This is one of many posters designed by German painter and illustrator Fritz Rumpf for the Prince of Wales gentleman’s outfitters. It was located on the Friedrichstrasse in the area now known as Mitte, a street that housed many similar high-end men’s tailors. Rumpf’s design reflects the Sachplakat or object poster style then in vogue in Germany, focusing on the object being promoted and the brand name in blocks of flat color on a monotone ground. It was printed and published by the prolific Berlin publisher of advertising posters, Curt Behrends. Here, a curiously sinister man strides at night against the driving rain wearing an Ulster, a heavy double-breasted coat named for the Irish county and traditionally made of Donegal tweed (in the Victorian era it often also featured a cape and/or a hood) and checked trousers. While the trousers are not actually in Prince of Wales check, the store was clearly named after the son of Queen Victoria, a well-known dandy (and playboy) for nearly 60 years before he became King Edward VII in 1901.
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