Gents’ tailorings

[nineveh_uk]

When watching an interwar set television programme, or in the case that finally sparks this public enquire last week in a basement meeting room, the observant may notice that a man in a (tweed?) jacket has a small leather strap, about a centimetre wide, protruding from the buttonhole of his left lapel. Said protrusion may sprout obviously on the outside of the lapel, or more discreetly underneath it. It descends to the breast pocket.

Men of my Flist (or women in the know) I ask you,

What on earth is the name and function of said little piece of leather?

My best guess is that it is a watch strap, but what men in the 1930s (or today) are doing with a watch in said pocket I don't know (surely it spoils the line, and it can't be good for the fabric. Maybe this explains why it only appears with tweed)? It is rather excessive to prevent the inadvertent loss of a handkerchief. So what is it doing? Is it a mere relic? Surely if you are wearing a tweed jacket for sporting activities, sticking a watch in the breast pocket is asking for trouble.

For those thinking “what is she on about”, I provide an illustration in the form of Bertie Wooster.

Comments

[executrix.livejournal.com]

It shows he belongs to the Legion of Drones?

Your guess is bang on.

[wemyss.livejournal.com]

A hunter or half-hunter is (yes: even yet) often worn in the breast pocket, and the chain or strap affixed to the lapel precisely as shown. This derives from situations where one was not wearing a waistcoat (see yr Fig. 1) or the waistcoat and its watch wd be, presumably, inaccessible; but it came to be common with country suitings, as the presumption of inaccessibility in a waistcoat, or of the peril of covert and understorey plucking the watch out by the chain, became universal. Similarly, the strap - in some cases, actual recycled tack from the stables - became presumptive in place of a chain, as if to say, We are in rough country and duly prepared for it.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Nah, that's the little bee earring in the right ear ;-)

Re: Your guess is bang on.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I thought you might have a (suitably detailed) answer, thank you! The mystery is solved. (Incidentally, is it acceptable with a blazer? It still strikes me as a dubious choice for basement!man (in neither tweed nor blazer, but pullover rather than waistcoat), although I believe he has been in Oxford over forty years, so there may be some excuse for slipping from the world.)

It still strikes me as inconvenient for the older gent with failing eyes who won't actually be able to read the watch at that distance (nor whip out his reading glasses on horseback). Another reason, I speculate, as to why the wristwatch caught on.

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Le Legion de Flanneur, then?

Re: Your guess is bang on.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I am impressed!

No brown in town and, clearly, no chain in the country rain.

Hah.

Re: Your guess is bang on.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this - I hadn't known about it.