Standing Out Without Shocking

Men in the public eye sometimes have reason to dress so that they stand out, and that does not mean they have to dress to shock. Consider, for example, the late French actor Philippe Noiret at the Cannes Film Festival for a photocall for the film Les Cotelettes in 2003. Brilliant, isn't he?

Noiret's father was in the clothing trade and that may have given him an advantage over most of us. But he's not doing anything particularly original in the photograph, is he? It is simply the combination of somewhat unusual classic elements that make him stand out: cream suit, spectator shoes, a bow tie and a fedora, on one man, at one time.

Look at Noiret. Look at his peers standing next to him. Look at a photo of Johnny Depp (well, maybe not Mr. Depp). Noiret wins.

Photo: Getty Images

The Practical Tweed Topcoat

In my opinion, the tweed topcoat should get more respect. Single breasted, with raglan sleeves like the coat on the right in the Esquire illustration, a ghillie collar, slash pockets and turnback sleeve cuffs, it is good looking, hard wearing, warm and rain resistant. It is cost effective as well, since the simple construction of the raglan sleeves means made to measure versions are effectively indistinguishable from bespoke and the entire coat can be made on a sewing machine.

Tweed topcoats have been a wardrobe staple for travel for nearly a century, performing the same functions as a lined raincoat with considerably more panache. Executed in patterns on blue, gray or brown grounds, they are a reasonable length that is not too heavy for wear in a conveyance. And on a trip, the same coat looks fine over denim and boots as well as oxfords and a suit.

A man looking for appropriate topcoat cloth should focus on Donegals, Cheviots and other suiting tweeds in weights ranging from 15 to 18 ounces (450 to 540 grams). Most tailors will ask for the same amount that they require for a jacket and trousers, but be sure to add 10% for pattern matching.

And that is the practical tweed topcoat.

Beautiful Shoes, Terrible Photo

Emma Lakin of shoemakers W. S. Foster & Son is visiting the City this week, bringing with her for fitting the first iteration of some slip-on shoes commissioned last summer.

Lacking the support of laced shoes around the top of the foot, bespoke slip-ons are usually made on a separate last. Most makers want to check the first pair from any last on the client's feet before attaching the upper to the sole, and that is what brought these unfinished beauties to San Francisco.

Bridge problems around the Bay meant it was evening before shoes and feet were brought together, which was part of the reason for the lack of photographic documentation of the fitting itself. Suffice it to say that the toe box on the right foot will be ever so slightly larger, and the heel area of the left shoe tightened to prevent slippage before they are delivered after the new year. The soles will be thin, and finished with squared edges.

Throughout the fitting, Emma and the shoes did their parts and the camera did not. Why it chose to focus on the sofa instead of the shoes is mystery. Beautiful shoes, terrible photo. Fortunately, I do have a picture of the sample.

A Sunny Day Suit

A package arrived from Cumbria the other day containing the suit Thomas Mahon fitted this past July, just in time for the end of the season.

Intended for our San Francisco "summers" where temperatures rarely reach 75f (24c), the suit is made from Smiths' 11 ounce/330 gram Finmeresco. Finmeresco is smoother than other high twist fabrics of my experience, but that comes with a price as it does not seem to circulate air quite as well. In practice that will not be an issue as most wear will occur on days that are sunny but not hot.


After this one time out, the suit will be going back to have its full lining replaced with one that better complements a garment meant for mild weather. That will put it back in circulation about the time that sunny days return to the Bay area.

Sunday in the Park

On a late Indian summer day, Sunday afternoon in the park clothing consisted of a black and white houndstooth suit, blue end on end shirt, midnight blue satin necktie, fox suede semi-brogues, washed silk pocket paisley pocket square with a purple ground and a James Lock fedora.


A small houndstooth pattern appears solid from a short distance but resolves into pattern up close. By chance, the suit was the only tropical that hadn't been transferred to seasonal storage, a good thing as the temperature touched 80f (27c). One more week and the only choices would have been tweeds and flannels.

How Many Braces?

A surprising thing about the photo of the late Richard Merkin is the number of braces hanging on his closet door. Braces being underwear and not for public display, there can be several reasons a man chooses to acquire such a collection.

Of course, this presupposes that a man wears braces with his suits. English influenced dressers do. Men who prefer a continental style wear belts. The latter may choose to stop reading here and find something else to learn from a study of the impeccably dressed Mr. Merkin.

When it comes to reasons for collecting braces, the first is seasonality. The usual winter braces are wool boxcloth in solid colors. Boxcloth is comfortable on the shoulders but can be a little warm in hot weather, when barathea braces can be a lighter weight alternative. So weather is a rationale for at least a pair of each type.

The shoe matching challenge can require some variety in a collection of braces but is also the easiest to solve. Rather than braces with brown ends to wear with brown shoes and black ended braces to wear with black shoes, a single inventory of straps with white ends complements either shoe color.

Another consideration can be differences in trouser heights. Trousers from one tailor may be an inch or more longer than those from another. It being considerably easier to set the length of one's braces correctly one time and leave them alone thereafter, different braces are often asigned to different trousers. The most extreme version of this practice is found in the closets of men who permanently attach a pair of (usually red) braces to each pair of suit.

Finally, a man's personal aesthetics may dictate braces that complement the day's ensemble. Others may not know whether one's braces complement or clash, but the wearer does. And at the end of that road is inevitably a closet filled with braces.


Photo: Eddie Hausner/The New York Times

Seven of a Kind

The necktie in the photograph is a bespoke combination of red stripes on gray in a textured mixture of silk and linen, folded six times and lined with wool so it drapes beautifully.

A dozen were ordered last Spring. It proved virtually impossible to crease the material cleanly and the English maker unfortunately lost his proverbial shirt before finally delivering seven of them this month. There will be no more.

3.25 inches wide by 56 inches long (that's 8 cm by 142 cm) and $140 each, including shipping in the continental United States.

Every Man Should Have a Pair

In the most formal of clothing lexicons, slip-on shoes are for wear about the house or with casual clothing outdoors in summer. Needless to say, that useage has gone out of fashion, and slip-on shoes are often worn with suits in the United States, Italy, and other countries other than England. The default style is arguably the Alden tassel moccasin, a perfectly fine shoe with an odd jacket but technically no better than a penny loafer under a suit.

The challenge with slip-ons is of course that their low cut decreases their formality and does not offer the support or protection from the elements of a laced shoe. But not all slip-ons are low sided. Bespoke shoe makers as well as a few of the better ready to wear firms such as Edward Green and Gaziano & Girling offer slip-on shoes that are the near equivalent of their laced brethren in terms of both form and function. That equivalency comes from higher sides than the casual slip-on, accompanied by elastic that allows them to be slid on and off of the foot for airport security.

Unlike low sided slip-ons, elastic sided designs like the George Cleverley bespoke sample in the photo usually feature enough brogueing to look somewhat like a laced dress shoe while preserving the slip-on's convenience. Every suit-wearing travelling man should have a pair, in my opinion.

Fittings

Of the six tailors that have made more than one item for me, five want the customer to try on garments that are fairly complete. The jackets look like the one Sean Connery is wearing in the publicity still from the 1963 film From Russia With Love, with the canvas, shoulder pads, pockets, sleeves and lapels sewn in place. At this stage, known as a forward fitting, it is easy to visualize the completed coat and any necessary adjustments are discussed and marked up so they can be made before it is finished and delivered.

The arrival of an odd jacket held together with basting thread reminded me that Hong Kong tailor W. W. Chan does not use forward fittings, instead fitting garments at the skeleton baste stage, where the basic parts have been cut and are sewn together using said white cotton thread. The idea is that after a skeleton baste, a jacket, for example, is taken apart, altered, and the alterations transferred to the pattern before the coat is re-sewn.

Where other tailors use a skeleton baste for basic pattern corrections with new customers, this early look seems to be the only opportunity for a Chan customer to have his fit evaluated unless he travels to Hong Kong. I find that strange. Once a man's pattern is generally perfected, it is the minor adjustments that make the difference between a satisfactory and a less than satisfactory experience. The considerable risk is that the way a jacket will look on the customer is not really evident without the padding and canvas in place.

My first experience with Chan resulted in a suit that fits well but was finished in a different style than I requested because the differences between order and delivery were not apparent at the skeleton baste fitting. It may be that these compromises are the real price of a less expensive but still very competent Hong Kong suit and that customers should stay with tried and true designs, but I was hoping for something better.


The photo is courtesy of Eric Musgrave's Sharp Suits.

Mis-Matched Grosgrain

A man's black tie is supposed to be made from the same stuff as his jacket's lapels, something that is easier said than done these days. The single breasted and the smoking have matching ties but the lapels of the pictured DB DJ are unfortunately considerably duller than any grosgrain bow in the wardrobe, and the tailor responsible for making that coat will not sew one for me. So begins the task of finding a tie maker who will supply a couple of sized bows in Richard James Weldon's corded silk number 300/2.

If a man is going to the trouble to wear evening clothes in the first place, he should invest in a sized tie or two. Made to the correct length for his neck, the sized bow has no need for the bulk of the one size fits all version. That is particularly important with a to-attach shirt collar that will leave an adjustable tie buckle out in plain view of the entire ballroom.

And while one is at it, match the tie and lapels.

The Bespoke Waistband

Thanks to the wind for making the waistbands visible on Frank and Dean's trousers in the photo, which is from Eric Musgrave's book Sharp Suits. Sharp-eyed readers will note that said waists are beltless, which some people may be surprised to learn was the usual state for bespoke garments before ready to wear clothes trained the eye to expect a belt.

In the English tailoring tradition, suit trousers are usually supported by braces, those over the shoulder straps that Americans call suspenders. Braces do their work gracefully, allowing trousers to hang without the need for adjustment during the day. Despite their effectiveness, in an era when men routinely remove their jackets visible braces are not always well received by people who are not used to the look. And trousers cut for braces cannot be supported any other way, since they have an inch or more of slack at the waist to allow for freedom of movement.

Men who want to avoid braces, and there have been many of them over the years, also need to avoid belts if, like Mr. Sinatra, they wish to wear a vest without looking like a hick from the sticks. For a visible belt buckle beneath a vest is a sartorial sin comparable to showing bare skin above one's socks when seated. So the bespoke waistband is sewn to fit precisely, supporting the trouser with no more assistance than a strap and buckle or two.

It is a more elegant look than the belted trouser, in my opinion.

Next Time Try a Suit

This past week I was reminded that several men who I respect have many more odd jackets than suits in their wardrobes. They are employed in occupations of medium formality, and perhaps that is the reason, but I had always taken on faith that a man's closets should contain more suits than odd jackets.

The late Duke of Windsor's 1960 autobiography, Windsor Revisited, describes a wardrobe containing about three times as many suits as it did odd jackets, and I have stuck with that ratio over time personally. After all, the Duke most often wore suits that were too casual for business and, free from the "must wear" obligations of the office, they have the look that I like the best: loud tweeds, summer Solaros, patterned flannels like the brown and gray check in the illustration, and black and white houndstooths of the type James Bond once wore to the golf course.

I think it was the Italian ready to wear makers who changed the way men think in this regard as in so many other ways. The culture encourages men to appear more relaxed, and the odd jacket is less formal than the suit. When the Zegnas and Kitons filled their racks with muted odd jackets in slightly aggressive versions of suit patterns that could be worn to many offices without drawing a second look, men bought in.

I think today, when for many men the suit is reserved for Saturday nights and is as formal as they dress generally, it is a good time to re-examine the casual suit as an alternative to the odd jacket. After all, its relative rarity makes it a little sharper and more dandified without resorting to costume.

Next time, try a suit.

When a Man Needs His Wellies

When the water runs so deep that a man needs his wellies, ordinary raincoats may not keep him dry. And that is when a length of rubber coated cotton from the Mackintosh folks in Glasgow, Scotland might serve him well.

Produced in one form or another for about 150 years, the Mack is utility with a thin gloss of fashion. Unlined, it does little beyond keep between its wearer and the wet, but a combination of rubberized exterior and taped and glued seams do that task as well as anything.

Less citified than a trench coat, the Mack evokes images of the silver screen hero riding his Vincent Black Shadow through the storm to a rendezvous with destiny. Or it would if it were any color other than banana yellow.

For men of more conservative mien, J. Crew has an above the knee Mack in navy for $800. The Alan Flusser Custom Shop is nearly sold out of the exclusive-to-the-store version in the photo, but interested parties should inquire.

Mouchoirs and Pochettes

The handkerchiefs and pocket squares of Brussels based Simonnot-Godard are to my taste perhaps the very best of their type in the world. The pair in the top photo are 48 cm/18 inch cotton squares from the Lys collection, colored Verte vif and Cuivre respectively.

What appear to be two different handkerchiefs in the second photo are actually two sides of one design, the Madras weave in a 48 cm/ 18 inch cotton square. SG offers its handkerchiefs in three sizes, with 48 cm being the largest. The generous size costs only a little more while adding significantly to the flexibility of jacket pocket display.

The company's most popular items are its 8110 line of 50% cotton and 50% linen with colored borders. The ones in the photo are 48cm/18 inches square with hand rolled edges of gris and bordeaux respectively.

Fine cotton and linen squares like these are best paired with silk neckties, where the textures contrast. They also complement a tieless jacket beautifully. And [commercial on] there will be a dozen patterns in the ASW store for $50 per handkerchief including shipping within the continental United States [commercial off].

Boots and Flannels

Not one but two winter storms arrived this week, bringing high winds and autumn's first serious rain to a parched Northern California. The forecast called the pictured shell cordovan boots to duty on only their second day out of seasonal storage. Shell cordovan of course is the water resistant leather made from the rump muscle (or shell) of a horse, and in boot form it provides protection from the elements up to mid-calf.

Unfortunately, getting caught outside without an umbrella or other rain gear meant that booted feet were the only completely dry part of my body. Too late, I called the Alan Flusser Custom Shop to ask where my Mackintosh was (it may arrive the day after the rain moves out of the area).

Worn with wet flannel trousers, a somewhat water resistant tweed jacket and a dripping beaver felt hat.

Peter Harvey Comes to Town

Graham Lawless and Peter Harvey of Savile Row's Davies & Son have been in the City this week. Peter's Fallan & Harvey name has been incorporated into Davies for about a year now.

In the photo, Peter is marking up a problem with the collar on an odd jacket while yours truly appears to be describing a recent aeronautical experience.


Peter and Graham brought with them a completed brown tweed suit whose jacket might be worn by itself once in a while. The 15 ounce/450 grams cloth is meant for temperatures below 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius). Thankfully, we have not gotten there yet.


We also had a covert coat ready for fitting, though it was at an early stage of development. I had envisioned a velvet collar that is the same color and a different texture than the cloth of the coat body but we have not found the right material so far.

My friend Jonathan took video of the visit and once we get that edited it will go up on the ASW Facebook page.

The First Moleskins of the Season

Yesterday was was the season's first truly cool day and it called for a pair of moleskin trousers. The short, velvet-like nap on cotton moleskin traps air next to the body so in a 16 ounce/480 gram weight it wears warm.

They were worn with a tweed shirt-jacket over a flannelette shirt, a silk scarf, a tweed hat and tan Norwegian style bluchers.

Consistent with the change in temperature, two linen suits went into storage and were replaced by flannel in lighter weights. The weather is still too mild for the 15 ounce/450 gram stuff but cool enough for a 360 gram/12 ounce weave. Today's visit to tailor Peter Harvey in the City is likely to require it.

Well Done

The fellow in the Esquire illustration today combines about as many classic details for an odd jacket ensemble as are safe to wear outside the privacy of one's own home: brown bluchers, large trouser cuffs, three patch and flap jacket pockets, a sweater under that jacket, a pinned shirt collar, a knit necktie and a tweed cap.

Well done!

Wearable Art

At the highest level, clothing should be enjoyed for its beauty. And of the things potentially in a man's closet, bespoke shoes are for me simply wearable art.

In the photograph, a pair of bespoke samples by Gaziano & Girling.

No Imposters These

On my way into the George Cleverley trunk show in San Francisco the other day I was accosted by a man who introduced himself as George Glasgow. Well I know George, the managing director of that firm, and this was not he so I laughingly accused him of being an imposter. The real George Glasgow who was hiding around the corner put me straight. I had just met George Glasgow Jr., the man in the photo, who was travelling with his father.


I was visiting to renew acquaintances as well as check out Cleverley's new Anthony Cleverley line of made to order shoes. Seven very attractive models are priced at £950 including shoe trees and VAT (approximately $1,325 USD ex VAT). At that pricing they fall between Cleverley's ready to wear and semi-bespoke ranges and its more expensive bespoke shoes.


The Forte casual (under the brown shoe) with a hand-stitched apron is a particularly elegant slipon to my eye, though I prefer not to have a cutout in the band across the apron, and like the other Anthony Cleverley models it displays an obvious Tuczek heritage. It might perhaps be more appropriate for wear with chinos in a shade of brown like the (bespoke) shoe that rests on top of it though. Or so I hope will be the case when I see it come to life this coming January in London.

No imposters these.

Maintenance: Suede Shoes

One of the advantages of suede shoes over their polished calf relations is that they require far less care so long as one keeps them out of torrential downpours. Just brush them periodically with a suede brush in the direction of the nap and then paint the edges. If any spots on the nap resist the brush, don't work too hard on the spot and wear the nap away. The shoes probably need a shampoo instead.

Carelessness Indeed!

When well-dressed men transgress, their clothing-related sins usually involve overt attention seeking with unusual styles and loud color combinations (often at the same time). That sort of attention clamoring never seems to apply to Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, without a doubt one of the very best dressed men in the public eye.

No, when Montezemolo errs, he is still wearing conservative clothing, well cut and discreetly colored. His penchant is instead to push the boundaries of sprezzatura, or studied carelessness. The idea is to show that one is not too careful with his clothes, which is of course more of an obsession than not.

For example, would anyone argue that the jacket in the center of the photo is unintentionally buttoned incorrectly? Caraceni never intended for that lower button to be closed, and Montezemolo knows it. But there are half a dozen or more photos online that show him wearing a coat cut to button to the center or top, buttoned instead all the way or to the bottom.

Carelessness indeed!

Summer-in-Fall

In many parts of the northern hemisphere, the end of September and beginning of October are the most perplexing time of the year for choosing a day's clothing. And that perplexity is clear in the illustration.

Summer is over, and the men in the foreground are wearing cloth caps, tweed and, heaven help them, what look like flannel trousers. Nonetheless, the temperature is warm, so warm in fact that one man has removed his jacket and is wiping sweat from his brow, while the woman in the checked skirt has bare arms and legs.

So what to wear? Summer-in-fall weather is as challenging today as it was when the illustration was drawn. And much as reasonable men prefer distinct wardrobes for spring and fall, summer-in-fall calls for something in between: mid-weight cloth in fall colors. That might be a dark brown suit in nine ounce/270 gram cashmere and cotton, or an 11 ounce/330 gram navy wool gabardine, both mid-weight fabrics that are tightly woven to wear a bit warmer than their weight might otherwise suggest.

Less formal occasions, including a turn around the deck, let us take further advantage of modern cloth technology. That can mean tweed jackets that weigh but 10.5 ounces/310 grams, and blazers in mid-weight hopsack for air circulation. Either jacketing could be worn with light-weight worsted flannel trousers (Dormeuil offers some). There is also fresco of course, but after wearing fresco all summer long it is time for a change for summer-in-fall.

The Last Post of Summer

Yes, summer has ended but I found today's photo only yesterday while catching up on Finch's Quarterly Review, for my taste one of the better magazine equivalents online, and thought it too good to pass up. By the way, Finch's does a particularly nice job of integrating their own YouTube videos into the format, something ASW needs to begin copying shamelessly.

At any rate, the man on the left is Nick Foulkes of Finch's and other London-centric places. The stylish guy on the right is Wei Koh, who almost single-handedly has been writing The Rake, the glossy men's style magazine published in Singapore.

Some might quibble with Koh's pairing of a white collared shirt with an odd jacket but it serves to pull in his white trousers nicely. All in all, a great look for summer in my opinion.

We now return you to the onset of cooler weather.

Photo: Finch's Quarterly Review

Visiting Season Begins

The autumn visiting season is beginning this month, when hundreds if not thousands of men queue for bespoke clothing from travelling tailors (the process is identical for a first pair of bespoke shoes though subsequent pairs do not normally require a fitting). It is a system that generally requires eight months or more to obtain a finished product, but it is the principal option for men outside of New York and Chicago that want the fit and range of choices that are only available from one of the remaining world class tailors.

Though men who know what they want can order by telephone or email, the client usually chooses cloth and if necessary is measured on one visit, when he may also be fitted for the clothes he ordered the previous season. The incomplete item or items are brought to a hotel suite in the client's home city (in America, that means New York, and usually some combination of San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, and Washington) on the tailor's next trip, generally six months later. Any required adjustments are noted and the completed clothing is shipped in time for the customer to wear it a time or two before the tailor's return. Hopefully, all is well. If not, the offending things are returned to the tailor for further alterations requiring several more months.

The principal problem with the visiting system is the lag time, though that is ameliorated once there are clothes in various stages of the pipeline. And since completion of each step is usually a two month process, most of the intervening time can be dispensed with when a man can visit his tailor on his home ground once or twice a year. In the photograph, Dennis Hallbery, formerly a well-respected cutter at London's Anderson & Sheppard, fits a client at that firm's former premises on Savile Row.

Photo: David Montgomery/Getty Images

Maintenance: Hanging Trousers

A friend sent me this unattributed scan, the first drawing I can recall seeing about one of the small secrets of Savile Row. And that is the Savile Row fold for trousers which, until the felted hanger bar, was probably the best way to keep one's trousers from falling off the hanger.

The fold was important as suit hangers with locking trouser bars never worked worth a fig for me. I would get to my hotel and find my trousers inevitably puddled in the bottom of their suit bag. Even a little movement in the closet was sometimes enough to send them to the floor, and if the trousers did stay in place it was because the locking bar was putting a crease in them.

Kirby Allison did many of us a favor when he began supplying wooden suit hangers with felted trouser bars. Everything remains in place, without the need for a Savile Row fold. But the fold is the next best thing.

Spring is Just Around the Corner

Regular readers are likely to recall that heavy linen has the advantage of rumpling when its lighter relations crease, and that is why the heavy stuff is preferable for tailored clothing. The best for that purpose has been 14 ounce/420 gram cloth from either Holland & Sherry or Scabal (I believe London's W. Bill has some as well but I have never taken the time to check). And that is why scepticism abounded when H&S introduced its Shannon Linen book last Spring: beautiful cloth but the weight is only 10 ounces/300 grams. The world needed more suiting quality linen as the older H&S Emerald Isle book is sold out of several colors, but surely not that light. And then I thought of caps.


The thing about the construction of caps is that they have an inner structure that does most of the heavy lifting, so the cloth cover does not necessarily have to be heavy. So off went a couple of half meter pieces of the Shannon Linen to Lawrence & Foster for an experiment. The photos show the results in light blue and brown respectively. A man might not want a suit from the stuff but the caps look and feel much like caps made from the 14 ounce cloth.

Unfortunately for any intentions of wearing them in season, L&F apparently closed for the month of August, and then misplaced the material for a couple of weeks after they came back to work. That meant the caps arrived a month too late.

Of course, spring is just around the corner.

Darker Shoes for the Season

The brown Adelaide brogues in the photo came out of storage the other day for the first time since March. They and the boots have replaced the spectators, white bucks and tan shoes of summer in the active rotation.

The shade that most makers call chestnut is useful as a rough boundary between spring and fall shoe colors. In the sunshine of spring, chestnut tends to be as dark a brown as a man needs, with some exception granted to chocolate brown suede. And in the gloomier days of fall and winter, it fills the reverse role as the lightest shade in the closet. Generally, dark oak and espresso look better.

Autumn is here. Wear darker brown shoes.