for all men of almost all professions and trades. Oh, there were exceptions to be sure, but by and large that was true.
For most of my life my father was a display artist by profession. During the fifties he worked at the Golden Rule Department Store making advertising signs; both free-hand and using silk screens. In the sixties he owned and operated his own sign shop.
Dad always wore a suit to work; starched white shirt, wide tie, suspenders and a brown suit. He owned several such brown suits, each just little different from the other. He topped off the suit with a fedora hat in the summer and in winter with a storm coat and a civilian version of the "bomber-style" flap cap.
When he arrived at work he removed the suit jacket, rolled the shirt sleeves up to his elbows and tucked his tie into his shirt to prevent it from dipping itself in the various inks and paints. He eventually stopped wearing the necktie in favor of a clip-on bowtie for fairly obvious reasons.
Weekends he skipped the suit jacket and tie; but the suit pants and white shirt with rolled sleeves remained. If he was going to work in the yard, he'd find an old pair slacks from an old suit. His suits were always in style; if lapels narrowed, he'd purchase a couple of new suits, and thereby always had work pants for weekends.
On vacations he dressed as he would for work. He would shed the jacket and tie and add an old fedora to protect his bald head from the sun when fishing.
When wash and wear short sleeve dress shirts became widely available he quickly jettisoned the long sleeve shirts and by the sixties he was stylin' with pale gold and blue short sleeve dress shirts. He never purchased another long sleeved dress shirt.
The entire time I knew my father never once did he wear overalls. Overalls were for farmers and kids. Bibs for farmers and belted for kids. He wore sweaters, but never for work; and sweatshirts? Not a chance. Baseball caps, athletic shoes and the like were never part of his wardrobe. At least he never wore shorts with black shoes and knee-high stockings!
I'm not sure I even have a suit anymore, at least not one that fits. I suppose that will change if either of my kids decides to get married, or worse, if I must attend a funeral. For work, my company provides a uniform. After work? Strictly jeans and a comfy shirt.
Now that’s a delicious photo. Maybe it’s because I watched bull riding until the wee hours last night??
My Dad was a merchant seaman/boatbuilder (owned a drydock in Honolulu Harbor) and he wore uniform pants and a white t-shirt with a pocket for his cigarettes for as long as I can remember.
Jeans are such wonderfully useful attire. I live in them, as much as I can – which is often, as I work at home.
My husband, on the other hand, was raised as a ‘formal’ German; he doesn’t even own a pair of jeans!
Shortly after we married, he watched me working around the house, and exclaimed, “I can’t believe I married a woman who wears jeans!” 🙂
Susie: Good thing I wrote “…there were exceptions to be sure…” huh!
Robin: Culture shock? LOL!
Jack- love your nostalgic posts. This one brought back memories! Like yours, my dad never owned a pair of jeans and always wore his starched white shirt and suit pants, even on weekends. It wasn’t til he was much older and took up golf that he invested in some polo shirts and “casual” slacks. He also never wore shorts as an adult, nor sandals, so I never had to worry about my father being seen in shorts, black socks and sandals!
Annie – The similarities are remarkable. Dad was never a golfer, but in his earlier years (the 30’s) his hobby was oil painting – we have several of his paintings displayed in our home. I can imagine him doing those paintings in slacks, a white shirt (sleeves rolled to the elbows) and tie tucked into the shirt. He started painting again in the 60’s but by then he’d discovered short-sleeved shirts. 😉