What do you think of this J Peterman Men's Inverness Overcoat? Spend or Forfend?

[LavenderBlue]

I would giggle if I saw a man wearing it.

[handsomeharry]

@Shagnasty

J Peterman is very real and predates Seinfeld. The catalogs are so eccentric and written in such an over the top style that Seinfeld decided to work it into its story-line which led many people to believe that J Peterman is fictional (he is a real person) or that the company was a spin off of the show. J Peterman had severe financial problems in the late 1990’s but it is back now.

I get the catalogs and read them from cover to cover. I order a bunch of my clothes from them and I am usually happy with them but sometimes they throw out something bizarre like the overcoat in question. I can’t see myself wearing that.

Also, the guy that played J Peterman is now the boss there.

Best wishes,
hh

[Fionn]

@Dewey_Finn

Still looking at their website. They also have a deerstalker cap, cane and pipe if you want the whole look.

I can’t stop looking at their website. I would be happy to buy some of their stuff, if I ever ordered clothing out of catalogs. I wonder how many Tamerlame coats they sell in a year.

[HazelNutCoffee]

I used to work with a guy who actually wore something like, with a top hat and cane. He was the sort of bizarre that only Oxford could breed. The outfit suited him, but only because he was so eccentric to begin with.

[Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension]

I’m loving their website. It is so amazingly pretentious. Plus, the idea of buying clothing after having looked at drawings of clothing is so odd.

[conurepete]

It is an odd catalog, but I bought a dress from them 13 years ago, it gets me tons of compliments whenever I wear it, and still looks new. Sure that coat is odd, but it will be a very enduring kind of odd.

[friedo]

@handsomeharry

Also, the guy that played J Peterman is now the boss there.

John O’Hurley is on the board but the company is still run by the real J. Peterman.

Trivia: On Seinfeld, the “J.” in J. Peterman stood for Jacopo. In real life it’s the far more pedestrian John.

[Beware_of_Doug]

Peterman=crapalicious craptastic crapalooza.

The reason they have the shaky drawings and the horsepucky-laden ad copy is because they are in the business of selling poorly conceived clothing that is never quite what you think.

I bought some of this sartorial FAIL in years past - long past - so I know.

[Shagnasty]

I started a J Peterman appreciation thread a little over a year ago. It turns out that a Doper knows him and used to work for him. The actual company is based in Lexington, Kentucky but the writers are in New York City.

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=533337&highlight=peterman

[Count_Blucher]

@tdn

That’s it, folks. We’re done with the Internet. Can’t top this post.

“How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?”

[Onomatopoeia]

In addition to the coat, I bought a few dresses for my wife from J Peterman. They looked fantastic in the catalog, and pretty good when we received them but, according to her, fit more like a costume than a real outfit. And I have to admit, something we couldn’t put our finger on didn’t look quite right when she had them on. We returned all three dresses.

[Tom_Tildrum]

He named a golf shirt after the guy who played him on TV.

Peterman’s clothing is of awesome quality, somewhat blocky fit, and sometimes kooky taste level.

[Argent_Towers]

Could people be more specific about the concept of the Peterman clothes not fitting properly, or fitting like a costume? How exactly do they not fit? Is it a problem with the dimensions of the clothes, the seams, collar, or something like that? Does it have to do with the type of material and the way it hangs?

[Fried_Dough_Ho]

Argent - over the past 15+ years, I routinely buy a piece-a-year because I am so taken with the historical design (I tend towards the Edwardian).

In these 15 items I have purchased, I have only kept two: a dress and a dress. I am chesty an when I can find an item that fits over my bosom, it tends to be too long in the sleeves or ill-fitting around the back. I get “poofs” of material around the armpits because the darts are not sufficient or they are ill-placed (like a size 12 woman would be an A-cup instead of a DD-cup).

Also, because the items are not actually shown in photograph but in watercolor, many times the actual material is questionable. I bought a beautiful blouse that fit perfect but the material was decidedly cheap looking but that couldn’t be determined in its illustration.

I am guessing this is more the case with the women’s clothes than men’s as I had an Ex who loved their Irish, collarless, long sleeve bar shirts.

[thirdname]

J Peterman has a Youtube channel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JYXQabSCcA

[Onomatopoeia]

@Argent_Towers

Could people be more specific about the concept of the Peterman clothes not fitting properly, or fitting like a costume? How exactly do they not fit? Is it a problem with the dimensions of the clothes, the seams, collar, or something like that? Does it have to do with the type of material and the way it hangs?

I think it was a combination of the dimensions, the way the material hangs and the quality. It’s difficult to explain. My wife really wanted to like the dresses, but they just didn’t conform to her body the way the catalog sketches showed. The quality of the sewing and finish of the seams seemed fine, but the complete piece was just a little…off. As I said, it’s difficult to explain. You’d have to see it for yourself, preferably on a live person. We gave up after the third dress. Thank goodness the company has a reasonable return policy.

[Argent_Towers]

I wonder then if the illustrations are not just a deceptive tactic to idealize and misrepresent the clothes.