December 2011
5 posts
Untipped Handrolled Ties
Neckwear seems to have been around forever. Tied scarves are worn by the legionaries decorating Trajan’s column in Rome (113 AD), and each of the 7,500 soldiers in the Shih Huang Ti terracotta army ( 221 BC) so recently discovered in China is wearing a carefully tied silk neck cloth. Over the ensuing years needless to say we’ve found any number of ways to make and tie pieces of cloth around...
Formalwear
As we’re getting into the holiday season, we thought we’d say a few words about formalwear, specifically the dinner jacket. The dinner jacket and its attendant accessories are the most restrained and prescribed attire usually found in a gentleman’s wardrobe (not counting formal academic attire and other uniforms, you understand).
As occasional evening dress of a celebratory or festive nature,...
Small Leather Goods
We wanted to take a minute to mention a somewhat neglected subject in a man’s wardrobe: small leather goods. You know, wallets, card cases, business envelopes, weekend bags, that sort of thing.
Our philosophy has always been that it’s these small appurtenances, these oft neglected touches of style that make such a large impression on others, and the man who dismisses these details does so at...
Gary Cooper
There’s just no other way to put this. I’ve just published a book about film legend Gary Cooper, Gary Cooper: Enduring Style (and this is very much a plug), and the good folks at Drake’s have allowed me to talk about it a bit here. You can’t ask for better than that. And not entirely irrelevant either, since Cooper was one of those leading men of the Golden Age of Hollywood when style mattered....
Suede Shoes
The incomparable Mr Barnes, courtesy of The Sartorialist
Since autumn’s here it seems a good time to talk about suede shoes, a stalwart of the tweed-flannel wardrobe. Suede isn’t a recent innovation in the production of leather, we really don’t know who first decided to use the reverse side of the hide. Most often the outside of the animal’s skin – the “hair” side – is used for the outside of...