Cool Weather Staples

Keep cool air at bay with a classic printed silk scarf with hand knotted fringed ends. In dark red with antique white dots, it measures a generous 12" wide by 67" long (30 CM wide by 170 cm long) so it can be tied in any of the classic scarf knots under an overcoat or worn with a jacket instead of a necktie. $335 from A Suitable Wardrobe including sales tax and shipping in the continental United States.


A butcher blue silk scarf with antique white dots may make the perfect gift, especially when you are the recipient. But for the color it is identical to the dark red version above, and also $335 including sales tax and shipping in the continental United States.


Of course, when the temperature plummets silken elegance may not be enough. Combine elegance and warmth with a superfine lightweight worsted cashmere scarf with pin fringed ends in black with cream stripes. 18" wide by 71" long (45 cm by 180 cm), which means it is also sized so it can be tied in any of the classic scarf knots. $335 including sales tax and shipping in the continental United States.

To order or ask questions, email will at dynend.com.

History On Sale

A number of items from the wardrobe of the late Duke of Windsor will be auctioned this coming December 8 at Kerry Taylor Auctions in London.

Lots 120-123 include shirts, ties, shoes, a cream silk dinner jacket by Metzel and a cream linen suit by H. Harris. Everything on offer was apparently in the original 1997 Sotheby's sale of the late Duke's effects.


Special buttons graced much of the Duke's wardrobe, and the buttons on the linen suit are no exception with the Royal Yacht Squadron emblem etched in gold.

The sale is an opportunity to own a bit of clothing history for what is expected to be about the cost of comparable bespoke items today. There is no need to attend in person as bids may be arranged in advance.

Photos: Kerry Taylor Auctions

Henry Poole & Co

Simon Cundey and Alex Cooke (that is he in the background) of Henry Poole & Co. visited San Francisco's Huntington Hotel this week. In the second half of the nineteenth century Poole was perhaps the greatest society tailor that ever has been, and it remains a pillar of Savile Row. Cundey's suit in the photo exemplifies Poole's middle of the road house style that lies mid-way between London's soft drape and hard military-style extremes.


For this visit I had in mind a Norfolk jacket for winter days out of doors but, after perusing half a dozen of tweed merchant's W. Bill's books, realized my heart was set on a cloth seen in Scotland the previous summer and decided to locate that fabric number in order to commission it at a future date.


Instead, I elected to order a classic English blazer in a 14 ounce/420 gram hopsack. It will be double breasted, with Poole's dark red signature lining, six gilt Nelson buttons on the front and four on each sleeve, and slanted pockets without flaps. The blazer is to my mind a most useful jacket for evenings in these casual times and a wardrobe can usefully contain several of them.

We will see the first cut of this coat in London in January.

Fancy Shirts

Joe Hemrajani of MyTailor.com is in the City this week and we spent a pleasant afternoon talking about fabrics and shirts, particularly David and John Anderson's Zephir 170 Lino. The Lino is a 50/50 cotton and linen mix with a great hand and an open weave for warm weather.

Joe has been wearing the Lino these past spring and summer, and was enthusiastic about how well it does all the warm weather things it is supposed to do while resisting wrinkles. And indeed, an orchid gingham came out of his suitcase and unfolded without the well-defined creases that all linen shirt-wearers become accustomed to.

Further attracting my interest, the Lino offerings include an assortment of stripes and checks in identical dye lots, which offers the adventuresome an opportunity to do unusual things. I had been thinking about a blue on white striped shirt with vertical stripes for the body and horizontal stripes for the collar and cuffs, and I will probably complement one of those with another where the body is candy striped and the collar pencil striped in the same color.

Fancy shirts!

The House of Elliot Lives On

Near the end of several enjoyable months spent viewing thirty-some episodes of the BBC television series The House of Eliott, about a London couture house in the 1920's, I was sent publicity materials for Stowers Bespoke. Stowers is a Savile Row tailor presenting couture for ladies.

Now, the English tailors of my acquaintance will all make clothing for ladies. Unfortunately, most of that looks disappointingly (at least for those of us who like our women to look like females) like their clothing for men. The Stowers pieces do not suffer that disadvantage.

The highlight of the collection in my opinion is the bespoke two piece grey houndstooth skirt suit in the photo that reminds me of the on camera daywear of the Eliott sisters - high praise indeed. And at £3,000 (about $4,250 ex VAT) it is pricey but hardly exorbitant compared to the cost of, say, Valentino ready to wear at the neighborhood department store. Especially considering that it is the kind of thing that should be wearable for decades.

Photo: Stowers Bespoke

High Gloss Was Hard Work

Polishing shoes was a considerably more arduous task before the Second World War and the development of modern tanning processes. The standard leather used for bespoke men's shoes pre-war was waxed calf, which is the rough reversed side of the hide that is now used for suede.

Waxed calf can be brought to a high gloss similar to that of patent leather but the cost is literally weeks of polishing with a deer bone. Indeed, the late Diana Vreeland joked that her husband's pre-war shoes would be polished by his valet for five years before they were suitable for wear. Without a valet, few men would voluntarily subject themselves to the task.

Much tougher than the leathers currently used for good quality shoes, waxed calf is today used for work shoes and for riding boots like the pair of bespoke boots by London bootmaker Henry Maxwell in the photo. Scratches in the surface are boned out until the boot looks as good as new.

Photo: Henry Maxwell

Take Care With Accessories

Accessories are perhaps the most important part of a wardrobe, and to the extent possible should always be of the highest quality. For not only do they vary the look of a jacket from wearing to wearing, great neckties, squares and scarves improve the look of the tailored clothing they accompany. The opposite may be even more true.

Scarves in particular offer opportunities to add variety to one's dress without attracting the extra attention that may accompany neckerchiefs, ascots and silk squares. In the photo, a printed silk scarf with fringed ends disguises an open necked shirt worn sans necktie (on cooler days substitute merino or cashmere for the silk). A warmer chest is a fringe benefit.

Take care with your accessories.