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They Were Caught In Our Old Street Pics...

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I still think it's a girl, on her way to the pawn shop. :) the clothes are over her left arm and trailing to the floor, the stick is a coat hanger in her left hand, under her hat she has collar length hair.
 
First time I've seen a bloke wearing 'plus fours' in a city centre pic. He's striding along in a determined manner ... perhaps a meeting made him late for some afternoon golf. There is a hint that he is wearing the customary 'argyle socks' but resolution is not high enough to be sure. On a closer look he might be wearing 'plus eights' ... :cool:
plus4s.jpg
He's in the second pic of the following post ...
oldMohawk said:
In 1935 Phyliss Nicklin took the photo as shown earlier in the thread see quote below
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A few seconds later she took another from the same spot and left a wonderful photo for us to look at ...
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oldMohawk said:
First time I've seen a bloke wearing 'plus fours' in a city centre pic. He's striding along in a determined manner ... perhaps a meeting made him late for some afternoon golf. There is a hint that he is wearing the customary 'argyle socks' but resolution is not high enough to be sure. On a closer look he might be wearing 'plus eights' ... :cool:
View attachment 140832
He's in the second pic of the following post ...
Click to expand...

Phil, do you think he has epaulettes?
 
devonjim said:
Phil, do you think he has epaulettes?
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Hi Jim, I've had a close look and there does seem something looking like an epaulette on his shoulder. Perhaps he worked for a hotel or similar but why he would be dressed like that is a mystery. Looks like he is carrying a brief case. Apparently 'plus fours' became popular in the 1920s but started to go out of fashion in the late 1930s.
 
I have heard of plus 4s and plus 2s but plus 8s is a new one to me.

I think his jacket is a sports jacket rather than a suit jacket. Plus 4s, I am sure, never would have been regarded as suitable business wear. I have a recollection that I might have seen tweed jackets like that with epaulettes at some time in my youth but they would have been regarded as very oldfashioned.
 
oldMohawk said:
Hi Jim, I've had a close look and there does seem something looking like an epaulette on his shoulder. Perhaps he worked for a hotel or similar but why he would be dressed like that is a mystery. Looks like he is carrying a brief case. Apparently 'plus fours' became popular in the 1920s but started to go out of fashion in the late 1930s.
Click to expand...
Too much trying to see a pattern that might not be there I think!
Playing that game there is 'clearly' a priest standing behind him!
The 'target' man might just be wearing an apron, perhaps a market trader heading to the bank?
The man on the left of the cropped shot and the man above him might be seen as wearing shopkeepers' coat-style overalls.
 
DavidGrain said:
I have a recollection that I might have seen tweed jackets like that with epaulettes at some time in my youth but they would have been regarded as very oldfashioned.
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The style of jacket worn in conjunction with a kilt has shoulder tabs. My feeling is that the image is 'over-zoomed' to the point that resolution, grain and scanning anomalies are allowing the eye/brain to create patterns that aren't there.
 
In 1971, I remember because we had just moved to a new neighbourhood. I got the bus with a Northern Irishman in a cream itchy looking tweed suit and tie and plus fours and a brown cap and polished shoes. And beige socks. His trousers came just below the knee with a button, He was with his son who was in a cream tweed short trousersed suit. A bit old for shorts I thought. They wanted directions and I said you get off the stop before me. We sat opposite on the long seat over the wheel downstairs as you got on the bus at the back. He was really old fashioned but very pleasant. And we chatted all the way.
 
oldMohawk said:
First time I've seen a bloke wearing 'plus fours' in a city centre pic. He's striding along in a determined manner ... perhaps a meeting made him late for some afternoon golf. There is a hint that he is wearing the customary 'argyle socks' but resolution is not high enough to be sure. On a closer look he might be wearing 'plus eights' ... :cool:
View attachment 140832
He's in the second pic of the following post ...
Click to expand...

OM its the same picture only at a different angle
 
Plus-fours and some country attire may have been unusual in Birmingham at times, but some of those living out in the suburbs might dress differently than inner city or factory workers. When in Birmingham in 1963 or 4, visiting relatives to introduce my new wife, we went to Rackhams. I bought a collared light yellow long coat for my wife - quite expensive at the time, but she loved the coat and fondly remembers it. When the staff found out we were from Devon they surprised us by saying that we were probably more used to wearing tweeds. Actually I had a few styles of clothing at the time - dependant on what I was doing or where I was going - but my wife has never been into tweeds. But I believe it summarises how areas of the country were perceived - maybe still are for some folk - perceived. Other people, due to our good suntans, including the baby, thought we might be from Italy or France.
 
Radiorails said:
Plus-fours and some country attire may have been unusual in Birmingham at times, but some of those living out in the suburbs might dress differently than inner city or factory workers. When in Birmingham in 1963 or 4, visiting relatives to introduce my new wife, we went to Rackhams. I bought a collared light yellow long coat for my wife - quite expensive at the time, but she loved the coat and fondly remembers it. When the staff found out we were from Devon they surprised us by saying that we were probably more used to wearing tweeds. Actually I had a few styles of clothing at the time - dependant on what I was doing or where I was going - but my wife has never been into tweeds. But I believe it summarises how areas of the country were perceived - maybe still are for some folk - perceived. Other people, due to our good suntans, including the baby, thought we might be from Italy or France
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Rr you never can tell , perhaps the chap in the pic was up from the country , or he had be on the outskirts of Brum on a shoot or somesuch
 
Can I join in? This guy has certainly caused a stir. My take - Cover his head and he looks almost female in his gait. Even his swinging arm gives same impression. If they weren't plus fours, it might almost be a skirt. Guy in trilby (?) seems uninterested but the guy to his right with the bag of snooker cues (?) is attracted by something. The guy on the left is walking purposefully but has been attracted by something. Finally, can anyone identify the make of the vehicle at the rear.
OldBrummie.
 
Spargone said:
View attachment 140850
It has something of the look of a 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith, but why does the radiator detail not look quite right? If it is a Rolls-Royce then that goes to show the difficulties of pushing a photo beyond the limits of resolution!
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A beautiful motor but going back to the subject photo there appears to possibly be a bar of some kind across the middle of the radiator and that doesn't look very "Rolls Royce". OldBrummie
 
Spargone said:
View attachment 140850
It has something of the look of a 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith, but why does the radiator detail not look quite right? If it is a Rolls-Royce then that goes to show the difficulties of pushing a photo beyond the limits of resolution!
Click to expand...
I think the headlight to grill dimension is wrong also installed hight
The headlight diameter appears small for Lucas P 100,s
Then the cross bar between the headlights is not typical for a Rolls Royce most times a badge bar would be mounted on the front valance between the overriders.
Then I can not see the famed sculpture by Sykes ( and I don't mean Eric ).
 
DavidGrain said:
I have heard of plus 4s and plus 2s but plus 8s is a new one to me.
I think his jacket is a sports jacket rather than a suit jacket. Plus 4s, I am sure, never would have been regarded as suitable business wear. I have a recollection that I might have seen tweed jackets like that with epaulettes at some time in my youth but they would have been regarded as very oldfashioned.
Click to expand...
With the help of Google I found the following information.

Plus Fours - Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear through the Ages

Plus Fours - Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear through the Ages
www.fashionencyclopedia.com
Our 'plus fours man' seems to have his trousers fastened somewhat lower than 4 inches below his knees... :)
 
Williamstreeter said:
Rr you never can tell , perhaps the chap in the pic was up from the country , or he had be on the outskirts of Brum on a shoot or somesuch
Click to expand...
true,i live in the sticks.i am a part-time gamekeeper.most of my friends wear that type of attire. +4s etc when on a days activity....I draw the line at that though:( I will stick to green camo.:cool:
 
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oldMohawk said:
With the help of Google I found the following information.

Plus Fours - Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear through the Ages

Plus Fours - Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear through the Ages
www.fashionencyclopedia.com
Our 'plus fours man' seems to have his trousers fastened somewhat lower than 4 inches below his knees... :)
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could be spats he has on.1579680797889.pngor might just like sticking his trousers in his socks:grinning:like these plonkers
 
The jacket with epaulettes was basically of Scottish origin, called an Argyle, as a kilt jacket it had shiny metal buttons as a hunting jacket it had normal buttons, but very rarely were there epaulettes when it was supplied as part of a suit. Apparently the name derives from knickerbockers which were tucked in at the knee, with plus twos, being 2inches below the knee, plus fours 4inches, plus sixes 6inches and plus eights 8inches below the knee. Plus 2s usually looked more like knickerbockers, strapped below the knee with no overhang. In actual fact he does not look very neat, the jacket is straining and the plus fours are extremely baggy, but I notice he is wearing Argyle socks as was the fashion with plus fours etc.. Actually he looks like Hitler who needs to slim. Can anyone enlarge the section of photo two below the bus coming in from the left, it looks like a woman leaning into a car.

Bob
 
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oldMohawk said:

First time I've seen a bloke wearing 'plus fours' in a city centre pic. He's striding along in a determined manner ... perhaps a meeting made him late for some afternoon golf. There is a hint that he is wearing the customary 'argyle socks' but resolution is not high enough to be sure. On a closer look he might be wearing 'plus eights

could have been a fan of Louis Armstrong he wore that kind of getup
1579691612635.png
 
Bob Davis said:
.............. Can anyone enlarge the section of photo two below the bus coming in from the left, it looks like a woman leaning into a car.

Bob
Click to expand...
It does Bob, but I think it is camera illusion.
The bus is probably one of the new 1935/6 Daimlers. The other two, outside the Council House, (l to r) appear to be one of the Morris Commercials of 1933 and an AEC Regent (piano front) of 1931.
 
My father was employed as a chauffeur/valet in Solihull c 1929 and was always into the latest fashions and had the audacity to go to his employers tailor to order a pair of Oxford Bags. So this story losely fits the subject !
He was called in by the employer who said his tailor had advised him of Dads action , and he thought" Well bang goes my job and the roof over my head ".
To his suprise the boss went to say that he was aware of Dads up coming birthday and that he and his wife would like to buy him a blazer and the tailor had been advised accordingly.
My father also wore plus fours but that isn't him in the picture!
 
They do not look like conventional raincoats, rather like the much later plastic 'macs which, which when compared to a real raincoat, was not a fashionable, but convenient garment. The umbrellas have designs, rather than being plain black, so I wonder if it was a photo destined to become an advertisement for the rain wear and umbrellas?
 
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