an uncanny resemblance Cabaret

[enigmata_wood]

I had never seen Cabaret before. It's set in Germany 1931. Michael York plays an Oxford professor [but not of archæology]. His hat is what caught my attention. I'd be prepared to swear It's an HJ 'poet'.
The whole look including the suit and trenchcoat is uncannily familiar.
Marcus Brody wears his pocketwatch the same way [from the bloomhole and into the breast pocket] in Last Crusade by the way.

[Michaelson]

Yeah, that's pretty much what the dress coat lapel button hole was for too.....wearing a pocket watch in your breast pocket when it was too warm to wear a vest/waist coat.

Regards! Michaelson

[WConly]

Boy...that does look like a Poet. Very interesting! W>

[Indy Magnoli]

Yeah, that's pretty much what the dress coat lapel button hole was for too...

Watch fanatic. What about a boutonnière? And go back far enough and it was actually used as a button hole to button the flapped lapel closed.


Magnoli

[Michaelson]

It was also used to attach the button end of a hat trolley cord, especially on hard hats like bowlers that were more prone to blow off in a high wind, if you want to get even MORE technical about it's original use.

By the way, NONE of the suits I've ever owned with the button hole EVER had a button on the other side to close the lapel.

Regard! Michaelson

[enigmata_wood]

Yeah, that's pretty much what the dress coat lapel button hole was for too...

Watch fanatic. What about a boutonnière? And go back far enough and it was actually used as a button hole to button the flapped lapel closed.


Magnoli

it's also an excellent point to fix the button of a hat's windtrain

[Michaelson]

I beat you by one minute on that one, EW.

[enigmata_wood]

It was also used to attach the button end of a hat trolley cord, especially on hard hats like bowlers that were more prone to blow off in a high wind, if you want to get even MORE technical about it's original use.

By the way, NONE of the suits I've ever owned with the button hole EVER had a button on the other side to close the lapel.

Regard! Michaelson

beat me indeed there Michaelson. I have a couple of vintage English tweed jackets and they DO have corresponding buttons to close the collar. The effect is quite 'ecclesiatical'.

[Michaelson]

Interesting they leave the hole in the lapel these days, but no corrsponding button.

Interesting too how original intentions in designs of things get lost in history, and though the item still exists, the original intent is lost.

Regards! Michaelson

[enigmata_wood]

Interesting they leave the hole in the lapel these days, but no corrsponding button.

Interesting too how original intentions in designs of things get lost in history, and though the item still exists, the original intent is lost.

Regards! Michaelson

I think though some of the original uses are forgotten, it's probably been noticed that occasionally one still wants a buttonhole bloom. My dad uses his to fix his Veterans' Association pins to.

[Michaelson]

Absolutely......for watch chains....

[nicktheguy]

Ok gentlemen - I have a question of function and history - what is the purpose of the buttons on the sleeves of the suit jacket? I was told once that it was done to prevent soldiers from wiping their nose on the cuffs - but I don't think that story washes with me considering the placement.

[Michaelson]

I always head the same thing, but you're right, that would be odd....unless you were carrying field equipment with pack, then that would be a possible scenario. You can't raise your arm normally with a heavy field pack and rifle on your shoulders.

Regards! Michaelson

[enigmata_wood]

originally a smart country jacket could be unbuttoned at the cuff to aid in rolling it up out of the way for dirty work. it's called a working cuff and ironically it's only likely to be available now on a top quality bespoke tweed suit.
http://www.savvyrow.co.uk/products/1996 ... jacket-44r" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[nicktheguy]

hmmm... very interesting....so where does this button/soldier/nose wiping thing play in? Urban myth perhaps?

[Michaelson]

Good question.

It's an old explaination, if anything.

I remember hearing that through the family, so it goes back several generations that I'm aware of myself.

Goes along with the same thing about why there are no pockets on A2 flight jackets and the like.

Regards !Michaelson

[Michaelson]

Here's one explaination I found just googling around:

I don't guarantee that the following is true, M., but it makes a good story, which is about all you can ask in this wicked world.

At one time, supposedly, coat sleeve buttons had an eminently practical function. It seems that Frederick the Great, ruler of Prussia from 1740 to 1786, used to enjoy nothing more than the sight of his troops neatly decked out in uniforms and lined up in rows. Only one thing spoiled the scene: the soldiers insisted on sweating, getting dirty, catching diseases, and bleeding profusely.

Since no one had the foresight to provide the troops with Kleenex with which to mop their brows, the soldiers made do as best they could with their coat sleeves. After a hard day's skirmishing, said sleeves would be covered with unsightly blots and blemishes, and perhaps a vital organ or two.

Naturally this was unacceptable. Frederick pondered long and hard on what to do. Finally, the solution (or "der zolution," as he more likely put it) dawned: sew buttons on the top sides of the sleeves, and soldiers would scratch their faces open every time they tried to use their coats for a handkerchief. Thus was the snappy appearance of Frederick's army preserved. B.F. Skinner would have been proud.

As the army uniforms metamorphosed into civilian dress, the sleeve buttons gradually migrated to the lower side. By this time, presumably, manners among the masses had improved enough that the threat of physical pain was no longer needed to encourage public decency. Now the buttons stay there for the same reason men still wear ties: it's always been done that way, they look vaguely natty, and most men are so baffled by matters sartorial that it never dawns on them to agitate for a change.

— Cecil Adams

Found at this website: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/rea ... he-sleeves" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Regards! Michaelson

[Michaelson]

See there? You can learn all KINDS of completely useless information when you hang around this site.

[Long John Tinfoil]

Your tailor will probably recognize them as "surgeon's cuffs" from the days when you operated in your topcoat and didn't bother with anaesthetics.

LJ

[binkmeisterRick]

You mean they use them now?! Why didn't anybody tell my dentist?

[Long John Tinfoil]

We did tell him. He just doesn't like you...