The first high school here went up in 1924, for children who until then had been taught in one-room schoolhouses across the southern half of what is now Madison Heights. Its first graduating class, in 1929, was two people. Whatever those two wore, somebody in each family thought hard about it, because a suit in 1929 was a significant purchase for a working household.
What has changed
Almost everything, and mostly for the better. A suit is no longer a month’s wages, the sizes run from 34 short to 70 long with portly on the rack, and a man can buy one on a Tuesday without planning for it.
What hasn’t
That it still gets photographed, and the photograph still outlives everyone in it. That was true for the class of 1929 and it’s true for whoever graduates this June, which is the only real argument for caring how the thing fits.
So spend where it shows
Not on the label, which no photograph has ever recorded. On the fit, which every photograph records permanently. Nobody on our floor is on commission, so a consultant here has no reason to move a family up a tier that a camera cannot tell apart.
Also for Madison Heights: Two Districts, One City, Two Very Different Classes. More on style consulting, or plan your visit to our Oak Park showroom.
