When Bad Guys Wore Suits

Great point, Rusty . Before the Baby-Boomer culture reset all the standards, even criminals were more serious and self-respecting, as can be seen in this collection of vintage police lineup photos .

bad_guys_in_suits

As Jason Toon says:

These natty sharps never would’ve been caught dead in a soiled wifebeater, or a gigantic puffy Chicago Bulls coat, or a pair of oversized pants hanging halfway down their thighs. I’m glad I didn’t have to live through the Depression – but at least that era’s bad men looked like men and not hyperthyroidal first-graders.

Back in the day men knew how to look like men: heroes wore khakis and the bad guys wore six-on-one double-breasted suits with jetted pockets and a pocket square.

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

The Dreadful Christ of Pär Lagerkvist

Peter J. Leithart

It’s dangerous to meet a god,” says the disgraced Pythia in Pär Lagerkvist’s The Sibyl. Her observation…

The Possibility of Possibility

Midge Goldberg

"Might could” is a Southern expression meaning “maybe I could” or “I might be able to,” conveying…

The False Promise of No Contact

Noelle Mering

Around the time nineteen-year-old Alice began cutting ties with her family, she announced on social media that…