The story goes that the late Murray Pearlstein, founder of the legendary retailer Louis Boston, flew to Italy to meet with Luciano Barbera after seeing a photo of the young and very well dressed Mr. Barbera wearing one of his Caraceni (a Milanese tailor of some well-deserved renown) tweed suits.
"I want to buy your clothes for my store," said Mr. Pearlstein. "But I don't make clothes," replied a confused Mr. Barbera. And so a few minutes later began the Luciano Barbera clothing line.
Of course, that story is only peripherally related to the photo of the same Luciano Barbera wearing what every baseball brimmed male should aspire to, or at least the ones that know how to spell the word tweed. And that is the head covering known as an ivy, driving or golf cap.
Whether made from linen, tweed or more exotic materials, the ivy-driving-golf cap, called simply "the cap" for the blessedly short remainder of this essay, is the best head covering choice when a man is not wearing a formal clothing or a city suit. Oh, there is much that is good and little that is wrong with the fedora or more exotic forms of hats but the cap sits atop the wearability pyramid. And that is because it does all the shade-and-warmth-providing work of other hats without looking odd to eyes unaccustomed to elegant forms of headwear. And there are many of those. Eyes, that is.
To my mind, a reasonable cap wardrobe should consist of at least two linen and three or four tweed versions. They complement shorts and a polo on the golf course as well as they enhance the look of a tweed or linen suit in a tasting room. And, if one can believe the photo, they also make a positive impact on attractive motor scooter riding women.
Wear a cap.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Wear a Cap
Photo: Luciano Barbera USA
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10 comments:
Ah, Will. A postively Flusserian post. Agree on caps, but sadly must confess I never liked the cut of Luciano's clothes (his prodigous sense of color and texture notwithstanding).
Caraceni has ruined many a silhouette incidentally, including Mr. Berlusconi's (who looks like a can of Heinz's Boston Baked Beans in Caraceni).
I have noticed that I am the only one wearing a traditional, fur felt fedora or trilby.
Your post has set me thinking about returning to caps.
Will,
For years, I have worn such ivy caps with a city suit and a camelhair, cashmere, or wool topcoat or a raincoat in Winter to work as an attorney downtown in a northeastern city. Your article makes me think I should wear a more formal hat for business. What type of fedora or other hat do you recommend for business in the city?
-John L.
John, a felt fedora is more appropriate than a cap with a city suit.
I would submit that Belusconi brought the beans to Caraceni rather than obtaining them there. All tailors ruin silhouettes from time to time and they have ruined fewer than most in my opinion.
except that he now looks ten times more elegant since he has started wearing Ciro Paone (very visible and recent over here), but, yes, he is the beans, the can, the gas, the whole factory himself.
Ah, Will. The pressures of a daily blog can be too much with us; certainly, they caused the fact error in your Pearlstein-Barbera post.
For Louis Pearlstein, founder of the eponymous emporium, departed our mortal coil about one-half century before his grandson, Murray, made the fortuitous Barbera connection.
It was, in fact, Murray Pearlstein who transformed the Boston shop from an old-line purveyor of Hickey Freeman and Southwick suitings to a world class outpost of style and attitude. (Murray's daughter, Debi Greenberg, now owns and runs Louis. It will soon move from its Back Bay home--the former Natural History Museum--to the now-chic Boston waterfront.)
In the meantime, a tip of the cap to you and yours for yeoman service to the cause of civil appearance.
Teach me not to write posts late at night that will.
My brother loves these caps. Maybe I should get him an ASW model. As for me, "she who opines," might say I dress rather English enough, so perhaps I should just tell her part of the story and say it has Italian provenance.
seitelman,
Don't do it! I, too, am a fedora wearer--I don't even own any caps--and need as many comrades-in-hats as possible.
John L.,
I mainly wear odd jackets, but there's nothing like a fedora to keep off the wind, rain, and snow. Besides, a fedora looks much better with any kind of long coat than a cap does. I also have a homburg for when I really want to kick it up a notch, but I only ever wear it with suits (and long coats over suits, of course).
Having said all that, I might be tempted by something as trim and stylish as Mr. Barbera's cap.
Maybe.
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