Shopping from the 1930s: Montgomery Ward

Exemplary outerwear

I've been on an ebay shopping spree for Montgomery Ward catalogs (the Archival bible). I've secured a few new Fall editions from the 1940s which I'll be reprinting here--in bits--in the next few months. Copies of the 1930s catalogs are more tricky to source. Inspired by Spokesniffer and Reference Library, I'm capturing auction images as placeholders for items I did not buy. Here are a few frame grabs from vintage catalogs from the 1930s that were beyond my "buy it now" pricepoint. If I could make it so, these would all Archival offerings for Fall 2011. Smitty "Whata Sweater" would be announced as our new Archival mascot.

Smitty Sweater

Heavy weight shawl collar sweaters and cardigans

All wool blazers

Denim jackets, overalls and trousers

Canvas duck field jackets

All wool shaker sweaters

Heritage workwear for women

Pendleton blankets

Shopping from Cabela's, Summer 1980

Cabela's is one of the biggest outdoor suppliers in the country. Like LL Bean, their catalog still holds some gems, but it's their old offerings that are really attractive for being short and sweet.

Shopping from David Mamet: Hunting Suits

Apparently, I missed the news that filmmaker David Mamet started his own line of vintage inspired, outdoor clothing in 1999 under the Joseph Morse Company label. Here's what I learned from the Cambridge Companion to David Mamet:


Perhaps Mamet should have waited a decade to launch his clothing brand. Per earlier blog posts, I remain fascinated by how well stocked his films are with newly popular heritage brands like Barbour, Woolrich and Filson. In Heist, a film I have not seen since 2001, Gene Hackman wordlessly walks through the opening scene of the film in an all-waxed cotton hunting ensemble. Although I'm unsure of the make of the field jacket (it looked Filson until I saw the pocketing), I'm pretty sure Hackman's bag is a J.W. Hulme Co. English field bag (or a rebadged version offered by Orvis). Another blogger will have to document the make and model of Hackman's shotgun and field notebook.

While Mamet's own brand of nostalgia may have failed, I disagree that the past and its historical styles cannot be repeated/improved upon/multiplied into the future. Perhaps Mamet was meant to offer his items exclusively through the visual catalog of his films rather than by way of flimsy retail outpots like Banana Republic (a point of sale for his original line). For the pricepoint, and for sizing options, I prefer shopping directly from Mamet's movies themselves (coming up next: Winslow Boy).

I read that the motto of Mamet's clothing line was Quiet in the Woods. This must have been the overarching direction for Hackman's hunting ensemble in the opening scene of Heist:

Heist (Mamet 2001)

A hypothetical look at Hackman's ensemble by way of a vintage print catalogue from another age:

J.W. Hulme English Field Shooting Bag

Archival Addendums:

Ibex Loden vest

Slumming: Barbour quilted vest

Shopping from 1975: Hunting World

Following up on 1968, here are a few uncollated pages from the 1975 Hunting World catalog.