Men's Clothing

Men's clothing belongs to a wide material culture running high to low that appeals to a wide range of buyers and collectors. For some, it's all about basking in the warm glow of nostalgia. For others, their pursuits and holdings reveal a strong interest in history, costumes, or textiles. And for others still, the thrill of the hunt provides an opportunity to own something one of a kind that comes with an interesting provenance.

Men's clothing auctions run the spectrum from rare antique embroidered waistcoats dating to the American revolution to recent vintage vestiges of '90s pop culture and everything in between There are centuries-old pieces that have withstood the passage of time and tell their stories through fabric, circa '60s fashions like those again made popular by the hit show "Mad Men," and the never-out-of-style classic-cut suits from the '30s and '40s.

No matter what the object of one's interest or desire, auctions yield a veritable treasure trove of vintage men's clothing that would otherwise be lost to history's closet.

Quick Facts

• In a 2005 eBay auction, a pair of rare 115-year-old pair of Levis jeans sold to an anonymous collector in Japan for an unbelievable sum of $60,000
• In 2011 at Julien's Auctions in Beverly Hills, the red-and-black leather jacket pop icon Michael Jackson wore in his 1983 music video Thriller sold for $1.8 million, a world record for jackets according to Guinness
• In February 2015, the nehru suit Indian Prime Minister Nerndra Modi wore to a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama sold at auction for a mind boggling $691,890