New Suit Shape
Mr. Bud Palmer, whose profession as TV sports announcer keeps him visibly and volubly in the public eye, is posing here (with N.Y. Ranger Wing Dean Prentice) as a protagonist in a quiet revolution. The suit he is wearing will soon be the talk of the country. Known as the Continental (from its Roman and Bond Street ancestry), it is calculated to be successor to the Ivy Look.
The Continental has many points in its favor. It is new. It has won endorsement from both custom tailors, whose international clientele started the look, and the mass manufacturers of suits looking for a boost to business. It will be found in every price range this spring. Whether or not it reshapes the diehard American male remains to be seen, but not since padded shoulders vanished from his closet has he been offered such an opportunity to look different from every other man he meets.
Tall Bud Palmer likes the easy, fitted lines of the new suit, made to measure for him by Saks Fifth Avenue ($175).
Ivy league suit, favorite today from Madison Avenue to Market Street, has three buttons, unfitted shape, flap pockets, notch lapels, center vent. For many American men it is the only way to dress and has been since their fathers' day. They are not very likely to change their minds in the near future.
Continental suit jacket is about one inch shorter—in the Italian manner; has darts to give custom-fit look at waist—√† la Bond Street. It has two (sometimes three) buttons, peak lapels, side vents, slanting flapless pockets, an unpadded, more forward shoulder, is worn with neat, spread-collar shirt.
PHOTO
ROBERT RANDALL
TWO ILLUSTRATIONS
MARY SUZUKI