To answer yesterday's question, the dinner jacket on the gentleman on the left is Purple Label ready to wear while the two to the right were made by Leonard Logsdail. As a number of readers pointed out, the clues are the flaps on the ready to wear jacket's side pockets and its missing lapel buttonhole (if he had tucked his flaps into the pockets he might have gotten away clean).
There was a bit of a trick to the question as quite a few respondents were distracted by the lack of visible shirt cuff and the wing collared shirt on the shawl collared jacket wearing man in the center (Debrett's considers the wing collar to be appropriate only with white tie however I wonder why they would take such a position as when the dinner jacket was first worn it was accompanied by wing collars exclusively - the turndown had not yet been introduced by the then-Prince of Wales). The bow, which several thought pre-tied, is a Charvet and the wearer swears it was tied by hand. These guys take their clothing seriously and I take them at their word.
A pair of Bresciani dress socks will be winging their way to reader Seitelman who was first to respond as well as the first to answer correctly. And, by the way, Carl, you have now seen a midnight blue RTW dinner jacket.
Photo: Kore Magazine
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9 comments:
I think a moment should be taken to say that all three look great-- I'd be proud to step out looking as on-point as any of these three guys, even the one in "mere" Purple Label.
I also want to say that this was a great learning experience! One of the reasons I read ASW is because of its didactic quality; I don't know if it's up your alley, but I would love to see more discussions like this in the future.
I second the interest to see more of these learning opportunities in the future. This was an enjoyable exercise. Thank you!
Great exercise. Love to see more of this!
yeepee! I had this right!
You got me on the blue cloth, Will. Shoud have taken you at your word.
Wow, this opens a few questions about bespoke. Do you do bespoke for superior fit? The fellow on the left's coat fits awfully well, to my untrained eye. Do you do it for superior style? The fellow on the left compares pretty favorably with the other two. Do you do it for the quality? Purple Label's not bad(though I think Oxxford's better). Do you do it to get your heart's desire? Or do you do it simply for the love of it?
FIrst, I was shocked that so many people chose the middle one, as I have never seen a midnight blue shawl collar dinner jacket available in RTW.
Second, there are two reasons to go bespoke from my own perspective:
1) To get what you want; if you find it RTW, more power to you. I am not one of those people who fit well into clothes off the rack. Of course, now that I have learned what is possible in bespoke, I have a higher idea of fit than most people too. In addition, I don't like to be subject to the whims of fashion and store buyers and like to get tailored clothing just the way I want it.
2) For the journey. A trip to the tailor is enjoyable and filled with possibilities if you are going to order something. If you develop a good relationship with your tailor you will learn way more about clothing than you will from sales assistants in stores. You will also find yours taste evolving the more you spend time with a good tailor.
Must admit I found this fun too. What does it teach us? That you can get great fitting RTW and bespoke which might not always look perfect (I thought the sleeve on the middle gent looked a little off, but it does partly depend how his arm was hanging...) The real message, however, is that you can get exactly what you want with bespoke - as the gent in RTW is the only one with no buttonhole to finish off the outfit... And let's be honest - bespoke is just much more fun choosing. But we all sometimes have to compromise if we need something very quickly or bespoke is just too expensive, which for many it is.
To repeat what others already said, three cheers to each of those fine men for having class. And tell Mr. Logsdail not to mind patzers like me.
So why does RTW evening dress so often have pocket flaps? As you point out there's an easy solution to achieve the besom look but I'd be interested to know if you have any theories. They all look great btw, contrast them with the Oscar crowd.
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