Fortunately, Nat's Natty Shop (run by Nathan Rosenbaum) has all the answers. They're revealed in this full-page ad that ran in the Lorain Journal back on March 25, 1953.
"Our Man-About-Town Chooses His SUITS for Style – Comfort – Quality in tailoring and materials," notes the ad copy. "Two-button styles in single or double-breasted models to give you a natural, easy look... so important in this year's men's fashions.
"Spring suits in renewed worsteds [Blogger's note: Is there such a thing as besteds?], flannels, gabardine; subtle, subdued basket Glens; houndstooth checks; sharkskins; and others."
I gotta confess, I don't even know what most of these words mean. I did have a gabardine suit made at Ricci Tailors back in 1977 to wear during my senior year at Admiral King High School. It wasn't quite lime green, but it was close.
Anyway, back to the ad.
For shoes, Nat's suggested one of Nettleton's best-known, popular models, the Algonquin. (Click here to visit the Nettleton's website and learn about the company's history.)
And hats were indeed in fashion, with the likely result that the average Lorain man would look right at home if he was Sergeant Joe Friday's sidekick. Nat's Natty Shop carried the famous Stetson line. (Stetson still sells a whole line of Fedoras on its website, along with the expected Western products.)
10 comments:
As a kid, I remember seeing the sign for Nat 's Natty Shop, and thinking that it might have something to do with my classmate, Nathaniel "Natty Boy" Charlton.
I'm just old enough to remember when men's hats were the fashion. In fact, as a child, I had one that I wore to church - Sunday Skool and service. The band had a little feather in it, and I thought I looked pretty, doggone spiffy.
When I was young (and I think I might be a little older than you folks), two of the distinctions between men's and boys' dress were that men wore men wore hats and boys did not (Don being the exception) and men wore long pants and boys wore shorts, at least for dress-up. By the time I was old enough to wear hats, they had gone out of style.
Today people wear sweats, shorts, pajamas and what-have-you everywhere, so Nat and his Natty Shop would be an anachronism.
I wear a black wide brim fedora, but it's decorated with buttons, pins, and a nine inch red feather.
Those prices seem high for 1953.Stetson hats started at $10.00.That would be something like $112.00 in todays money using an inflation calculator.That's a pile of money to pay for a hat that would probably blow off the minute you walked out the door on windy drafty Broadway Avenue.
Buster...
I missed the shorts / trousers thing by a few years, but I recall that wearing a "grownup" hat was a very big deal. Outside of church, as a kid, I was more likely to be seen wearing a cowboy hat as anything else.
Though I've never really cared to wear a hat, except to keep my head and ears warm in the winter. I have a number of summer hats to keep the sun off me, but if I get one that's ventilated enough to stay cool, I usually get burned through it, anyway.
Alan...
Like this? https://www.etsy.com/listing/775160862/rich-red-handmade-brooch-with-natural
Anonymous,
Good hats still cost a lot. Stetson price out above $200 these days:
https://stetson.com/collections/hats-fedora-felt
I have a fedora but never wear it because it would seem conspicuous. Quite a change from my youth when not wearing a hat seemed conspicuous.
The link is dead at my end.
Alan - Try copying the link and pasting it in the browser. Seems to work for me.
Now that's cool!
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