Custom

A friend somehow found herself in the men's department of a store in a midwestern city and wanted me to know that they offer custom clothes.

I haven't had the opportunity to tell her that the word custom is one of the most abused in the English language. Unscrupulous or just over-eager salespeople use it to describe stock specials or made to measure. Whatever they may be selling, they either don't know or don't want to tell you. Either is a bad sign.

Stock specials are ready to wear suits sold as separates, so the store can provide a better fit by giving a man a jacket in one size and trousers that are larger or smaller than normal because he is. When a suit is made to his measurements using a modified stock pattern, with fabric and styling selecting from a wide range of options by the customer, that's made to measure and the additional customization means it costs more than a stock special. And, once in a very rare while, custom is used to describe true bespoke tailoring where a paper pattern is first made to the customer's measurements and that pattern is then used to cut the cloth. All things being equal, bespoke tailoring is more time intensive and still more expensive than made to measure.

In the hands of competent professionals, any of these alternatives can provide satisfactory results. But too often I've seen 'custom' used to deceive the customer into paying too much for something less than he's expecting. The burden of proof to the contrary is on the user of the term.

Be careful out there.

The photograph is Copyright © Scabal. All rights reserved.

Suits and Socks, Installment X

Following the "socks and trousers should be similar in color" rule the other day, navy and light blue cotton houndstooth socks accompanied a mohair suit and my favorite tan cap toe oxfords.

Mohair and wool suits come into their own wherever the climate is warm, sunny and breezy. Mohair resists wrinkling more than lightweight worsted wool, sunshine complements its slight sheen, and the open weave means the suit wears cool.

Rules Still Exist

I'm always amused by assertions that there are no longer rules for men's dress. After all, the man making that statement is never wearing a skirt, pajamas, or some form of what the English call native dress. In fact, in San Francisco he will probably be decked out in a shirt, cotton trousers and black duck-billed shoes just like the largest portion of the random people that walk by any downtown street corner.

So of course we have rules. It's just that they are mostly unstated, only loosely enforced, and vary according to the group a man finds himself in (which itself can change a couple times during the course of a day). As example I give you the current job interview practice which is to call ahead and ask what the locals are wearing so the candidate can dress to fit into the culture.

That rules still exist was confirmed to me the other day at a large (perhaps 2,000 people) event where the women wore cocktail attire. There was no specified dress code and yet the men, a cultural cross-section whose only commonality was a willingness to spend $100 for a ticket, were dressed almost uniformly in jackets and trousers.

That was interesting as well as unexpected because those men could have dressed any way they wanted and still gained admission. And I was glad to see confirmation that, at some level, rules still exist.

The Sublime Blucher

An undecorated three tie blucher may be my favorite weekend shoe. With jacket or without, the style looks sublime in dark suede under corduroys in winter and every bit as good in tan calfskin under linen in warm weather.

The models in the first photo are part of a new ready-to-wear collection by London's W.S. Foster. They will be available at their Jermyn Street store for £525.00 (about $1,000) including VAT any day now. Nice toe!

Photo: Gaziano & Girling

And then there is Gaziano & Girling's Derwent, pictured above. The G&G line has perhaps the best heel and waist treatment of any machine-made shoe that I've seen. $1,100 made to order and write me if you'd like a pair.

Reader Questions

From Jeffrey
What is the minimum income that you consider appropriate for a bachelor to achieve the number of suits you recommend for the minimum and medium wardrobes that you detail in my favorite of your many insightful posts--'A Suitable Wardrobe'--as well as for the corresponding minimum number of shirts, ties, squares, shoes, coats, sportscoats that you discuss in other posts?

There's no simple answer to your question but I can give you a way to think about what you want to accomplish.

I frequently advise clients to budget the acquisition of four articles of tailored clothing and two pairs of shoes each year, plus 25%-33% for accessories. The client's total budget determines how much can be spent on each item. So, for example, a bit more than $25,000 annually buys bespoke from Savile Row or Naples. Half that amount buys Hong Kong bespoke and MTO shoes, or $8,000 buys good quality ready to wear (call it Brooks Brothers and Alden).

The challenge with this formula is that it's not enough clothing the first couple of years. Suits have a finite life that varies with their quality level, but even the best quality clothing will wear out quickly if it's worn two or three times a week. So in the early years, it helps to acquire a minimum wardrobe of less expensive clothing quickly and only then (if ever) improve the quality.

Fortunately, early in one's career shirt and trousers is as formal as a man may need to dress, and acquiring a wardrobe for daily suit-wearing can often be spread over as many as five years.

But however long it takes, young men should accumulate a wardrobe of six suits for each season, two odd jackets for each season, an overcoat, a raincoat and seven pair of shoes as quickly as they can. At the end of this accumulation period they'll have enough clothing to be able to reduce their rate of acquisition to something comparable to what's in the second paragraph. Or they can spend the same amount on fewer items and improve the quality level.

The photograph is Copyright © Scabal. All rights reserved.

Avoiding Monochrome

Perhaps the most common sign that a man lacks confidence in his clothing choices is the monochromatic look, where, for example, a blue suit is complemented by a blue shirt and a navy necktie. It's an easy trap to fall into, and just as easy to avoid.

Men who find themselves dressing entirely in shades of a color need only remember the phrase "blue with gray and gray with blue." In other words, choose a necktie with a blue background to complement a gray suit, and one with a gray (ranging from charcoal to silver) ground to complement a blue suit.

Here, a gray nailhead suit is paired with a navy necktie with gold spots, a blue and white striped shirt, and a very dark blue paisley pocket square. Nothing fancy, but nothing to be ashamed of either.

Seersucker for Dinner Alfresco

A cotton seersucker jacket can be an unexpectedly lonely choice for outdoor dining on a mild evening. When the photo was taken I didn't know that I would be the only man at the restaurant wearing a jacket. Or, for that matter, that there would be only one other man wearing trousers. Ben Stein would have been outraged.

Cotton seersucker jacket, maroon knit necktie, navy square with white dots, white linen shirt, cream gabardine trousers and white bucks that I managed to get dirtier when I tried brushing them.

Quotation: Ben Stein on the Necktie

"You see this lovely silken thing around my neck? It’s called a necktie.

When I was a lad and a younger man, men wore these to show they did not work with picks and shovels and pitchforks.

Ties were a symbol of white collar status, although even some workmen wore them under their leather aprons.

If you had on a necktie, it showed you had some sense of organization, some sense of dignity about yourself.

Even schoolboys wore them. At fabulous boarding schools like Cardigan Mountain in New Hampshire, where my handsome son went, boys still wear them. It showed, to use a word that you rarely hear, class.

Now, I read in The Wall Street Journal, on the front page, if you please, that men don’t wear neckties any longer unless they are in subservient posts.

This will probably come as a bit of a surprise to Senators McCain and Obama, as well as to President Bush. They generally wear neckties, at least on TV.

It will probably come as a shock to all of the network newscasters and the late night talk show hosts. They’re the coolest guys on the planet, and they wear neckties.

But never mind. The Journal says only 6% of men wear neckties to work, and the necktie is being run down by history.

I hereby quote my late great friend Bill Buckley and say, I am going to stand in front of the train of sartorial history and shout, “STOP!”

The necktie is a sign of a man who is there to work, not to play. It’s what a man who takes his responsibilities seriously wears. Men who want to look and act like small children dress like small children, or surfers, or hoboes, or something.

Plus, the necktie covers over a little part of one’s paunchy stomach. And it just generally makes a man look better, smarter.

My fellow men: stop dressing like children. Start dressing like grownups and acting like grownups. The necktie is a start.

Kids, it’s the perfect time of year to get your dads a necktie. Get with the program, before we become a nation of open-collared slackers.

I mean it. Right now. And then straighten up your room."

Where More of It Needs to Go

A recent piece by Jessica Kelmon in San Francisco magazine's June issue estimates that a wealthy head of a Bay area household with an after-tax family expense budget of $1.25 million annually spends $15,000 of that amount on his clothes.

Now I am very greatful to San Francisco magazine, which has apparently selected A Suitable Wardrobe as one of its annual Bests of the Bay Area, but I have to wonder where the people that came up with this number are buying their clothing these days. I mean, yes, $15,000 is a lot of money for a working family but we're talking about people who are supposed to be spending $40,000 a year on the wife's wardrobe and $50,000 more for her hairdresser, facials, jewelry, fitness instructor and birthday party. And when a very good but by no means extravagant Oxxford made-to-measure suit costs $4,000, our hypothetical head of household can't buy four of them and have anything left for shirts, shoes and cashmere sweaters.

So this might be one of those how many angels can dance on the head of a pin discussions for many people but I submit that $25,000 is a better (but still not luxurious) number for a millionaire's clothing budget. That buys three bespoke suits from a world class tailor, one odd jacket or overcoat, either one pair of bespoke shoes or a couple pair of very good made to order shoes, and appropriate accessories. And if a man can resist weight gains and get ten years wear from his tailored clothing, he'll have a wardrobe that will offer him more than a California tuxedo for every occasion.

Color Balance

The summer combination of dark trousers and a light-colored jacket works best when the trousers' color or a close substitute is repeated above the waist to pull viewers' eyes up to the face.

Here, a vertical line is created floor to shoulders by navy trousers complemented by a navy vest and a knit necktie. Linen jacket, light-weight worsted vest and trousers, and brown striped club collar shirt worn with tan Edward Green bluchers.

The Old School Tie

It's said that the rise of London's Jermyn Street shirtmakers was in response to the small selection of neckties in the Englishman's wardrobe. His school, his university, his clubs and a couple of solids often sufficed, with fancy dress shirts providing the counter-balance.

In the United States, the situation is often reversed. A larger number of neckties make up for the dress shirt conservatism that occurs when department stores rarely stock much more than solid white or solid blue. But the old school tie still has a place.

Here, my alma mater's necktie is worn with a blue broadcloth shirt, tan nailhead suit and a linen pocket square.

Leges sine moribus vanae

The Death of the Dressing Gown

It's a sign of the end of civilization as we knew it that Charvet in Paris is the only place I know to obtain a silk dressing gown like the one Tom Ford is wearing in the photo (in place of what should be a smoking jacket) . But then, even I am no longer certain that dressing gowns matter.

After all, gowns were a product of the times when a man was on stage while lounging in his home. We don't tend to have visitors watch us dress any longer, at least in my circles, and most of us act as our own valets.


So today, the dressing gown is replaced by the robe. Instead of covering ourselves elegantly to spend the morning dressing, we wear something to keep ourselves warm while getting caffeinated before rushing off to work. Instead of silk, today our choices include cotton, camelhair, wool or maybe cashmere, even by the likes of Turnbull & Asser or Fallan & Harvey, whose row of robes is pictured here.

Given that a) I spend half my life wearing pajamas and b) spend the other half obsessing over clothes, it says something that I haven't even looked around for the cashmere dressing gown that I put aside last year to have the sleeves shortened.

I guess the dressing gown is dead.

Lifestyle: Getting There is Most of The Fun

Just a couple hours drive down the coast from San Francisco is the village of Carmel-By-The-Sea, a self-consciously European community occupying one of the more attractive locations on earth. Sharing a small bay with the Pebble Beach Golf Links and several other world class golf courses, Carmel has been rated one of America's top ten resort destinations by Condé Nast Traveller magazine.


An overnight visit to Carmel rose to the top of the agenda when Torbin at Club Sportiva offered to loan me the club's red Maserati Spyder convertible for a short trip. Between San Francisco and Carmel is the Pacific Coast Highway, about two and a half hours of relatively open and highly scenic road.


Club Sportiva does a highly professional job of checking members out on its vehicles, and that's a good thing. The Spyder, for example, has only four inches of ground clearance. Without the orientation I'd probably have had a close encounter with a gas station ramp.

But forget ground clearance - the Spyder is a great car on the open road. Nor were we the only people to appreciate it. I learned to maintain my composure when other drivers screamed as we passed, or as they passed us, but the first couple of times I was looking frantically around to see what pending doom was upon us.


We departed late morning of the first day, dressed in slip-on shoes, linen trousers, polo shirt and an odd jacket and wearing an old Panama hat that wouldn't have broken my heart if the wind had taken it. The Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay provided lunch, and we arrived at L'Auberge Carmel in time for a single malt and a cigar in the courtyard before dinner.

The next day we had a late breakfast, spent a few minutes at the beach and headed North to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Then lunch, and more open road to San Francisco.


At end of day we transferred our belongings back to our own car and took our leave of Club Sportiva's Spyder. For anyone that likes the experience of driving an open topped car as I do, two sunny days in a Maserati on the Pacific Coast Highway makes getting there most of the fun.

Showing Respect

David Hober wrote suggesting that I write about clothes for funerals, and I happened to have this photo from a post-memorial gathering I attended last year. Gray suit, white shirt, black oxfords and a black necktie are the uniform of the day.

David suggested black Irish poplin for the day's necktie. I prefer black grenadine but any matte black is correct. Ultra-conservative dress shows respect.

Saturday Socks

Casual clothes give license to splashes of color. Here, orange and yellow striping on brown cotton socks worn between linen trousers and slip-on shoes.

Robert Talbott in Carmel

Robert Talbott started as a Carmel, California tiemaker in 1950 and has grown to become perhaps the pre-eminent American supplier of neckties. The company operates a retail store in Carmel, where it offers a selection of four in hand and bow ties, pocket squares, RTW and made to measure shirts, socks, and accessories for black tie.


I've never been a fan of Talbott's neckties but I can usually find pocket squares and bow ties that I like. And I was suprised to see a sock design that I admired on Pantherella's home page last year. I couldn't find it anywhere in the United States but there it was on the shelves with Talbott's label. Perhaps they bought the entire run.

Worth a visit if you're in the area. Carmel itself, of course, is worth a trip no matter where you are.

I Love This Tie

I love this tie. A green natte weave (that's a combination of cotton and silk), it brightens up a sunny morning without being over the top.

Sometimes you just have to show your love.

Summer Suitings

I attended a Brioni trunk show about six weeks ago, where the company was featuring spring cloth selections for its made to measure clothing. And they were marvels of textile technology - Super 150s in 7 ounce weights that reflect the state of the art at the Carlo Barbera mills where they are woven - as they should be for the price. And that got me thinking about cloth for the first time in a while.

You see, even the Brioni executive admitted that stuff doesn't tailor easily. It's so light that it'll flap around in the faintest breeze. But worst of all, most of it didn't look cool wearing despite the light weight.

That's because the temperature control of cloth depends as much on the weave as the weight. In my experience, woolen flannel wears two to three ounces warmer than the same cloth weight in a conventional worsted. And conventional worsteds wear two to three ounces warmer than the same weight in a high twist cloth like Minnis fresco, Holland & Sherry Crispaire or Smith's Finmeresco.

In other words, my 9/10 ounce fresco suits wear quite a bit cooler than a nine ounce worsted. And compared to most seven ounce worsted, which is about as light as suiting cloth gets, they are as cool, more resistant to wrinkling and drape considerably better.

That's why my next summer suit order will be a quarter lined Finmeresco in the pictured light gray. At 11 ounces it's a lot heavier than the cloth Brioni is tailoring so it'll hang a lot better in a breeze. And I'll be every bit as cool.

Try a Bow Tie With Your Blazer

The combination of a dark jacket and a dark patterned bow tie is an effective change of pace for afternoon and early evening, perhaps because it's a look that doesn't come directly from the office. The video capture illustrates it worn by Edward Fox in his role in the 1978 British tv series Edward & Mrs. Simpson.

I usually think of bow ties with double breasted jackets or vested suits that don't have a lot of tie space. But they can also be combined with a shirt that has a dark pattern, where the pattern does its bit to fill in the jacket's tie space.

Bow ties of course offer an advantage over conventional neckties when the wearer will be leaning over a table-top. And there's also the rarity of the look, something that's an advantage in Paris. Of course, to paraphrase something I read, it might get the wearer beaten up in Chicago. But there is no reward without risk.

Try a bow tie with your blazer.

Necktie Texture

Choosing a necktie for its texture is one sign of a sophisticated dresser. Here Luca di Montezemolo, the man in the center of the photograph and a person we've admired several times in the past, complements his gray worsted with a navy knit.

Knitted neckties are just one way to add textural contrast. Irish poplin, silk grenadines, wool (or cashmere), and linen and silk combinations can each add more or less texture to an ensemble. Simple color combinations work best, so the eye is free from distraction and able to comprehend what's really going on.

The Exception to the Rule

Once dressed, a man is supposed to be nonchalant about his clothes, looking as if he pays them no attention. But there's one exception to that rule, and that's the pocket square which, if not fussed with periodically, has a disturbing tendency to balloon to indiscreet proportions.

Even princes are not immune.

Further Proof, If Any Was Needed

According to Ray Smith in the June 4 edition of The Wall Street Journal, a recent Gallup Poll reports that the number of American men who wore ties every day to work last year dropped to a record low of 6%, down from 10% in 2002. The necktie industry group sensed this trend for itself when a number of its members showed up tieless for a recent association meeting. Smith's story reports that the association is now disbanding.

Photograph courtesy of Harvie & Hudson.

Reader Questions

From Michael

What's your choice of fabric for a hot weather dress shirt and who makes it?

A variety of fabrics combine light weight and breathability. Linen, linen and cotton, cotton batiste, and/or cotton voile from a variety of makers like Thomas Mason should all be available from a MTM shirtmaker.

From Michiel
I am thinking of ordering some MTM shirts of Sea Island cotton, but I have been told that it is not very durable. Do you agree that Sea Island cotton is too delicate if one wants durability?

I wore Sea Island dress shirts exclusively for more than a decade without any problems. Mine show some collar fraying after ten or twelve years but I have the collars and cuffs replaced and keep right on wearing them.

Photograph courtesy of Harvie & Hudson.

Lifestyle: Backgammon Night

Tuesday night is backgammon night at the London clubhouse of the Royal Automobile Club, where I spent the evening losing small sums to all comers.

The leather backgammon boards at the club were commissioned by W.S. Foster, where my hosts, Sarah Adlam and Richard Edgecliffe-Johnson, the partners in Foster, are also members. In addition to shoes, Foster offers a line of bespoke leather luggage and accessories that I wouldn't dare check in airline baggage. It's better suited for the trunk of a Bentley or the cabin of a private jet.

Dress at the RAC is semi-formal. The men, including myself, were in suits of various shades of gray, and the majority of the women were wearing those floral printed cotton dresses that are popular summer wear in England. I regret that photos would have been inappropriate.

And, in the morning, back to Heathrow and home.

Oxblood Semi-Brogues

The other major stop on my quick trip to London was at WS Foster for a fitting of a pair of bespoke oxblood colored semi-brogues. These are meant for wear with navy city suits.


Foster lastmaker Simon Bolzoni is on leave to get married so I was honored to have Terry Moore, the man who trained Simon, check the shoes himself. At this stage they are just the uppers without a sole or heel but you can already see the Foster chisel toe, which may be my favorite shoe shape. And for anyone who's wondering, they have not been polished. The white punches will be filled with black polish and they'll be brought to a gleam before I see them next.

Delivery should be in about four weeks and I'm excited. But that's what happens when you're a shoe geek.

Fallan & Harvey Fitting

My first scheduled stop in London was at tailors Fallan & Harvey for the initial fitting of a new suit. Naturally, the humidity must have been 99% - perfect for trying on a 15 ounce flannel. Which is why I'm sweating. And the neckerchief is the residual of the clothes I wore on the plane just a few hours earlier.


It used to be said that the mark of a well-dressed man was that he could look good in bold plaids. That made me willing to try this cloth, one of the early London Lounge Cloth Club projects, but I'd been a bit nervous about how bold it would be in reality. Indeed, a friend's tailor was so concerned with the pattern that he suggested my friend's suit be made with the cloth reversed, which tones it down a bit. But I don't have to worry about what someone in the next office might think and I was happy with it made, as it was, into a three button roll 2.5 jacket with a double breasted vest. The vest should have a shawl collar when I see it next in the Fall.

So, worn without the vest it will stand out a little but no more than any overchecked cloth. Worn with the vest it should be striking.

Travel Day Today

Today was a travel day. I took the overnight flight from San Francisco to London for some fittings and after I got to my hotel started to change only to find I'd forgotten to pack any socks. So, still in cords and an odd jacket, off I went to Turnbull & Asser for some hose.

T&A offers a rainbow of solid-colored socks in both cashmere and cotton, but no patterns. Patterned socks are generally all I wear, but what's a man to do when all he's got is the pair of orange herringbone hose with green accents that's already on his feet? So I emerged with a pair of charcoal and a pair of light blue cotton.


Since I was just a block away I made my scheduled stop at Fallan & Harvey, still in the clothes I'd spent the night in. Tomorrow I'll post photos of the flannel suit that was the object of that visit, but I did also pick up the gun club odd jacket that Peter Harvey's been holding for me.

Back to the hotel for tea. I'm starving.

Quotation: The Social Function of the Hat

"The hat's natural purpose of protecting the head from rain or sun soon faded into the background, giving way to the much more important function of signalling rank, emphasizing authority, identifying leaders, uniting the members of a community or distinguishing social classes and nationalities...

A social code whose basic rule is that the lower orders must bare their heads before their betters and men must always raise their hats to ladies has established the importance of the hat to etiquette over the centuries...

Original sources inform us that way back in 1100 the inhabitants of Milan were already removing their hats as a sign of respect before starting a conversation. "

-Men's Hats by Giuliano Folledore (translated from the Italian)