Tie Space

Tie space has an influence on what we wear. Suits used to have three button fronts, and vests. Bow ties were much more popular than they are today, as they fit neatly into the smaller triangle of shirt left above a vested suit like the man on the right in the illustration. And then the vest died.


Without a vest, some keen eye observed that moving the button point from the top down to the middle button on a jacket did a better job of showing off the four in hand necktie. And so the two button suit and four in hand began a thirty year reign as the most popular design while only formal wear saved the bow tie from extinction.

But two button fronts are not necessarily the best choice when there's no tie to cover the shirt. And with fewer men wearing neckties, we're seeing a resurrection of higher closing fronts, with three and even four buttons. The late English designer Hardy Amies predicted this trend (the photos are of his designs) three decades ago. Like many geniuses he was a little early.

Nick Foulkes' Shoes

There are twenty-three pair of shoes and slippers in the collection of English author Nick Foulkes (photographed for a Japanese magazine several years ago), and more than half of them are slip-on casuals. Including the horse-bit slip-ons in colored suede (I can't imagine where he can wear those around London).

If I compare Foulke's collection with my recommended shoe wardrobe, the choices are a bit more dandified. Instead of two pair of black oxfords he's got a pair of black half boots and a pair of brogues, which are another way to get through the week. Instead of two pair of brown oxfords he has another pair of half boots and another pair of brogues. His monkstraps are black, and he wears brown chukkas instead of bluchers. And then he's got all those slip-ons in addition to the basics.

I will admit to a bit of envy of the Edward Green Montpelliers in brown crocodile (front row, second from the left), but if I had a pair I'd never wear them.

The Shirt As Centerpiece

One of the characteristics of the English style of dressing is that the shirt is usually the centerpiece of the day's clothes. The suit is conservative, the necktie is plain, or symbolic of some organization to which the wearer has an attachment, and the shirt takes the lead. This inclination towards flamboyant shirts has meant that London's Jermyn Street supports many more shirtmakers than are to be found in any other city of my acquaintance.

Gray flannel suit, pink gingham shirt and maroon grenadine necktie.

A Waistcoat With Flair

I've written before how odd waistcoats can liven up a conservative suit without drawing any second glances. Here's a shawl collared double breasted waistcoat in light gray worn with a navy suit in the evening. The jacket's peak lapels add a formal touch for evening, the waistcoat's mother of pearl buttons complement the white shirt, and the navy and gray necktie pulls it all together. Bravissimo!

Don't Try This At Home

A certain segment of the Italian male population has taken to wearing deliberately mis-matched socks. I don't recommend the look, which is too studied.

But I do like this photo.

Quotation: Men in Gray Flannel Suits

"And the men in gray flannel suits, now in their fifties, still look pretty good when you see them on the commuting trains. Some of them will stand up to give a lady a seat, if she's pretty enough, and they will open doors for ladies when they are walking from one car to another. When called a male chauvinist pig, a man in a gray flannel suit looks confused. He's supporting a wife, a former wife, maybe a mistress and three daughters in college, in addition to his mother in a nursing home. On weekends he does the dinner dishes. What more do women expect of him?"

What Shall We Wear To This Party, by Sloan Wilson

Happy Birthday ASW!

ASW is one year old this week and no, retired actors are not celebrating at the White House. But among the distinguished company in the photo, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (far right) is wearing a suit that epitomizes what what a man's dress should be. It's obviously hand sewn, and perfectly accompanied.

Thank you to the roughly one thousand people a day that visit here. We'll try and make the second year better than the first.

The High Cost of Accessories

The accessories we carry are as important to our image as the rest of what we wear, and I need a new credit card case. Not that there's anything seriously wrong with mine, but I've had it for a decade and it's very dark brown where it once was tan leather.

Most men carry a wallet unless, like me, they worry about the drape of their jacket. I make do with a credit card case in a trouser pocket. And a key case (to prevent keys from abusing the pocket lining). Usually a pen and a wrist watch. Perhaps cufflinks and a money clip. And that's about it. Unfortunately, nothing in the pockets of a well dressed man is exactly inexpensive.

Watches, of course, cost like crazy, but so does the rest of the gear. That credit card case that I need, for example. It's just a little thing but April in Paris asks about $200 per slot for the pictured alligator version that holds six cards. It's certainly beautifully made, and comes in my choice of seven colors, with another half dozen choices for the contrasting interior.

Fortunately for the contents of my card case, I think alligator is just too showy (even when I wore belted trousers I left my alligator belts in the closet) and the price drops in half for those customers willing to tolerate the daily compromise of carrying calf instead. So Christmas is coming and I'll probably go for a new case. In calf. But I'll be dreaming about dark brown alligator with a tan stingray interior.

April in Paris, by the way, is the one world class must-see craftsman I know of in the Bay area.

The Cloth of Kings

This time of year I give thanks for Saxony, a soft and elastic woolen with a smooth finish, once known as the cloth of the English kings after their predilection for suits from it.

Saxony was originally woven in the West of England from short staple wool sheared from Saxon sheep (it now comes from their Australian descendents); it's the polar opposite of the coarser but more lustrous Scottish Cheviot.

Saxony is used for trousers, suits, and overcoats. It is often woven as a glen check, which is how I came to know it. Those English kings seemed to me to have wardrobes full of beautiful glen check suits that were too casual for business dress but just right for a sporting event.

If I could have only one suit, it would be a vested three button in a 13 ounce black and white glen check Saxony with a rust overcheck. The bit of orange blends perfectly with a pair of chestnut colored shoes.

Boxers or Briefs?

Men's underwear has hardly changed since the 1930's when elastic waistbands were added to men's boxers and Jockey introduced the Y-vent knitted brief. And since then men have been separated into two camps by their choice of underwear.

It's only partly punny to acknowledge that underwear plays a critical supporting role for a suit-wearing man. For a suit to live a full life, it should have as little contact with the body as possible. Going commando runs up the dry cleaning bills. Besides, unlined tweed is really scratchy.

I have to admit that I'm a briefs guy myself, but I give the boxer credit. Shirtmakers can supply boxers made from shirting cloth and I'll bet that somewhere there is at least one fanatic who commissions a pair of matching boxers for each shirt ordered from his shirtmaker (guys who wear nothing but white shirts don't count).

Fancy fabric isn't an option for brief wearers but we enjoy better support without the risk of a wedgie. And that's enough for me.

Style Icon: The Rat Pack

The recent passing of Joey Bishop marked the last of Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack. Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford and Bishop were a talented and raffishly stylish group that defined Las Vegas for a decade or more.


Sinatra and Lawford in particular were always well dressed, with a bit of silk in their jacket pockets.

One of the best ways to catch a glimpse of the Rat Pack is to view the original (1960) Ocean's Eleven. The Pack played themselves while they played their parts. And they did it with, for want of a better word, class.

How Many Folds?

I love neckties, particularly solids and simple stripes like these from the atelier of Anna Matuozzo. But not all ties are created equal.

Most neckties are what are called lined three folds, where the silk is folded on each side around the lining. Instead of a lining, seven folds have more folds of silk to add bulk to the tie. The technique uses a lot more expensive silk, which is much of the reason why the style costs about twice as much as a quality three fold. The result is beautiful to hold, but the resulting tie is light, with a tendency to wrinkle at the knot and twist when it's worn. I like the construction for cashmere or wool ties, where the additional weight of the material makes a tie that drapes acceptably. I don't like it for silk.

In my opinion, the best construction is a lined six fold, where the silk is folded twice on each side over the lining. I like it because the additional weight makes the tie hang straighter. As I walk, the tie maintains its dignity, moving with more grace than either a three or a seven fold.

Lifestyle: Convertible Country

I've been travelling for the past week and haven't been able to write up any reader questions, so I thought I'd show a photo or two of California's Marin and Sonoma coastal area, some of the best convertible country on earth. The caveat is that the roads are so bad (one survey has them as the worst in California, if not the United States) that it's not high performance car territory. No, it's best when experienced in an open car, like a Morgan Plus 8, at 35 miles per hour.

The weather makes the coast a perfect place for wearing tweed (a guarantee that it can't be found locally). Much of the year, the temperature is cool. A third of the time it's wet, half of the time it's foggy and half the time it's sunny.

Outdoor activities include hiking, golf, birding, whale watching, horseback riding, and driving from one winery to another with the top open. I'm the guy wearing the flat cap with a cigar in his mouth.

Quotation: Contented Russian Calf

"Unshined shoes are the end of civilization. It happens that all the men in my life - my father, my husband, my two sons, my grandsons - have been big shoeshine boys. Reed had shoes of Russian calf, and in London he had our butler polish them for five years or so with cream and rhinoceros horn until they were the essence of really "contented" leather. Only then did he wear them. I don't know if Russian calf still exists, but don't forget - everything we did in those days was for forever. And it was a very normal thing for English gents to use rhinoceros horn on fine leather. Leather is alive and lives as it is kept."

-DV. by Diana Vreeland

Photo from The Last Shall Be First.

Maintenance: How to Wash Socks

When I began living on my own as a young man, I lacked an education in household things. Doing my own laundry meant that dirty clothes went into the washer, the water temperature was set to hot, and the cycle begun. Years later I learned I had prematurely ended the lives of many pair of socks that way.

Inadvertant sockicide didn't matter too much then, but today I try to get longer life from my socks so I can afford patterns like the pictured pair by Robert Talbott. That means laundry is done a lot differently now. Silk and cashmere socks are washed by hand in warm water. Cotton and wool socks are machine laundered in cold water on the delicate cycle.

After washing, my socks are hung on a drying rack installed below the laundry room fan. The fan moves enough air over the socks to make them think they are being line dryed out of doors, so they don't get stiff as a board. Which they do for some reason when they're line dried in still air.

When dry, fold each pair carefully and store them neatly in a drawer. At those prices, they deserve it.

Suits and Socks, Installment IX

More tweed. Glen check suit accompanied by dark burgundy brogues. In between, tomato red socks with blue polka dots. Worn with a light blue glen check shirt, pinned charcoal cashmere necktie and dark silk paisley square, the combination doesn't attract attention unless I'm seated for a shoe shine.

Lifestyle: Borgo San Felice

For many years, San Felice has been considered one of the important wine producing estates of Italy's Chianti Classico. It's also home to Borgo San Felice, one of the world's unique resorts. Set in a working hamlet that dates back to the Middle Ages, Borgo San Felice is atop a hill a few minutes from Siena, an hour from Florence and two and a half hours from Rome. A week there was one of the most refreshing travel experiences of my life.


A member of the Relais & Chateaux chain, the hotel has 43 suites and rooms furnished with hand-crafted Tuscan furniture. Guests stay either in the main palazzo on the hamlet's small piazza or in stone houses on the side streets.


The hotel's restaurant, Poggio Rosso, specializes in Tuscan cuisine built around the area's wine and oil. Other facilities include tennis courts, a putting and pitching green, the swimming pool, a chapel, gym and botanical trails. And, of course, Tuscany lies all around.

Room and full board rates range from 310 to 850 euros per day, including VAT, or about $450 to $1,300.

Casual Shoes Should be Brown

Most of the casual shoes I see are the same boring designs and the wrong color. Leather slip-ons, that is. The vast majority are black penny loafers of one sort or another, and how many black penny loafers should a man be forced to look at over the course of a lifetime?

In the first place, there aren't that many occasions when casual shoes are right. Around the house, of course. Maybe back and forth in the car for lunch. But most shoe professionals tell me that casual shoes are really not constructed for a day of walking or standing. And my feet agree.

That's quite a change from my youth. Raised on Weejuns, I doubt if I owned any laced shoes until years after I entered the work force. For dress I had cordovan leather Alden penny loafers and tassels, in brown and burgundy. I still wear the penny loafers perhaps a day a month. But 90% of my shoes are laced, and have been for years.


Driven by the need to slip shoes off and on at airport security, earlier this year I set out to find some not-penny-loafer styles that I could wear with odd jackets. I settled on two models from Edward Green. The first, an earlier version of the the Bamford pictured at the top of the essay, is a burnt pine slip-on with a toe medallion (the photo is from Sky Valet). The other, the Telford, is a butterfly model with some light brogueing (the photo is not actually a Telford but G. J. Cleverley's crossover band casuals.) I ordered mine in tan, from Tom at Leather Soul.

And that leads me back to the topic of casual shoe colors. It's my belief that casual shoes should usually be brown or burgundy. This stems from an interpretation of the old London rules that makes sense to me:

- Casual shoes are worn with odd jackets, or no jackets at all.
- Odd jackets are worn outside the city during the day, where and when brown shoes are worn.
- Hence, most casuals should be brown.

The exceptions to this way of thinking would be for entertaining at home in the evening (though that's a great time to wear slippers), or for the rare occasion when a more formal black casual is worn with a suit in the city. But the latter should usually be elastic sided slip-ons which are essentially laced shoes without laces.

Casual shoes should be brown. Add style points for suede.

Reader Questions

From Michael
"I live in Southern California, where Orange, L.A. and San Bernardino counties meet, and I need to buy a couple of suits. I'm thinking of a single breasted in blue and a double-breasted in gray, both in three-season wool. My budget is $600-$700 per suit, and I like the way an Italian style suit looks, with its tighter fit, double vents and higher armholes. Where do you recommend I go?"

You'll get twice the suit for your money and look a lot better if you're willing to invest an extra hour or two in the process.

The next time you need some shirts or other basics, get sized in a quality Italian brand like Canali or Zegna at a nearby department store. Buy the shirts from the person that waited on you. Then go buy your suits on the Web at a 50-70% discount (Bluefly currently has some Canali for $700, for example). Have them tailored locally. The alterations should normally be less than $100 but could be twice that if you want working sleeve buttons.

Follow the same process if you prefer an American silhouette, but seek out Hickey Freeman instead of an Italian maker. Again, Bluefly has a selection for 50% off retail.

Quotation: Personal Style

"Personal style is about having a sense of yourself and of what you believe in, which is basically self-confidence. When you have that confidence, you can wear whatever you want and project something personal about who you are and how you feel. Dressing, then, can be an adventure. You dress for the role you are playing on a particular day."

-Ralph Lauren by Ralph Lauren

Sweaters for the Cold

Alpaca, linen and cashmere make the best sweaters in my opinion. Alpaca and linen are great for temperate months, because they are warm when it's cool and cool when it's warm. Cashmere is what I want when the temperature goes down. I like the feel, though I have to admit that merino wool is most of the way there and only half the cost.

I wrote recently about the sleeveless v-neck vest for wear under a jacket. Three other styles of knitwear are the backbone of a cold weather knitwear wardrobe for less formal occasions: the crew neck (cabled or plain), the to-button cardigan, and the rollneck. The crewneck goes over a shirt, with odd trousers. The cardigan is worn informally in place of a jacket. And the rollneck can be worn under a jacket in place of a dress shirt, like the man in the illustration.

Before dyeing, cashmere comes naturally in tones of mid-grey, cafe au lait and a dirty cream. Add navy to that list and those are the colors I prefer.

All cashmere fibre comes from the underhair beneath the exterior coat of the cashmere goat living on the frigid plateaus of Mongolia and China - and it takes the underhair of at least three goats to create one sweater. The best feels soft and smooth, but never slippery or buttery which are signs of over processing.

The Scots, starting with Johnston's of Elgin, have been knitting cashmere the longest but the Italians have closed the quality gap. The best makers are the 16 members of the Scottish Cashmere Club such as Alex Begg and Murray Allen, and a couple independent Italians like Loro Piana and Colombo Cashmere.

I wasn't familiar with Colombo until Jonathan Fischer at Four in Hand lent me a box of their new knits. I was really impressed. The two ply sweaters look like worsted cashmere, smooth and tightly knit.

Unless he lives in an unheated castle in the Hebrides, two ply is all the sweater a man needs. A cabled cashmere crewneck over a chambray shirt, worn with moleskin trousers and moccasins is about as comfortable as it gets on the weekend. Paired perhaps with a polka dotted silk neckerchief and a bit of single malt.

Lifestyle: Easier Air Travel

With all the fuss about air travel with liquids I have returned to checking my luggage even on short flights. It's going to ruin my leather hand luggage but trying to fit my toiletries into a small polyethylene bag in order to get them through security is too much of a pain.

That's what makes the firm of Barclay Crocker of Silver Lake, New Hampshire so interesting. In true entrepreneurial style, Barclay Crocker is helping travelers with its "Easy Travel Kit." Call by 2PM with your credit card handy and $19.95 gets a week's worth of toiletries delivered overnight to any address served by US Express Mail® Overnight Service. So carry-on becomes practical again.

The supplies represent a very respectable value so long as the shoe wipes are disposed of before they get near a pair of leather shoes.

• Old Spice 4-Blade High Endurance Razor (1)


• Gillette Foamy Regular Shaving Cream


• Barclay Crocker Aftershave Balm "Washed Suede"2 oz


• Crest Cavity Protection Toothpaste


• Colgate Toothbrush - Soft


• Scope Mouthwash Original Mint


• Wisdom Floss


• Borotalco Deluxe Italian Bath Bar 100g


• Barclay Crocker 2 in 1 Conditioning Shampoo "Washed Suede" 2 oz


• Old Spice Antiperspirant / Deodorant


• E.A.R Classic Plus Ear Plugs


• Shoe Shine Wipes (2)

Another promising improvement, though it won't help with the liquids in the luggage problem, is the biometric Clear card that promises to fast-track us through airport security for $99.95 a year and a one-time fee of $28. It's a good idea, though so far the system is running in just a few major airports, principally San Francisco and JFK.

An Italian Dandy

Validating any jokes you may have heard about art gallery owners, Philippe Daverio, the man in the photos, is an Italian who's promoting himself as a dandy. Many men might be hesitant to walk around in the clothes he's wearing in these shots but there are some things to appreciate once we get past the matching bow tie and pocket square.


Considered for an ensemble for a Saturday afternoon, the bow tie works for me and the solid brown trousers and waistcoat go a long way towards balancing the combined checks of the shirt and jacket. The socks relate to the shirt without repeating anything but the color. The gunboat sized bluchers are good shoes that couldn't be worn with anything more formal than what he has on. Overall I give the ensemble a B+.

Daverio is not a handsome man, however his dress consistently draws my eyes to his face and that is the objective. I'm still trying to decide if this is a case of clothes making the man or whether the look of the man makes it more difficult to appreciate the clothes.

City Suits

A man could make much worse choices than these five suits for his winter wardrobe (and, for a sixth, a gray pick and pick double breasted would round things out nicely).

Beginning on the far left, there's a dark brown tweed that's conservative enough for all but the most formal occasions. In a three roll top configuration with jetted pockets, the color goes nicely with black shoes. Notice how the pocket square relates to nothing else but harmonizes nonetheless.

Next right, a single breasted two button blue serge with a ticket pocket for a bit of visual interest. The white pocket square is simple so it doesn't conflict with the red carnation.

In the center, a double breasted gray pin stripe, also with a ticket pocket. That should answer the question that's often asked about ticket pockets and double breasteds. They are fine with city cuits.

To the right of center, a double breasted gray chalk stripe flannel worn with maroon hose and a bow tie. The gray dress shirt is rarely seen today.

Finally, at the far right, we have a racy blue two button single breasted peak lapel with a windowpane overcheck worn with brown shoes.

Reader Questions

From John
"I've been thinking of getting a pork pie hat made, and VS Custom Hats and Optimo in Chicago are the names that keep coming up. Would you mind giving me an idea of how the process works?

Specifically, my problem is that I don't know a heck of a lot about hats other than the basic shapes, so I don't know what all the options are. How much guidance do the makers provide for a neophyte?"

They are both quality makers with excellent service. Optimo is $500 for a beaver felt with pre-war ribbon. Fawcett is $305 for the same materials and the quality is very close (Optimos may be sewn a bit better, but I haven't noticed a difference).

Optimo's shapes are as conservative as London's James Lock. Fawcett's shapes are a touch more flamboyant, but he reigns in if you are clear that you want conservative. Fawcett sends you a conformer for an exact fit where Optimo conducts a phone call with you and then makes your hat in a standard size. On the other hand, Optimo has a wider selection of straws. Their Milan is particularly nice.

You won't go wrong with either maker.


From Chris
"I have a couple of questions about cool-weather fedoras:

1) How do I determine what style/shape/size brim and crown is best suited to my face? I have a longish face and a spacious forehead -- recommendations are welcome. My preference would be for a high-ish crown and very narrow brim, but this is based on little beyond personal taste.

2) What would be the most appropriate color if I was to buy a single hat for winter wear with several different dark suits? My instinct would be to lean towards mid-to-dark gray with a charcoal or black band.

3) When it comes right down to it, can a man in his mid-late 20s (in a rather poorly-dressed town like Washington DC) really pull off a fedora? (I know this sort of question is usually answered with something like "a man only looks good in clothes in which he's comfortable and confident" and all that, but... really?)."

I have found that no-one looks at our dress nearly as much as we think about it ourselves. By your second week with a fedora neither you nor passersby will notice.

If I had to choose one felt for the city it would be dark gray, unless I wore a charcoal overcoat every day. In that case I'd choose brown or navy.

From what you write, a normal brim width might help balance your face but any good hatmaker will help you to determine what will look best on you.

Quotation: Men Influencing Fashion

"Few individual men have influenced fashion since Beau Brummell, for ridicule and scorn often reward those who turn off the modern highway of conservatism. Perhaps only those in positions of power or who possess great social prestige can defy fashion successfully. The Duke of Windsor, when he was Prince of Wales, defied convention. He wore straw hats instead of the customary Englishman's felt hat in summer, loud checks and suede shoes, and resented stiffly starched shirts for evening. With a real goût de scandale he would appear at a formal reception in lounge clothes. If the ordinary man today were to appear in some of the unorthodox hats and highly coloured tweeds that the Prince modelled he would doubtless become an object of ridicule."

-The Glass of Fashion by Cecil Beaton

The Scent Of Your Handkerchief

Scent is better on a handkerchief than on the body. To see what I mean, try this simple test. Spray eau de cologne into the air, walk into the cloud and wait ten minutes. Much of the time, there'll be no discernable scent remaining, which does no good.

On the other hand, a scent remains fresh all day after it's sprayed into a handkerchief. Carried in a side pocket it doesn't offend people who dislike perfume. And it doesn't interact with your body chemistry, so it smells as it was intended to be smelled. Just open the handkerchief for a pleasant interaction.


During the day, a light fragrance like Acqua di Parma Colonia seems like a good choice. The lemony scent with a floral undertone hasn't changed since its origination in 1916, and, unlike many other good things, it's widely available. About $65 per 1.7 oz.

For evening, consider Creed's Vintage Tabarome, a leather and tobacco power scent that was originally commissioned for England's King George IV. Part of Creed's Private Collection, it's difficult to find in quantities smaller than 8.4 ounces (that's about a five year supply unless it's used for bathing), but the eBay wholesaler Perfume Wizdome sells it decanted into 2.5 ounce bottles priced at $130. Be aware that most of what's out there is a newer version called Tabarome Millesime which is not the same scent.

When it comes to handkerchiefs, I like them in colored cotton like the ones in the photo at the top from Schweitzer Linens (on sale for $30 each). With a spray of scent.

Suits and Socks, Installment VIII

It was cool the other day, and a reasonable temperature for tweed. That meant a charcoal and tan twill weave suit (darker than the flash makes it appear) worn with dark brown brogues and pumpkin-colored socks. Above the waist, a yellow banker's stripe club collar shirt worn pinned, a pumpkin colored silk necktie with black and yellow stripes and an orange silk pocket square with small green figures.