Photo: Allison V. Smith
As George Bernard Shaw once observed, England and America are two countries divided by a common language. The same might be said of gentlemen's dress in the two countries. Or, rather, three countries as the United States lies somewere between England and Italy in style and though the three have common clothing roots seems to drift further towards the Italians every year.
The English of course are responsible for the basic architecture of jacket, trousers and necktie and have given us most of the great tailors. Further, English conservatism has kept at least some men true to what were the Rules of the City of London. That is to say, charcoal and navy suits, conservative neckties, a bit of flair in the shirts, and black shoes. Always black shoes.
Two trends led the Italians to predominance in North America. The first was that there was never much of a ready to wear market tailored clothing in England, where large chains specialized instead in made to measure clothing before and after the Second World War. I am not aware of any English brand establishing itself in the American market, however the Italians made a significant investment beginning in the 1980s and did get a foothold.
In addition, it rarely gets truly hot in England and that nation's tailors took a while to grow comfortable with lightweight cloth. That period of discomfort meant further opportunity for the Italians, including designer Massimo Bizzocchi in the photo, who worked successfully to get lightweight clothing accepted in the U.S. With that success came the Italian clothing sense as illustrated by Mr. Bizzochi's brown suit and brown striped shirt. That is a combination one would rarely see in England and then usually on men who prove to be visitors from Milan and points south.
In the United States though, Italian style predominates today, having overwhelmed the Brooks Brothers sack suit as well as the Savile Row silhouette and color palette. Visit any department store, and other than the odd U.S. maker the suits on sale are Italian. And the North American men I know who dress in bespoke clothing, clothing that is overwhelmingly English in make as few of the continental tailors visit the United States, wear it in a way that has more in common with the Italians than English.
Two countries separated by a common dress.
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20 comments:
Italian style/dress is realised yet evolving; as is the English. America on the other hand, has not yet found an identity and therefore tweaks and messes with established styles rendering them souless and inert.
Oh I say old boy: a little harsh don't you think? Souless perhaps but inert - misguided perhaps but inert?
What do you say will old bean?
Ahh Harbinger, I must have myself to blame for that opinion. Souless and inert indeed.
I truly believe that the best of U.S. dress takes what is good from anywhere and combines it in a very nice style that is all its own. I know I aspire to that.
Some additions and complications.
RTW is really a mid 19th cent. US innovation.
More recently, in the mid and late 20th cent Italy gained influence because postwar, it was wiped out and rather poor, esp in the south, and could export clothing at any price range, low to high (like China today). So a lot of the postwar Italian revival was powered by clothing exports. Many of the best Italian RTW companies of today were founded or revived in the fifties and sixties. The English were not as hungry.
Lastly, the best known English brand of RTW tailored clothing (Chester Barrie, RIP) was founded by an expatriate American, Simon Ackerman, who also founded d'Avenza in Italy.
I'll agree that we drift more to the Italian look in RTW (Mr. Lauren aside, but he is known to be a bit flamboyant.) Here, in the South, we tend to split almost evenly between traditional collegiate American (with a dose of vibrant colour) and Italian exuberance. Perhaps it is marketing. Or, maybe we have more than our fair share of peacocks? Gotta love brown suede shoes with just about everything.
After the war, the English knew what hunger was...arguably, more than the Italians. But so did many other countries, but I digress.
Personally, I'd enjoy the fun of trying to build both styles into into my wardrobe. Each have their moments.
Hard to believe, but there was a distinct American style once. And Europeans admired it. The good old days...
But these are generalizations. Style should blend in with its environment, but it is fundamentally individual. That's why I like wearing both English and Italian elements. And as an avid people watcher, I notice well dressed gents eyeing each other all around town. Some envy, some awe, but I think we're mostly admiring others and learning what works and what doesn't.
Thank goodness for those who keep the true American tradition of menswear alive -- which tradition, I may note, is much closer to the English than to the Italian, I believe.
Heavy worsted and woolen fabrics? Check. Repp and club ties? Check. Serious, well-made shoes? Check. Apart from a different suit silhouette and that little matter of shirts, Americans and Englishmen are brethren at the haberdashery.
And speaking of shirts, that worn by the model in this post is truly atrocious.
No doubt it’s emblematic of my ignorance, and a gross generalization, but my perception is that there’s always been a good deal of cross inspiration between Italy and England. And not that I’m in anyway knowledgeable, but haven’t there always been many different Italian styles, often quite different regionally, rather than THE one Italian style to be read about in so many publications. Certainly a Roman, a Neapolitan and a Milanese gentlemen each might be wearing very differently cut and made tailored clothing. Milan in particular has often looked to me more British than England over much of the last 20 years. All-be-it with perhaps somewhat softer and lighter fabrics.
And in an era when much of the British jackets I see are getting stiffer and higher, while at the same time the trousers are getting lower and tighter, it reminds me more and more of the so-called continental style that became popular within U.S. RTW in the late ‘50’s and early ‘60’s, and was itself an aberration of traditional Roman tailoring. While at the same time Neapolitan tailors are cutting an unpadded shoulder and the Milanese wish to dress like a variety of English lord, I’m not sure that the Italians may not have benefited from what the English have lost. And I’m not sure that Americans aren’t borrowing more from current day Britain than from today’s Italy.
An interesting topic. The English and US-East-Coast professional style reflecting seriousness and strictness in one's work is unequalled in the expression of correctness and professionality. It is also to emphasise the belonging to a group of people, e.g. a social class, a profession or activity, the armed forces etc. with its blazers, club ties and the like. The associated leisurewear style is based on the English/New English Country Gentleman in his mainly cool climes with its Tweeds and Veldtshoen.
There is, then, little found in this tradition that could make stylish urbane leisure wear, or for the person who, due to warmer weather and more relaxed work environments wants to avoid the above pathways. And it is here where the Italian style, with its added layers of creativity and colour, fills these crucial gaps. Italian style is more about expressing individuality and less about expressing membership of conformity to a social group or class. Italian style, as Will pointed out, has seriously influenced the USA, especially outside New England. French style is somewhere in between, but much less known internationally, as there was no wave of French immigrants to the USA equalling the large numbers of Italian arrivals. Whilst the core of a gentleman's style - and I am only talking about this style here - derives from the history of the English City and landed gentry outfits and will still be the foundation of a stylish wardrobe, in our time we need Italian, and I dare to add some French influences to dress well in the various settings we face in life. Other styles - Japanese, Spanish, German and Austrian for instance - have been to a large extent based on or incorporated English and Italian developments.
As far as an American style is concerned, the existence of Moccasins, saddle shoes, Cordovan shoes, (although the name is Spanish), seersucker suits, the Tuxedo (a place in New England), Penny loafers, weejuns, beefrolls and white bucks are a strong indicator of the USA having its own contributions to style and originality. All the above are parts of a good and versatile wardrobe.
"Hard to believe, but there was a distinct American style once. And Europeans admired it."
Example?
It's quite a challenge to come up with a national style for a nation as geographically diverse - and regionally independent - as the U.S.!
Richard, while America can certainly take credit for the Tuxedo's name (and possibly its popularization) I'm afraid it cannot take credit for its invention. That honor belongs firmly to the British.
Am I missing something, or are the gentleman's cuffs missing their buttons? How is that done?
Fred, I think that if you were able to turn his cuff over a bit you'd see buttonholes.
Mark,
American style has its unique marks on classic clothing, as you may note from comments above.
The admiration Europeans felt originated after WWII, naturally. They were rebuilding, and we were helping them and making quite a bit of maney at the same time. And while the Italians had to wait for Agnelli, and the British looked back to the POW as icons of style, they still talk about JFK and Cary Grant as the American style icons today. I met someone here who used to be a close friend of Fellini. When filming "La Dolce Vita", the heart of the moment captured in film relates to when America came to Rome's Cinecitta' studios. They all wanted to be like Americans. Check out Marcello Mastroianni in the movie; he's dressed just like JFK throughout the film.
Arguably, Ivy/Trad style is what most of us might consider American, but Europeans looked to America as the style leader in the 50's and 60's for gentleman's dress. And they're actually sorry to see the U.S. has lost its influence. Guess we were too busy with other, more important matters...
Italian style in the US is? I'm sorry, I don't see it. I think you are talking about a small minority of Americans who shop at Barneys. Most Americans don't even know that Italy is a fashion mecca.
Most Americans don't read ASW Caligula. And most of the ones that do have shopped at Barneys or one of its competitors.
We are seperated by much more than that.In my opinion we use a language but think very differently.
Check out the book Beau Brummel from about five years back=great read.
america always a really strong identity, just go back to Mitchum and Bogart.Europe copied them in their D.B's with just two buttons
also chinatown
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