The Vintage Gentleman's Style

The Vintage Gentleman's Style - And why it matters today

If you're fortunate enough to have family heirloom black and white photographs, take a look through them with an eye to their style. At Sullivan Manor, we come from generations of sartorial gentlemen, proudly hailing from a tailor shop in Ireland in the early 1920s (check out the original poster at the bottom). This article is all about the vintage gentleman's style - not only his choice of clothing and how he styled them, but why the vintage gentleman wore what he wore.

Because let's face it, the gentlemen of generations past dressed with elegance and style, whether they were going to the movies, going out for dinner, or simply waiting in line at the bank. When people left their house, they donned their finest. The vintage gentleman could have been a farmer, a store clerk, a coal miner, a business man - regardless of his profession, he was dressed with dignified elegance and grace when he went about town.

We like to examine the details and reasons why men of all backgrounds and professions dressed with purposeful style when they left their house. After all, we passionately believe that the details matter. So here's our take on why our grandfathers, great uncles, great grandfathers, and great granduncles all dressed with their best in mind.

1. Competing Distractions

We're not going to claim that our forefathers lived in a simpler time. They had similar concerns and considerations that we do - worries about their families, their futures, their professions, their health, global and community events, to name a few. But they did have markedly fewer competing distractions; most notably, the modern distractions that are constantly jockeying for our attention now. Think of the distractions constantly trying to pull us away from the details of our lives - smartphones, social media, advertising by algorithm. 

The vintage gentleman was able to devote his whole attention to the things that mattered. One of those things was his dress and deportment. How he presented himself daily to his society, within his profession, and within his community. This was a fundamental value of the vintage gentleman.

Why does this matter today? Here's the good news: you are in control of your attention. Don't allow smartphones and crafty algorithms to distract you from the meaningful details in your life that truly matter. Give your values your whole and unmitigated attention, with passion and fealty. Of course, here at Sullivan Manor we believe your unique sartorial gentleman style is a detail most worthy of your attention. Which brings us to #2.

2. The Value of Image

We frequently talk about how it takes someone seven seconds to form an impression of you. That's not a lot of time! Seven seconds for them to take in enough details about you that they have an impression of your personality and what your composite style and presentation reflect about you. Try as me might, we're all wired to notice these things. Some part of our brain is still helping us to decide on some level: friend or foe?

Gentlemen of times past set high standards for themselves. Image mattered for the vintage gentleman. No matter how his day was going, when he set foot out his door, his outfit reflected those standards. When the vintage gentleman went out around town, his outfit did not reflect his profession or even his relative social status. It reflected his standards, his values, his respect for himself and his community.

Why does this matter today? The typical style of today can perhaps optimistically be described as "casual," although it seems to be trending more towards "dressing down a level" from casual. Perhaps there is safety in numbers. And perhaps we are subconsciously hoping to lower people's expectations of us so we won't disappoint. Regardless of the reason, we embrace the exact opposite of this approach. We're not here to blend into the crowd. We're here to stand out with confidence and conviction in our dress and deportment. We set high standard for ourselves, and how we present ourselves to the world reflects this value. We don't do casual. In a world that dresses down a level, have the courage to dress one level up. 

And finally:

3. The Pace of Life

Our well-dressed forefathers may not have lived in simpler times, but they most certainly lived a slower-paced life. They had no other choice! Everything just took more time. It took weeks to send a letter in the mail, and weeks again to hear a reply back. You had to wait months to eat certain vegetables from the store because they weren't locally in season. You had to visit the local library to look up a fact or research something of interest. The pace of life was slower - there was certainly no expectation of instant gratification. This allowed them to spend more time doing things well, with attention to detail and quality, to make something last. And this right here, this intention, is where our ethos at Sullivan Manor lives. 

Why does this matter today? We hear it all the time: who has the time to dress well? We always say, those who value the high standards of the sartorial gentleman's style will find the time to dedicate their attention to the details. Just as your attention is yours to control, your time is yours to spend. Protect your precious time from the breakneck pace of a society obsessed with instant gratification and quantity over quality. Embrace even the smallest detail, keep an eye on quality, and don't allow your focus to be pulled away from your values. Live a little more slowly and with fierce attention to the things that matter to you.

The vintage gentleman wasn't just a tie. He had a mindset that reflected his values, which in turn informed his style - a mindset from which we can take a lesson or two.