H. Lesser and Sons
`Ahem!’ said the Mouse with an important air, `are you all ready? This is the driest thing I know. Silence all round, if you please! “William the Conqueror, whose cause was favoured by the pope, was soon submitted to by the English, who wanted leaders, and had been of late much accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria- -”’
What should you know about H. Lesser and Sons and why should you care?
You should know that H. Lesser and Sons (H. Lesser) are fabric merchants who are known for specifying from the weaving mills cloth that combines luxury with both durability and a sense of nostalgia. The cloth is definitely retro; think parliament circa 1968 or the Kennedy administration. It has zero sex appeal but it gives off the fumes of the British Empire and 1930s-60s patrician reserve, both American and English.
And why should you care? If you get made to measure or custom clothing, which more frequently seems to be the case with American men these days, you might want to take a look at H. Lesser cloths. Oh, I admit that most American men, even those who love clothes might never bump into H. Lesser fabric and still lead a very happy life, but for them, perhaps, if nothing else, there is something entertaining to read here.
I have always been fascinated with H. Lesser fabrics because they evoke a world that is now gone but the memory of which still excites me. A world before designer labels, a world of diplomacy, and a world before the late 1960s made the suit choices of men forever influenced by women and sexuality. H. Lesser represents power among and over a world of men. This fabric was never designed to be fawned over by women, nor anyone for that matter. It was designed to tell the entire world that you have more intelligence, wealth, style and social clout than it does; you are superior and fearless.
To make a comparison, H. Lesser cloth has a very different look from that of Harrisons of Edinburgh but both are quintessentially English. Each of these two cloth merchants are as different as the soft, roomy Anderson & Sheppard cut is to the built-up and fitted Huntsman or Dege and Skinner suit silhouette. Harrisons represents the contemporary1, the easy, and the era of consumption and luxury made sensible, while H. Lesser makes no contemporary sense at all. They offer unparalleled quality from the past along with the same retro mindset.
The fabrics are the driest I have ever seen and they are unique for that reason2. Additionally, the optical sense of depth and quality is compelling, even for those who know little about fabrics. Shades of what should be ordinary navy blue and charcoal seem different from any other merchant and evoke a sense of the old-world. Not old looking, but old-world as if only the most enterprising of men would wear them; the sort of officers and statesmen whose portraits your candle would illuminate along the walls of a manor’s staircase during a late night thunder storm. Each one of them created from some great master’s palette and each wearing a suit fit to triumph over the surrounding darkness.
In many ways H. Lesser cloth is the fabric equivalent of the Triumph of Death as painted by Brueghel the Elder which in spite of the macabre subject matter is both rich and vibrant. Not the decrepit, wormy death of the mausoleum but the crippling fear of the unknown which only the most self assured can vanquish. This is corporate raider death and the must of money so old it’s brittle. Wearing H. Lesser, one has the imperturbability of having become one with death without having succumbed to its whispers. Wearing H. Lesser cloth, you will never make friends with the living, you will never woo the maiden (except as Hans Baldung-Grien depicts it), but the Bull and the Bear will watch in listless awe at the man returned victorious from the market’s moral void.
And this is why until recently the fabrics have only been popular with the English and a handful of American dandies who appreciate the look and the superb quality. Getting this cloth tailored is like toying with the occult, a grimoire; what one doesn’t know can hurt one considerably. And if you don’t know how to handle the potential that H. Lesser cloth has to offer, the gravitas, the look that suggests you are from somewhere beyond and inaccessible to ordinary folk, then you should abstain.
It is useful for a dandy because a dandy does not want to be accessible, does not want to be touched; he stands apart and wants to send the message that he has better tastes both stylistically and qualitatively, that he has no end and no beginning and that he emanates from a place so high that no one dare inquire. For what is a dandy but a man who trumps all through the use of clothes and personal style? And like the jester who is often the cleverest and most philosophical of all, the superficial sartorial façade conceals the deeper more puissant thoughts that stream beneath.
Now there is a real reason to rejoice, because H. Lesser has re-launched a book of cloth in super 120s and 1% cashmere. The shift, even in England, towards lighter weights in cloth made them feel it was time to reintroduce this bunch with some updated patterns.
This cloth bridges the gap between old and new, between finesse and sturdiness. It was originally introduced in the late 1980s, and when so many other merchants decided to introduce a 120s range too, it was replaced with an “upgraded” 120s and 10% cashmere bunch. That extra cashmere content increased the price but not the luxury or the performance and arguably even interfered with the longevity of the cloth. Fortunately, the original 120s range is back in circulation.
The 11-11.5 oz superfine book also offers a handsome suit cloth; just about the heaviest weight an American man would choose for a work suit. This cloth is the proverbial workhorse of suit cloths. I can personally attest that the cloth can endure a beating. Unfortunately, central heating and global warming combined with an ever increasing American body mass demands that I relate the fact that there is no give in the cloth. Thus, if you get hot and perspire easily or expand due to good living or weight lifting, this may not be the cloth for you.
H. Lesser’s cloths are all twofold for both warp and weft which means all yarns used have a double helix like twist going both vertically and horizontally. The way the cloths are constructed, most tailors will tell you that they are easier and more dependable to tailor. Their cloths are tighter, denser, more packed with fibers than those of the others and the cloth’s surface is all finished in a paper-dry manner that practically draws the moisture out of the observer’s eyeball. The extra yarns and the tighter weave mean that, after a wearing, the fabrics will spring back into shape more quickly. Cloth constructed more carefully will outlast cloth made using a few shortcuts. Short stubby yarns do not allow the sort of fiber blending possible with longer yarns used by H. Lesser. Therefore, cloth made with the longer strands will be more compact and longer wearing without sacrificing refinement.
Because they refuse to skimp on quality, H. Lesser prefer cloth made in the old manner. Apparently, rather like the idyllic calm before the guns of August, H. Lesser lament the loss of the world as it should be for what it has become. The modern age continues to take its toll and every year it is increasingly difficult to maintain the same high quality for a variety of reasons. One of them is that the British wool trade is becoming more mass produced and the smaller mills H. Lesser deals with cannot always afford to get the high grade yarns in the smaller amounts required by their clients without assessing a considerable surcharge which would make the cost of the cloth prohibitive.
England is still H. Lesser’s largest market still but the U.S. is catching up.
As mentioned above, H. Lesser has the driest finish imaginable, and this is actually much harder to produce than smoother finished cloths. It has to be specially requested and it must be inspected using a laborious process. It is not uncommon for cloth to be sent back to the mill to be refinished.
It would be a shame for a firm like H. lesser, with their talents, to turn into a run-of-the-mill cloth maker like everyone else. They are proof that merchants are value-added and not merely resellers from the weaving mills. Without their direction and attention to both detail and English tradition, the art itself might disappear entirely, though I do get a sense from the owners, with regards to quality, that they will not go gently. For now, H. Lesser will continue to maintain the standards of a more exclusive age.
And I think Winston Churchill would approve while running his thumbs under the charcoal chalk striped lapels of a suit made from their cloth and rallying parliament by declaring something along the lines of “Millions for defense, not one penny for tribute.” His fellow MPs stand to acclaim his triumphal exit from the chamber and he descends the marble steps outside to a menacing thrum overhead. This is his finest hour and his H. Lesser finery frames him, an outward reference to the man of resolve within.
1 Although, ironically, Harrisons carries traditional tweeds that Lesser does not.
2 The dry effect refers to a ‘natural finish’ as opposed to the ‘gloss’ on a cloth that you see so often in tailoring bunches. There must be a finishing process to any cloth -if you could see the cloth in a loom or after scouring you would not think it was the same article that you see in a bunch. The dryer look is thus a result of the skillful non application of finish during the finishing process. Sometimes less is more. In this case a less modern but more manly cloth.
Comment [8]
The Boutique as a Sartorial Temple
Can the quest for sartorial perfection be taken seriously ? I wrote in my review of The New English Dandy about how the level of perfection of one’s everyday outfit could provide an inner calm no religion could possibly give.
A charging statement obviously, but what kind of ideology would the adherents to this alternative liturgy propagate exactly ? Hypothetically speaking of course…..
Well, it would very likely be aimed at overcoming the prevalent fear of looking even remotely formal which has taken on diabolical proportions.
We will explore some basics first, as one does in any serious study, to finally reach a sensible conclusion. It’s all about structure in the end.
So where did it all go wrong ? During modern times those who could afford it would always dress for the occasion, which meant changing several times a day.
The idea still works today
A most appealing thought, albeit more of a distant, subconscious common memory really. It was only just before the second World War that things had begun to gradually change. The younger generations wanted to free themselves from having to follow the existing conventions and had already started to dress more casually and loose. After the war, with the idea of egalitarianism, the first signs of sportswear being worn out of context ( on a larger scale ) also became apparent. Probably during the late sixties or early seventies ( depending on where you lived ) the need for people, or adults anyway, to dress more or less formaly most of the time ultimately evaporated. The definitive caputilation to the youthful and sporty mood of the young was there….
If you thought of yourself in any way as ‘hip’ you didn’t want to be mistaken for ‘The Man’.
You didn’t want to be associated with his ilk
If I would have to summarize that change in attitude I’d put it like that. Without assuming for a sec matters were no more complex than that. What followed was the age of experimentation ( for good or for evil ) which would result in drifting further and further away from traditional smartness as a norm. Apart from pockets of resistance that wouldn’t have any of it this notion took a permanent hold on the average person’s dress sense.
I take it that every style conscious body will be aware of the current situation when it comes to schmutter, so I will leave it at that.
It seems we have now reached the point where hardly anyone is able to recognize the simple beauty of looking smart for the sake of looking smart alone anymore. Pragmatically speaking it is still understood there’s a necessity to ‘compromise’ for business, weddings, funerals and court appearances but alas, that’s not the same thing !
If we’re talking ideology discipline doesn’t have to be a hindrance at all though. i.e. Applying the frame of mind where a certain uniformity is required as a starting point for adding subtle individual notes in private situations too.
This can work astonishingly liberating if one is willing to cultivate that slumbering tendency within their very soul.
I’m referring to the attire so inappropriately dubbed as ‘Casual Smart’. Not to be confused with throwing on expensive, labelled clothing without any care or thought behind it during evenings or weekends, preferably topped off with scruffy barnets. I mean the pared-down version of what’s generally seen as The Look by those ‘In The Know’. Some would call it Hard Dandy….
This unusual ensemble works in a very individualistic manner only. A true Stylist….
The clothes shop that has an informed an innovative approach towards selecting their gear is still called a boutique in my book. This brings us back to spirituality and the conclusion of this humble essay.
Religion has always used artists to get a particular message across and so the window dresser can play a similar role. Clever colour-scheming as well as other subtleties and attention to detail may work their way into the hearts and minds of the possible converts passing by. This is a part of the ‘mission’ that’s not to be underestimated. Even better if the images presented in the shop window succeed in luring aspiring dressers into the sartorial temple the boutique can be, if it so desires.
The ‘mission’ can be further completed through the sheer enthusiasm op the assistants, the true missionaries of the cult of threads. In other words : they’re in a perfect position to set an example (and thus teaching classic style or how to ‘rock’ one’s clobber in earnest) by looking smart in a traditional sense, with a contemporary slant. Their playfulness and imagination will appeal to the young (at heart) if carried out spontaneously rather than contrived or manufactured. i.e. Breaking rules, if need be, in a clever and educated manner with an (again) understated overtone. It can be as simple as that really. If you’re still with me that is….
I’m sure most cities will have a little shop like that where the aspiring dressers congregate. Now will those modern dandies eventually go to heaven, or have they already created their sartorial valhalla here and now ?
To be continued…..
A suggested reading list :
- The Look by Paul Gorman
- Man About Town by Catherine Hayward and Bill Dunn
- The New English Dandy by Alice Cicolini
A Shock of Color
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and resting on Sunday must have caused some deficiency for Style appeared in the World. Style, by all means, is something that never should have existed for it contradicts anything Pure and Pious. But here we have it and while sartorial conservatives—purists if we wish to call them—scoff at any suggestions of deviating from tradition, there are some men who deserve an attendant ovation for their contributions to that element known as Style.
The Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali was such a man, and he was always clad in a fantastically pregnant imbroglio of bespoke suits, Rococo neckties, graphic shirts, alien facial hair, Baroque jewels, walking sticks, and an imperious attitude that would make a lesser man faint, if not just for the sheer effort of the pose.
However, with some error, Salvador Dali is usually seen less as a flamboyant clotheshorse than a flamboyant artist; but to discount anything about his vanity is akin to discounting sex and drugs—where would one be without the other?
Anecdotally—if we are to trust Dali’s surreal but erudite ‘autobiographies’— his clothes habit began young when his mother apparently bought him a silver-headed walking stick to take with him to grade school; and, of course, what good is a stick without some form of action? Dali was impelled to hit his classmates’ heads with it. Perhaps he was the precursor to Andre Breton’s declaration of “Beauty must be convulsive”? But whatever charming incidents in childhood, it is his teenaged years that found Dali truly discovering himself. He had been accepted into the pre-eminent Madrid Academy of Arts, and, like any good art-school student would, sought to emulate the legends of nonconformity—namely Charles Baudelaire.
He notes in the “Secret Life of Salvador Dali”, a chapter entitled ‘Dandyism and Imprisonment’: “That next morning I arrived at the Academy…I had just bought the most expensive sport suit in the most expensive shop I could find in Madrid, and I wore a sky-blue silk shirt with sapphire cuff-links. I had spent three hours slicking down my hair, which I had soaked in a very sticky brilliantine and set by means of a special hairnet I had just bought, after which I further varnished my hair with real picture varnish” Apparently “it had become a smooth, homogenous, hard paste shaped to my head”.
While this sort of vanity might assure the reader the man was a maniac, he does possess some restraint. One need only look at his mid-century photos to see something more discreet, albeit still idiosyncratic. He is shown en route to New York on a ship, wearing a well-cut double-breasted suit and the at-attention moustaches—he has the sort of Latin stylistic patois that gets one noticed. There is a particularly astonishing photo of him, from the same period, showing his eye “replaced” with a jeweled prosthetic.
As with any unconventional and controversial personage, Dali attracted a fair amount of criticism. Not trifling among them were things criticizing his dress as some form of self-advertisement. And while one can make a fair and certain case that any form of dress—whether a rube’s overalls or a king’s ermine—is a form of self-advertisement, an important example of metonymy, it does seem that Dali took costume to another level, so to say. But then, doesn’t any artist take something of their personality to an extreme? Or one may make the case that he was merely an eccentric—Dame Edith Sitwell once remarked: “I am not eccentric. It’s just that I am more alive than most people. I am an unpopular electric eel, set in a pond full of goldfish”. Goldfish, certainly, but the world’s masses have never been terribly exciting, have they?
And Dali’s dress was the most exciting of any gathering. Even in the hectic 1970s, Dali was the most noticeable of the sundry people gathering at Studio 54—not a small feat considering bewigged Andy Warhol, elfin Truman Capote, gauzy Roy Halston, and hysterical Liza Minelli were all competing for something—likely cocaine. But I digress; and as later as one looks at whatever archive of photographs, Dali’s attire becomes progressively flamboyant and altogether, rather sophisticated. His artist’s eye for coloration, texture, pattern, and cut was as sharp as ever and the combinations became—as the normal folk say—more bizarre.
Eugenio Montes wrote of Dali and Bunuel: “Bunuel and Dali have just placed themselves resolutely beyond the pale of what is considered good taste, beyond the pale of the pretty, the agreeable, the epidermal, the frivolous, the French”. Although the passage was a criticism of their collaborative film, Le Chien Andalou, the genesis still holds up. Decorums of (bourgeois) taste, maxims of prettiness, and the agreeable are not the concerns here, and one can only assume that ‘beyond the pale of the French’ means not printed wallpapers, bicycle rides and picnics. However, one can make the suggestion that his style was one of the first Post-Modernist sartorial creations that many contemporary dandies owe their closets to.
One can think of numerous figures in today’s society that can at least attribute some tenet of their dress to Dali’s argot. The New York fixture and self-crowned “High Brow”, Patrick McDonald is decidedly an example with his Marlene Dietrich eyebrows and colorful riffs of classical tailoring. On a slightly more drier—and British—scale is Nicholas Foulkes, of British GQ and a consummate author of vanity texts. His lavender three-pieces, jeweled tidbits and fringed suede jackets might seem more d’Orsay than Dali, but the insinuation is that, really, can any modern dandy not owe something to a figure as Dali? It would rather be like eschewing Oscar Wilde in a discussion about wit.
Of course, for today’s man—or today’s adventuring female—to become a Dali, it would be necessary to have a large amount of natural style and money. While the former article is an absolute requirement, the latter is not. There are the thrift shops for the budget conscious Bohemian types who prefer $7.50 ‘70s. Then there are the international bespoke makers—or ‘artisans’ as current rhetoric goes. Thrift shops should be self-explanatory, but bespoke is recondite. If, authenticity to Dali’s look is paramount, then bespoke should be the only choice—some of the French makers are especially suited for the task, a Gallic witty elegance always evident.
Yet Ready-To-Wear also presents a style alternative: high-end and so-called avant-garde designers always make something similar in spirit to Dali wear. Viktor & Rolf inevitably show some sorts of suits and outerwear that mimics an inimitable flamboyance; Burberry Prorsum always has colorful dress shirts; Comme des Garçons consistently presents uncommon coats and jackets; and the walking canes, stick-pins and assorted jewels can be readily, but expensively, had from shops such as Kentshire in New York, G.Lorenzi in Milan, James Smith & Sons in London, Dary’s in Paris, JAR in Paris and Cable Car Clothiers in San Francisco. Auction houses such as Christies, Sothebys, Bonhams & Butterfields, and Philipps de Pury de Luxembourg regularly hold auctions for antique men’s jewels and accessories.
Men’s wear today is a dedicated mélange of casual tragedies and the dysfunctional perversity of appearing conventional. It is precisely ugly because it is so normal. And appropriately, the last words should belong to Dali: “I seated ugliness on my knee, and almost immediately grew tired of it”.
The Style of Dali
Here Dali shows how much a nonchalant attitude is worth when wearing altogether violent clothing. The wide-striped velvet jacket—rather like draperies at Maxim’s de Paris circa 1974—situates deftly with the floral brocade-like tie, knotted nicely but not primly. All this color is compounded and deflected by the wise choice of a basic white shirt. Indeed, contrary to popular conventions, a white shirt needn’t be the exclusive domain of law firm interns and the occasionally jaunty stockbroker.
The supreme irony of this scene is that Dali is penning a telegram to that bastion of respectability, Richard Nixon.
Yet again, Dali’s ensemble is a cunning blend of textures and patterns. Despite the photograph being in monotone, the richness of the velvet and brocade are evident; and the characteristic Spanish love of the Baroque is shown by this trinity of extravagance—the jacket, the vest and the tie, all layered together. Again, all this is balanced by the plain white shirt—and to an extent coordinated together by the white pocket-handkerchief poking out of the breast pocket.
This is by no means, an accessible outfit. It requires an insolent swagger and a particular force of personality.
A more subdued but no less flamboyant Dali wearing a bow tie. While on an overwhelming basis Dali favored neckties, he is wearing a bow tie in this present picture. The Andover Shop’s proprietor, Charlie Davidson once said that bow ties are to be worn to keep your viewers off balance—like a little shock once in a while; and like eating liver.
Clearly, this was one of those moments of shock by conservatism.
Whoever said that shirt collars needed to be firm and straight like a model’s thighs were clearly under some form of distressing influence. This white lacy example here—while typically Spanish in a sort of Velazquez-ian, courtly way—shows that a certain carriage can take something from arcane to acute. No less compelling is the conservative tie, knotted prudishly, but cinched with what appears to be a small antique Indian jewel.
If disabilities all looked this good, then the world would be a rather more endearing place; but then, pearls—or diamonds—of wisdom are rare things, and time even more so. Here Dali shows how his platinum, diamond and ruby “Eye of Time” watch looks when worn as a prosthetic device. The gemstones provide a reflective palette from the dark suit and red carnation boutonniere. It also accessorizes with the small-jeweled stickpin in the insouciantly knotted tie. A white handkerchief peaks out of the foreground. If art historians looked at this picture, they would comment on the linear function of objects, starting from the handkerchief, leading up to the diamond eye; but I just think the whole thing looks swinging.
Comment [1]
The English and their City Suit: Part 2
‘Then you should say what you mean,’ the March Hare went on.
`I do,’ Alice hastily replied; `at least—at least I mean what I say—that’s the same thing, you know.’
`Not the same thing a bit!’ said the Hatter. `You might just as well say that “I see what I eat” is the same thing as “I eat what I see”!’
`You might just as well say,’ added the March Hare, `that “I like what I get” is the same thing as “I get what I like”!’
`You might just as well say,’ added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, `that “I breathe when I sleep” is the same thing as “I sleep when I breathe”!’
When I actually think about the suit I wear and take for granted, I wonder quite a few things. Is it an accident that flannel, worsted and tweed were developed and perfected in Britain? Was it an inevitability that a Brummell would emerge and make uniform many of the details that bind men of style together across the ages and indeed within their own times as well? In a hundred years, will men still wear suits from the same fabrics?
I do not think it an accident, somehow, that the idea of perfecting cloth goes hand in hand with civilization, and that the English perfected the cloths that worked in their climate. It was the Victorian era, the industrial revolution, and the rising importance of her navy that placed the focus on shades of grey, black and darkest blue. It was the great country estate life and hunting that produced the tweeds in colorful, checked patterns.
As for Brummell, perhaps he was inevitable. France had her Sun King and her Napoleon with their silly rules and attention to opulence to keep the nobility or the marshals from infighting, and just as in any true dog vs. cat relationship, the English were destined to adopt an opposite stance to distinguish themselves from those Frenchies.
But will the suit last, and if it does what fabrics will be employed? Only time will tell, but as long as men want to look their best and gain respect for their serious and authoritative mien, the suit will live on with its ingeniously resolute, unrelieved darkness covering up a multitude of sins. However, the suit will continue to be at a crossroads in the public eye; examined, poked, tortured, tweaked, reinvented, declared dead and resurgent all at the same time.
The English seem to be at another continual crossroads with regard to textile manufacture. At any given time, the old- school and the new coexist in terms of fabric qualities. The question is: will they blend or will one prevail over the other? For the moment, the English seem to be content to offer both the contemporary and the traditional rather than promote one over the other. But why, if the English love their traditions, do they bother to make so many innovations in terms of cloth and tailoring style?
The answer might lie in the fact that although the English do indeed cherish their traditions, most of what they make is for export. And to deepen the irony, the rest of the world demands innovation that nevertheless looks traditionally English. Thus, although the English are forced to innovate, they must be careful to retain those elements that the world has come to believe are quintessentially English. As an example, flannels must weigh 8 ounces per yard but still yield to the eye the rich, nubby texture of heavier cloths.
Additionally, the ideal of the “English Gentleman” is very much alive and constitutes yet another English export; although it now blends with the ideal of the American businessman. It is almost as if idle aristocracy and hard-nosed industrialism merged into one super-genre of suit wearing men.
Details like side vents and hacking pockets on jackets and pleated trousers with side adjusters are requested by bespoke customers in every country. Men want to look like Englishmen because they know that perhaps, while not acclaimed ladies men, they are logical, restrained, mild mannered, agreeable, organized (in an old-school club-like sort of way), in control of their language and, above all, proper. The modern world still pays homage to the vision of the respectable, well-bred man, and if one cannot possess an Eton education, one can at least sport the outward language that reveals it to be one’s ideal. It appears the adage that one cannot afford to look ridiculous applies with a vengeance to global suit expenditures.
What do the English make of all of this demand for their traditions and continual refreshment of the same? What words do they employ to explain the changes going on around them and how do they isolate those things that must be maintained to preserve their past in the midst of progress? Here, in their own words, are some of the observations of the English with regard to the state of their cloth manufacturing and tailoring details.
Mr. Haigh at Taylor and Lodge
Taylor and Lodge is an established English woolens mill located in Huddersfield. Although, in recent years, most of what they produce is higher end and more expensive than the English market has a taste for, they still have a feel for what the English like.
They recognize that the finer micron fabrics are very fine to the touch but simply will not wear as well as the sturdier cloths. They won’t collapse, but they won’t perform as well as stronger fibers. Thus, they do not make a lot of it because there simply isn’t enough of the raw materials to make these lighter, finer fabrics; Super 150s and above. Only a limited number of sheep and only limited areas of their fleeces yield the necessary fibers.
Taylor and Lodge produce up to Super 200s wools, often for customers overseas, and these are very expensive. The English are not fond of the finer super cloths (that is, above super 120s). In some ways they wish that the supers labels had never been invented because it skews the quality of all woolen suit fabrics. At one time, all standard suit fabrics contained elements of the finer fibers. Then mills began extracting and segregating the finer fibers to make a more consistent super numbered wool. When the mills removed the finer fibers from the standard cloths, they became dull and lifeless.
This set up an unfortunate self-fulfilling demand and association. Standard cloths were disparaged and supers promoted as more elite. And even the most reactionary of clients could not take exception to these marketing claims when most standard cloths now seemed like cardboard next to the sexier super numbers.
Golden bale is a sensible yarn count at a sensible weight. It’s usually around a 100s. Golden bale has largely been surpassed by the super numbers. However, Golden Bale cloth is still a favorite of the Old Guard Englishman because it has a certain rich heft and increased softness, shape retention and resistance against wear; all qualities the English prize.
Golden bale looks better the more you wear it, and many in England’s most cloistered circles enjoy wearing their suits until they are in tatters.
Taylor and Lodge know something about how cloth performs. They’ve been making the same bunches for H. lesser and sons for over 60 years!
The English bespoke customer likes a very dark, basic cloth. The construction of the cloth must be top notch but the pattern choices are never wilder than the chalk stripe. The stripe itself is rarely any other color but white.
Robert at Dugdale
Dugdale produces a very sensible English cloth in the old, time-honored fashion. The owner writes:
I am a fairly straightforward Yorkshireman, the third generation of my family involved in worsted fabric manufacture in Huddersfield, the home of England`s finest worsted suitings.
I do not think there is any overarching story relating to the Brit and his choice of stripe. I suppose his choice is loosely related to his personality and what he is trying to achieve through his dress.
Pink, mauve, lilac stripes are deemed tasteful for the young / young at heart, confident, metrosexual man who is achieving and wants to achieve more and does not feel bound by conformity or tradition. The stripe is easy to accessorize and makes a strong statement.
Green to the Brits however says nothing, and his only understanding of green is linked to “ECO,” which does not yet bother him. Also it is a tiresome colour to try to accessorize.
Overall we Brits like our eccentric tag and regularly display this in our sartorial choices. We are an island nation that once ruled the world. We like to think we invented everything. As time has moved on, our strength is now housed in the City of London.
Here we still see strength displayed through bold pinstripes, chalks, etc. The bold blue chalk stripe suit, crisp white shirt and toned tie create an incredibly powerful image that speaks of the power and authority of the wearer.
There is another type of Brit who is reserved and makes his statements through stealth and ability. He only wears subdued colours and co-ordinations, will never wear brown shoes, and the cut of his suit means only fellow members of the true bespoke club understand his wealth, position and authority. He is an officer, not a foot soldier, and to continue the analogy, he would probably be special services.
Heavy cloth lends itself to English tailoring. However this is not to say that our tailors cannot tailor lightweight cloths; it is just that it is a very English thing to wear a heavier cloth. Many of our fabrics are semi-milled to give them a much fuller handle, something you will only really see with English cloth.
I have noticed a distinct change in parallel with our climate change, and we are now selling our lightweight cloths over a longer period, as our summers are now longer and warmer. In fact, the average weight of cloth we sell has moved down from 12-13 oz to 10-11oz over a period of 5-6 years.
All this said, we still sell 14-15 oz cloths all over the world to both tailors and designers. In fact, at the moment we are sampling a 16 oz twill trousering to a well-known American retailer and we are currently sampling 14-15 oz suiting to an American gentleman based in Italy who used to design for an Italian company very famous for its shoes and handbags.
At this level it is a peculiarity, as no one else in the world can make cloths like these. I have to say that the Italians are the biggest fans of English cloth, but our biggest sales to Italy are not made up of cloths of this weight.
At another level, the Brit likes to wear these cloths because of budget and attitude. The cloth lasts forever so he doesn’t need to buy as many. It doesn’t crease so he does not have to constantly press the garments or, worse still, pay someone else to do it for him!
Simon Cundey at Henry Poole
Founding Fathers of The Row, Henry Poole have customers from all over the world, some of them 5th generation! Observed changes abound within the historic walls of Poole. For instance, the sort of person who buys suits has changed, and currently the corporate world makes for the largest customer base.
A Poole jacket has a natural shoulder line with a slightly raised sleeve head, some drape in the chest with a high cut waist. A balanced lapel width to complement the customer’s chest size. A high gorge for the lapels and specific sleeve lining in white with blue stripe. Pants are cut to complement your build and go with the type of shoes you wear which includes boot legs for special customers. Only twenty percent of suits sold are double breasted.
The three button suit with the waistcoat is very English, with a side vented jacket, of course, and four buttons on the cuff. This is in contradistinction to the traditional American three button suit with its lapel roll half way between the first and second buttons, its center vent and the two buttons on the sleeve. The American version, although not light years away in terms of design, might as well be for the English who would see the differences immediately.
A bolder approach is taken to stripes for both suits and shirts. Butcher stripe shirt, rope stripe suit and polka dot tie is culturally historical for the English. Whether it is popular or not, it is engraved deep in the sartorial memory.
The current English preference for bold checked shirts in the City may derive partially from lightening and enlarging the wool checked shirts worn by the “gun club” country set.
Poole make shirts too and use either Thomas Mason or Acorn cottons in 100s 2×2 fold. It should be mentioned that their burgundy and blue tie is a signature look for Poole and is attractive to English tastes.
It is odd that the country shirts are never striped but, if patterned, are checked, while city shirts are usually striped but, if checked, are never in country colors.
Birdseye cloth is not a traditionally favored pattern for city suits but it is becoming so now that the Brits are discovering its hard-wearing properties.
Windowpanes are not popular in England for business, especially if there is distinction between the cloth’s background and the pattern. However, if the cloth were, say, a dark navy bird’s-eye with a dark royal blue windowpane, it would now be considered somber enough for the city. While the Americans love the Prince of Wales pattern in black and white (often with a colored windowpane laid over it), this is not to be seen in English business circles.
The English will wear the Prince of Wales pattern suits but for after hours events. Not country, not city, it’s called a “town suit” and includes all sorts of suit cloths in more medium colored cloths, in checks or windowpanes and odd colored stripes.
Style is achieved through discretion. A pattern will be in the weave, which will look like a solid from a distance but, upon getting quite close to the wearer, will be revealed to have an invisible stripe or Prince of Wales check woven into the fabric.
Navy blue suits with blue stripes and charcoal suits with burgundy stripes are acceptable. Navy with pink, lilac or purple stripes are likewise choices, generally for that English dandy or the man who has many suits in many homes and wants something a little different. The pink or lilac stripe must be very pale, approaching white, and the purple must be dark enough not to be readily noticeable from a distance.
When contrasted against American or Italian preferences, the British still prefer heavier weights in cloth, though this has lightened from 13/14 oz to 10-12 oz fabrics. The Americans always like slightly lighter weights.
And speaking of regional taste differences, here are some interesting comments from Poole:
UK Man- Either a bold/beaded pinstripe or chalk stripe with a bold shirt design or even a solid pink end on end with a cutaway collar, pink tie with blue design or blue tie with pink design with a white linen pocket square. Black oxford shoes; maybe red socks or yellow socks although most would wear dark socks. Either a two piece, two button suit with side vents or a 3 piece, 3 button suit, also with side vents; often with colorful linings in petrol blue, purple, burgundy etc..
Heavy worsted fabrics with a hard feel and finish are preferred. Inherited cufflinks are key. Some of the city lads would wear currency or market based cufflinks while the youngest characters would wear silk knots to pick up the pink and blue of shirts and tie. Everything should be a bit disheveled.
USA Man- A suit in super 120s pin dot or nail head in two shades of grey. Two piece, two button jacket with side vents, pale blue or white shirt with a cutaway or button down collar and button cuffs; although cufflinks are catching on. They also wear a black shoe but often either a penny loafer or a variant. A printed tie is standard, although woven ties are becoming more common. Trousers will more often have a belt and will be plain front. Everything a little over pressed and starched.
Swiss Man- They wear gabardine suits in a tan, taupe or olive green color or sport jacket and trousers in mossy colors. The look is semi relaxed, at least on the surface. For shoes, they prefer an oxblood brogue. A White or cream colored shirt with a cutaway collar.
A “cutaway” collar means the 4.5 inch spread used by most Jermyn shirtmakers and not the exaggerated spread which nears a 180 degree angle. Particular attention would be paid to both cufflinks and watch both of which often have an air of streamline, minimalist architecture to them. The Swiss are both experimental and extremely precise in their bearing and turnout.
In terms of cloth qualities, the British like 80s and 100s and the Americans like 120s and finer. When the English do get a suit made in super 150s cloth, Poole recommends that it should be about 10-11 oz to lend the heft necessary to offset the delicateness of the finer fibers.
Some British customers bring in Poole suits that are 30 years old for repair. Sometimes one pair of trousers is sacrificed to save another pair. Apparently, as with their suits, thrift never goes out of style.
Interesting Poole customers
A magician’s pocket placed into the back of the jacket of a City worker who also does tricks at parties as his way to entertain and break the ice.
Another customer gets zips inside trouser waistbands which allow the customer to store currency when he travels to countries where civil rights are not as rigorously defended.
Sport jackets and suits made up for a lord from several different patterns of tweed in a harlequin motif. The idea is to confuse the deer which can still see silhouettes in normal one pattern tweeds but have a hard time discerning an overall shape with patchwork tweeds.
Silhouette, or the basic outline the suit cuts against the horizon, and the details of the jacket are very important to the English. This explains tailor brand loyalty amongst British clients, who associate a certain firm’s style not only as defining the tailor, but also as defining themselves. Consistency is important to the British male’s self image in a country where wearing the same thing every day can cast you in a positive light.
Hacking pockets, originally a custom detail for the country, have become recognized as a custom detail for the City. Peak lapels on suits are fine, a bit dandier but acknowledged as normal.
Mohair suits are experiencing a bit of revival from their last period of popularity during the 1960s and 70s. More acceptable in England than in the US because the polyester popularity craze in America during the seventies [when?] has left a long-lasting aversion to shiny suits. However, reducing the mohair content to 20% (as opposed to the traditional content of 60% mohair) takes a lot of the shine out of the cloth while preserving the coolness. Mohair is easy for a tailor to cut and makes for a nice jacket silhouette because it responds well to shaping and shows off natty tailoring details.
Mr. Cundey likes the semi-milled finish, which is a worsted with a slightly napped finish that takes the shine off of the fabric’s surface and gives it a quasi flannel effect and softness. Smith’s Blue Ribbon or H. Lessers Flannel Worsted are two of his favorite cloth books. The English still enjoy true flannels, with Harrisons and Minnis flannels being popular.
Lumbs Golden Bale is the Bordeaux of suit cloths. The best Merino wool is spun by Lumbs into thread that weaves nicely. This yields both softness and durability. The British would be inclined to choose this quality of worsted as an upgrade in preference to the super numbers.
But you don’t need to get Lumbs Golden Bale. As long as you have a two-fold warp and weft cloth in the 10-11 oz weight and heavier, you will be assured of good performance.
Although the British generally prefer heavier cloths, they will buy summer weight cloths, even some of the lightest. For example, the Airborne range from Hunt and Winterbotham (JJ Minnis) is quite popular with the English for extreme temperatures and high humidity, but they will “stick” to the darker colors. Airborne has a dull finish and some “beef” to the construction, which is why, in spite of it’s light weight, the English like it.
Difference between a well dressed Englishman and a dandy? A well dressed Englishman would combine the English taste with the precision and attention to detail of the Swiss. A dandy would choose bolder colors and designs (even for the English) like pocket squares picking up all colors in a tie rather than just one.
The English separate the specific prescriptions that signal business clothes from after hours. After hours there are a lot more details that can be, and are, used which signal natty individuality and do not threaten the social standing or taste level of the wearer. After hours, cuffs on jacket sleeves, interesting buttons and all sorts of suit cloths are employed to coax out the English dandy seemingly nascent in every man on the island.
Dege and Skinner
Dege (pronounced “Deej”) and Skinner are known for their military cut, which is strong across the shoulder, clean in the chest and fitted in the waist. Dege also makes uniforms for various regiments’ parade dress and other purposes.
How does being military tailors and it manifest itself in the civilian clothing Dege make? A strict shoulder-line (some clients demand roping on the sleeve-shoulder attachment but otherwise it’s a very natural shoulder), nipped in waist and a slight flair in the hips which accentuates the waist even more. It’s a very hourglass shape with an erect posture. Lapel widths depend on the size of the customer’s chest.
Speaking of chests, Dege put more canvassing in the chest than is typical to accentuate it. A white sleeve lining with a pink music stripe in it (5 lines) is the hallmark of a Dege suit. Trousers most often get side adjusters. Recently brace cut trousers with the fishtail back are getting more attention because of renewed interest in that “traditional” English suit. About seventy percent of their customers get single breasted suits.
H. Lesser fabrics are a favorite because they work; the Superfine 11-11.5 oz worsteds are a favorite because they look robust but tailor and feel lighter than they actually are. H. Lesser fabrics have a very finished, refined look.
The English prefer plain blues and greys, and quite dark solids and stripes. When we say solids, we mean charcoals and navies, perhaps with a self-herringbone pattern. This pattern, however, at least in the grey shades, has become a bit stigmatized as too traditional and old fashioned, which, considering the fogeys who constitute some of Dege’s best customers, is quite a statement! For navy solids, a French or slightly more purplish blue (what I refer to as “blueberry”) is becoming more popular with the younger set.
Dege’s English customers are even more reserved with their tweeds and sport coats. The average English client will choose a country fabric that is darker and less colorful than the Americans choose or believe the English wear. Porter and Harding’s Hartwist tweeds carried by Harrisons of Edinburgh and the Alsport tweeds from John G. Hardy are extremely popular both in England and America.
The Glorious Twelfth isn’t quite so popular with their customers. When it comes to tweeds, the Dege Englishman “keeps it real,” so to speak. H. Lesser and Sons cloth bunches are very popular with their English customers, who like their hard-wearing traditional cloth. H. Lesser cloth handles tailoring beautifully and wears like iron. H. Lesser cloth is often referred to as “the tailor’s friend.”
It should be mentioned that many of Dege’s civilian clients are, in fact, ex military or security forces men who now need suits for the City, and their tastes run to Old Guard establishment. Hacking pockets on jackets are popular as a custom detail. As mentioned above, Dege catches men during their military career and provides them with suits for their new life in London. There, in the ebb and flow that is the City, they can recognize each other by their distinctive Dege cut. As a signaling tool, the cut of the suit has its subtle uses.
Colored stripes are not part of their business except for a fine blue or rust stripe on a grey or navy herringbone. Although, one client, looking for something a bit more dandyish in a suit, chose a pink striped navy suit with covered buttons in the same fabric which came out very nicely.
Prince of Wales checks are worn as leisure suits in the country (the country is what we call the suburbs or off hours in places we would consider cities). These checked suit trousers are cut slightly narrower in the leg without turn-ups or cuffs.
Dege’s military men generally prefer hard finished worsted cloths, the hardest finish of any English suit-wearing group. A tighter weave, good basic wool yarn which is not luxury based with a closely cropped surface creates a hard looking, hard finished suit wool. Hard finished fabrics look and react like an army uniform to the rigors of the office and the dry cleaners. Hard finished fabrics in darkest colored wools complete with a clean, fitted erect suit posture make for an imposing paramilitary style.
Flannel suits in a mottled, medium grey are a nostalgic look, but in general the English consider their flannel fabrics a bit too heavy. The English, it would seem, are evolving. They will get worsteds with a flannel look to the fabric or a lighter weight flannel, but those aren’t considered true flannels. Pants for the suits are cut fuller with deeper pleats.
Harrisons cashmere jacketing is also popular with Englishmen because the colors are vibrant and very English in taste. The fabric is soft but wears very well over time and is a favorite for after hours socializing.
Harrisons summer weight suit book “Mystique” gets used a lot as well because the cloth lasts a long time and comes in the same understated patterns as H. Lesser’s but the cloth itself has a fresher look for the shimmer of July and August than does the H. Lesser tropical worsteds.
At Dege, single-breasted three-button suits with notch lapels and slightly slanted pockets on the jacket are most common, with a single reverse pleat on the pants and side straps with a metal buckle. Brace buttons are put in as an option. Trouser turn-ups are standard for the city.
For outer wear, black wool or cashmere overcoats are most often purchased single breasted. Sometimes the chesterfield style with the herringbone fabric and the black velvet collar is requested. Additionally, the traditional “covert” coat in an almond brown, grainy patterned, smooth, impenetrable cloth with its borders of stitching around the coat’s hem and sleeve ends are more popular now. Overcoats aren’t ordered much these days; England, it seems, as everywhere else, is getting warmer every year.
To be continued…
With thanks to:
Mr. Haigh at Taylor and Lodge
Robert at Dugdale
Simon Cundey at Henry Poole
Darren Tiernan at Dege and Skinner
Comment [3]
My Birthday Suit: Ordering a bespoke suit from Tokyo's prestigious Ginza Tailor
Thursday, March 8th 2007, my birthday, was the day I chose to treat myself to my first ever bespoke suit. It also happened to coincide with the first day of a four day sale on spring and summer fabrics at Ginza Tailor, one of Japan’s most reputed bespoke tailoring establishments. I had first been to Ginza Tailor in early January at the suggestion of an acquaintance living in New York whom I know only through our dialogues on the Internet. In that sense, it was a journey of discovery for me and vicarious enjoyment for someone else. The fact that I live in Tokyo within easy distance of the tony Ginza district, where I work as a translator, the culmination of nearly twenty years spent studying Japanese, ten of them in the country, makes me not only qualified but almost obligated to partake of the bespoke experience here and convey something of it to my fellow sartorialists.
As a prelude to this new and slightly daunting quest, I had made an appointment to be thoroughly pampered by the lovely ladies who staff Gentry, Ginza Tailor’s exclusive men’s hair salon. I first consulted with my stylist about the kind of cut I wanted and then got a shampoo from a different young lady. These ladies certainly have a knack for keeping a pleasant stream of conversation going, and the self-conscious apprehension one would feel amidst a group of women getting their hair done is absent, since it is a men’s-only salon. After the shampoo, my stylist, Inagaki-san, cut my hair and then it was time for my scalp treatment, complimentary as it was my birthday month. One of the young ladies washed my scalp thoroughly with something called pi-water, which I had never heard of, while Inagaki-san gave me a manicure. After a good twenty minutes of this relaxing and invigorating pampering, I was shown to the lounge at the back, where I relaxed some more with an espresso and a chocolate truffle.
By and by it was time to proceed, and Inagaki-san accompanied me to the Ginza Tailor reception, where she had called ahead. The staff on hand to greet me included a stylish middle-aged woman who spoke quite good English, which I suppose was to ensure that all communications proceeded smoothly and stress-free. For a non-Japanese speaker, this would be a definite value-added service, however she realized early on that the language presented no problems for me. I was led upstairs to select the fabric by Mr. Hirata, Cutter, a pleasant-looking middle-aged gentleman dressed in a dark, subtly checked blazer with a light grey vest and grey slacks, and Ms. Miura, Product Development and Technical Management, a lovely young lady dressed in a charcoal pant suit. Asked my budget, I replied that I was looking to spend 200, 000 yen or less. This would allow me some latitude in my selection of fabrics for their Samurai line.
Ginza Tailor’s Samurai line is a kind of entry-level bespoke. It’s made from scratch according to your specifications and your measurements, and has a greater range of options than made-to-measure (MTM). You go for one fitting before your suit is completed, at which point you narrow down further options, such as the kanji monogram and buttons. They take about another four weeks to complete your suit. The Samurai is not a fully handmade bespoke, as they machine sew as much as possible, but a single tailor makes each suit from beginning to end. Their handmade line, by contrast, is a fully handmade bespoke suit with a far greater variety of options. According to the website, they only produce some 600 of these per year. At their lowest level, they have what they call “easy-order,” which I assume corresponds to MTM, made from a pattern and tailored to fit. In any case, I was there for my first bespoke suit with the idea of eventually refining my pattern with them before moving up to the full handmade suits.
I wore a plain navy Ralph Lauren 3-roll-2 suit with a white Hilditch & Key shirt with grey mother of pearl Dunhill cufflinks, a navy and light blue zig-zag Dunhill tie, and black Edward Green Malverns (a classic and very English wingtip on their ever-popular 888 last). My intent was to wear what I wear to work every day with nothing to distract from the basic cut and fit of the suit and shirt. Likewise, I wanted to commission a suit that accentuated the fit and artistry, and therefore wanted a plain fabric, though I hadn’t ruled out pinstripes, and if pinstripes, I preferred grey with pink pinstripes. This is a combination I’ve been fond of ever since finding a stunning Corneliani suit in charcoal with copper-pink pinstripes that happened to fit. Truth to tell, I was not considering this option too seriously except perhaps for a subsequent suit, but I wanted to see a variety of fabrics to narrow down my options while planning one step ahead for something just slightly unconventional and dandy.
Bolt after bolt of fabric was taken down from the surrounding shelves and presented for my inspection. Very few were completely out of the question, and I was directed to stand in front of a floor-to-ceiling mirror where I was draped with my chosen fabrics, which Mr Hirata and Ms. Miura folded over and arranged to approximate a lapel. During the course of this process, I explained that because my work involves meeting with investors, I want to look businesslike and not the least bit frivolous. Since I genuinely liked all the fabrics, I was able to maintain a bit of a poker face while evaluating each one. It was with some gratification, therefore, that the shop staff and Inagaki-san, my stylist, who was still present at this stage, opined that the fabrics I preferred were more becoming on me than the ones I was already privately considering eliminating. This inspired me with confidence in the judgments of the shop staff. After a process of elimination, I settled on a moderately lustrous plain grey Dunhill 120s fabric in the 8-10 oz. range with a distinct longitudinal grain to the weave that vaguely hints at pinstripes. The opposite face is a lighter grey.
The next step was to take measurements and discuss the details of the suit to be made. Inagaki-san excused herself at this point, and I thanked her for taking the trouble to be present and offer her opinion. Mr. Hirata then measured me while Ms. Miura wrote it all down. I have never been more thoroughly measured for anything. Measurements were taken of my jacket both on and off. At the beginning of this process, I asked Mr. Hirata if there was anything he noticed about the fit of my suit that he would change. He explained that he would bring in both the shoulders and the waist, because the shoulders are too wide and this leaves a hollow area at the top of the sleeve that wrinkles in an unsightly way when I move my arms and the jacket is a bit full at my waist. The problems he pinpointed were exactly the things that bother me about the fit of that suit jacket, and this gave me further confidence that I was dealing with a staff of professionals whose judgment I could trust.
I had decided to order a shirt at the same time because I felt that this would be best to assure the proper fit of both, so my round of measurements included measurements for the shirt. One specific request I made was to have the left cuffs made slightly wider to accommodate my watch, and demonstrated how my shirt cuff tended to catch on the watch case. Naturally, this was also taken into account for the jacket sleeve. At length, it was time to consider the options available for Ginza Tailor’s Samurai line. I opted for a plain grey lining with this fabric for the pocket trimming and the underside of the pocket flaps.
The fabric for the lining details is produced in Kyoto’s famous Nishijin weaving district. I was recently surprised to see the very same fabric used as a decorative runner on a table in one of the conference rooms at my company.
For buttons, I chose the dark navy lacquered buttons, which were nearly indistinguishable from the black except for a slight softness; the black was really very stark. The sleeves will have working, kissing buttons. The process of choosing a monogram for the inside of the lapel was unique. They offer monogramming in kanji, the Chinese characters used to write Japanese, but not initials in Roman lettering as I’ve always had done previously. I decided to go with the kanji for the first initial of my last name, 阿, which is the “A” in the name of the Buddha Amida. They also offer the kanji in several styles. I chose a stylized classical form of which they produce three variations for me to choose from when I go for my fitting.
For the shirt, I chose a pink fabric and thin, white mother of pearl buttons and grey stitching. The French cuffs will be made roughly a centimeter longer than those of my existing shirts so they don’t catch so easily on the edge of my jacket sleeve when I extend my arm. Once I’m satisfied with the fit of the shirt, I plan to gradually replace my entire rotation. The shirt I opted for this time is from their MTM line rather than their full bespoke, which is more than double the price. I prefer to zero in on the ideal fit before spending the money for the full bespoke. Likewise with my suit, I chose to go with the Samurai line rather than the fully handmade suits costing twice as much or more. There will be time to sample their more exclusive offerings as budgetary constraints allow and as I develop a closer working relationship with Ginza Tailor.
Finally, having completed my order and confirming the details, we proceeded downstairs to the salon, where I was given a warm hand towel and served green tea, a basic common courtesy Japanese businesses extend to their customers. Meanwhile, I engaged in lighthearted conversation with Mr. Hirata while Ms. Miura tallied up my order. The total was somewhat less than the 200, 000 yen I had budgeted, and this included both the suit and the shirt. With the exchange rate on my side at that point, paying with an American credit card made sense. As I got up to get my credit card from my coat pocket, I bumped my head on the enormous chandelier directly overhead. In an attempt to salvage the situation and mitigate my embarrassment somewhat, I asked if the large frosted glass leaves that composed it were Lalique. Not only was I assured they were, but was also given a small tour of the numerous Lalique decorative elements around the salon, including a specially made panel in the door and the rather large columnar interior door handle as well as an antique bowl with a beautiful patina. I’ve always had a soft spot for Lalique, as my mother has a rather sizeable collection and I have several pieces decorating my apartment, and if I had not already been sufficiently convinced that I was dealing with a top-flight establishment, the fact of their having custom made Lalique fixtures would have erased any doubts.
After scheduling my fitting for March 24th, the time came to go, and as a kind of parting shot, Mr. Hirata asked me the name of the person who had recommended Ginza Tailor to me. At this point, I had to admit that I’d been referred by an anonymous friend from an internet forum, and after being seen off with gracious bows from the Ginza Tailor staff, I had myself a good chuckle over the irony of actually delivering a line that originated as a lampoon on the FNB forum.
To be continued . . .
Ginza Tailor web site
Spy Style
Like most well known styles in the popular imagination such as ‘Gangster’ style (Edward G. Robinson) and ‘Man-About-Town’ style (Cary Grant), Spy style is largely the result of good cinematographic wardrobe.
Most of our modern ideas about style come from, if not Edith Head, then certainly her later colleagues. Where else do we mainly get our visual ideas from these days?
Ian Fleming wrote a good Bond but only when Sean Connery made the words flesh did Spy style really take off. Think of a Spy and the chances are that you probably think of Connery as Bond. The suits, the gadgets, the lot. Pre-Fleming and the Bond films fictional spies were actually rather nondescript on the whole.
They blended in. G.K. Chesterton’s ‘The Man Who Was Thursday’ (1907) not only has ‘Secret Policemen’ who look completely ordinary but Anarchist plotters who look exactly the same as well. Hard to know who’s who. How… dull.
Real life spies are much more interesting. They have real style!
1963 is a great year to look at if you’re thinking about classic English Spy style. That was the year Connery was doing such good box office business at the cinema in ‘From Russia with Love’ while Guy Burgess was dying in Russia from neglect, finally having one last drink in August of that year.
More interesting than the fictional Bond, real life English Spy Burgess (Eton, Cambridge, Foreign Office, Moscow) wore Savile Row and enjoyed a tireless libido too. However, unlike Bond, he spied for the Russians and ‘Pussy Galore’ was hardly his motto.
Bond we know all about from films & books, but what of Burgess?
How does a real spy really live? What is his lifestyle?
Cue: Noel Annan1 …
Here we find out how a real spy lives in the heart of London’s West-End –
“ He used to cook, his friend Goronwy Rees recalled, in a heavy iron saucepan ‘a thick grey gruel compounded of porridge, kippers, bacon, garlic, onions and anything else that may have been lying about in the kitchen’, a dish which sustained him over every weekend. Chewing raw garlic was only one of his minor social disabilities: in his Foreign Office days a minute was circulated requiring him to desist. He kept in the shambles of his Bond Street flat a flitch of bacon outside the window which was hauled up when he needed to hack off a slice, and was then consigned again to outer space.
Grime covered everything. Every table, lampshade, sheet and blanket was scarred with burns, the stigmata of so many drunken evenings. The bath had no plug; in its place was a sock once white but by now dark grey with dirt into which a squash ball had been thrust. Screams rent the air at night in the building because his flat was sandwiched between two others inhabited by prostitutes, but it was a moot point whether the traffic in and out of their rooms was any heavier than that in and out of his. His habits were filthy, going far beyond those of negligent bachelors; in his Foreign Office days he was often sodden and sweaty. He had the appearance of a man who had just stepped off the Golden arrow after a night in the Rue de Lappe. Maurice Bowra in a characteristically vigorous phrase used to complain that he had shit in his fingernails and cock-cheese behind the ears.”
Ugh!
Here is the brute. A real English spy, but not very Bond-like at all… I’m almost sorry I mentioned him now.
Most real English spies inhabit the world between Bond and his polar opposite Burgess. How could they not do?
Here are two ‘nice’ ones to wash away the memory of the aromatic Burgess. They blend the playboy with the scoundrel – A perfect recipe for a spy!
Dusko Popov2 is rumoured to be Fleming’s inspiration for 007. Why he was named ‘Agent Tricycle’ is beyond me – although it may have been related to his liking for “three-in-a-bed” romps . Some camp old dear in MI5 having fun on a Friday afternoon I suspect. Popov was one of England’s most successful wartime double agents feeding the Germans false information from around 1940 onwards. A debonair, suave chap with an easy manner who could draw people in, Popov was first recruited by the German Abwehr and then promptly sauntered over to MI5 to offer his services. Why not, old boy?
At the war’s end, having been both a successful double agent and a notorious playboy who womanised and gambled his way through the war, Ticycle was granted British nationality. He was also awarded the OBE, which was informally presented to him in the bar of the Ritz hotel. Very fitting.
A bit like Popov, but to me much more fun, was Eddie Chapman – Friend of Terrence Young the director of the early Bond films and who may or may not have bumped into Ian Fleming while working for British intelligence. Sounds cool, eh? So what was his code name then? “Agent ZigZag”! (Makes you wonder if there was ever an ‘Agent Fantabulosa’…)
Anyway…
Eddie Chapman3 was naturally brilliant and wonderfully amoral. An early intelligence assessment of him reads “Today there is no trace of sodomy, and gone is any predilection for living on women on the fringes of society”. So that was Eddie on a good day then was it? He no longer carried on like a bugger or a pimp. Good to see the boy had cleaned up his act!
Chapman was an undoubted national hero who used his skills to help to defeat the Nazis… And Mr. Chapman certainly had the skills required:
A criminal.
A pickpocket.
A safe breaker.
He was leader of the notorious ‘Gelignite Gang’ stealing thousands of pounds all over England which he then spent around the bars & clubs of Soho living the life of an underworld playboy.
And he was also:
Daring.
Brave.
Loyal.
Incorrigible.
Inspirational.
And a bit of a genius of a sort.
After a little trouble in England he fled to the Channel Islands to evade arrest but got arrested anyway in Jersey for beating up a Policeman. Then while Eddie was in prison, the Germans invaded and took over the island… So Eddie naturally charmed them and used all those ‘People Skills’ we hear so much about at work to get them to release him and employ him as a member of the German secret service.
They eventually did, making him ‘Agent Fritz’ of the Abwehr (Not much better than ‘Agent ZigZag’ is it?) His first mission was to blow up the De-Havilland Mosquito factory in Cambridgeshire back in England, but on the way there he popped into MI5 and charmed them into employing him instead. Well, why not, old boy?
A bit like Popov he was such a schmoozer…
And a brilliant double agent.
What all these men shared was a thorough understanding of appearances and just what they were worth, or rather just how little they were worth. All of them: Burgess, Popov, Chapman (and even Bond) used every trick in the book to achieve their aims, including personal charm and the services of a good tailor. I hate quoting Shakespeare but “O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath”. Maybe he was right about that.
So that’s Spy Style pretty much – Bad men doing good things. Nice suits and nasty morals. It’s how the West was won!
Here is my take on current Spy Style for the aspiring Crown Operative.
Spy tie: Black or midnight blue narrow knitted silk – Perfect for throttling enemy agents. Never needs ironing so you can slip it off and on easily in between dispatching evil henchmen and nobody will be any the wiser. Talk about being dressed to kill.
Spy shirt: Purposefully plain, probably sea-island cotton. White. Cream. Pale Blue. French cuffs purely because you can hide knock-out drops in them to discreetly slip into Mr. Big’s champagne glass as you trade one-liners.
Spy suit: Again less is more, a conservative cut to wear while cutting a dash. An interesting Blue or Grey lightweight number concealing a heavyweight arsenal of secret pockets and useful weapons. The answer to the question “Is that a gun in your pocket…?” is always “which pocket?”. A length of piano wire sewn into the lapel line gives a nice crisp look to the silhouette and can easily be removed for any impromptu garrotings which may come your way.
Spy shoes: Blackly elegant with a heel just heavy enough to club to death a Baddie. Shoe laces may be used as fuses for the explosive hidden in the handle of your tightly furled umbrella. Oxford shoes are best & remind you just where it was that MI5 first approached you.
For the evening: A spy’s busiest time! Black tie (of course) in an ultra correct cut. Doesn’t show the blood stains.
Black tie: Black as night (Midnight blue looks black by electric light but blends into the shadows less well when out and about on business). Cufflinks and dress studs are all employed as they can conceal so much. Differing grades of Micky Finn can be administered to the drinks of the unwary with just a flick of the wrist. The cummerbund’s pleats and folds neatly conceal glass cutters, razor blades, and enough plastic explosive to leave any party shaken and stirred.
Belts: Preferred to braces purely because they provide a neat place to store Krugerrands. And all good spies know that most baddies (To quote Ms Bassy) “Love only gold. Only gold. They love gold!!!.
Useful accessories: This is a look which is all about those little extras. Beyond the girl and the car are a lot of beaten-up gunmetal grey items slipped into the pockets: Cigarette case, gun, lighter, other gun, hip flask, knife. Airport metal detectors are not your friends.
1 Annan, Our Age (1990)
2 KV2/845-866, M15 Files (National Archive), KV2/862
3 KV2/455-462, M15 Files (National Archive)
Acorn Shirt Fabrics
“Please, would you tell me,” said Alice, a little timidly, … “why your cat grins like that?”
“It’s a Cheshire cat,” said the Duchess, “and that’s why.”
There is an English taste and it resides in the mind and the culture and the place that is England. Developed and refined over time, the patterns colors and textures they choose say as much about their evolution as any social or archaeological history could. But just where is the English taste to be found? Indeed where is anything of a culture to be found in this time of Web and satellite based communications which seem to be on pace to reduce the world to one tedious mono-culture? Luckily there is still one shirt fabric merchant who maintains the colors and finishes associated with English taste and is still owned and operated by the natives who direct the art and the quality and the completion of shirt goods which can still be described as resolutely English.
At Acorn, all fabrics are designed in collaboration with and woven nearby in England and then sent to Italy for finishing. In terms of colors, patterns and uniformity of theme in their cloth ranges, Acorn are the most English of all the fabric makers ; they are also the last of them.
Acorn produce beautiful luxury cottons in their Grassmere 160s 2×2 range but their strength is a fine and dependable shirt cloth in a 100s. In an industry which often appears bent on a race to produce the emperors new shirt fabric it is sometimes relieving to see a firm simply updating a classic. Well made 100s 2×2 cloth is at a crossroads of fabric weight, comfort, opaqueness, durability, price and wrinkle resistance.
Once woven and off the loom, the goods go through one or more of a variety of finishing processes. Pre-shrinking and mercerizing or “brushing” create different cotton looks; the later makes for that flannel appearance. The lesson here is that finishing of the cloth is key. After brushing, mercerizing etc., the fabrics are bathed in chemical solutions then rinsed in water; sometimes several times.
Finishers from two different finishing plants create a different look and feel (handle) to the same woven cotton. Some finishers aim for a softer more buttery result and others shoot for a crisper handle. Finishing is not an exact science and can vary from batch to batch within the same finishing house. However, finishing is less “hit and miss” today than it used to be; it also employs more environmentally friendly chemical ingredients.
Think of England and the colors she loves
Made in England is undeniably patriotic and economically supportive. However, there is another reason to weave in England and that is increased quality control and faster feedback. This in turn allows Acorn to take greater chances with design and thus offer greater variety. There is also the benefit of all that unwritten, unspoken almost incommunicable cultural understanding that local weavers will already possess about what exact textures, colors and patterns the English prefer. It would be almost impossible to get another culture up to speed about what exact range of blues or what resolution of stripe the English will prefer.
Although this is not a shirt pattern that would ordinarily spark the English tastes, this one is compelling to them. Its plainness accentuated with a repeating combination of a plum, lilac, blue and navy colored stripe combines all the virtues of a shirt for them. If the stripes were any closer together or farther apart, the shirt would lose caste with them immediately. This is Classic Shirtings’ Regent 3/20 Lilac. The plainer 3/30 blue ( Only blue and navy alternating stripes) would also be popular.
And on the subject of English color preferences, it would seem the English are imprecise about it verbally but know exactly what they want visually. Which is why it is paramount that someone brought up in the English aesthetic indeed does the color selection.
According to Acorn the American customers know what they want shade wise and thus aqua blues and sage greens, are asked for with specificity. This is probably as a result of American male exposure to designers and interior decorators. They have trained us to see that there is no such thing as “just” blue and that, to be content, we need twenty different shades of the color in anything we buy. Whatever the social comment about our times, it does make Acorn’s job a lot easier.
In England by contrast, the English have no idea what to label sub shades of color and you will get requests like “More pink and blue only not quite as pink and blue as the last time”. You will overhear interactions like “But you asked for pink, sir” with the response “I know, but that is VERY pink”. This goes some way to explaining why “pink” can run into lilac or wine or lavender or even damasque red or ultimately royal purple itself.
The upshot of all this imprecision is that you either know what shades and colors the English will buy or you’re stuffed. Unlike with the Americans if a shade is wrong, you cannot sell the item at any discount. The English like what they like, end of story. The good news is you can come up with unlimited and slight permutations of the same dratted thing and sell it by the mile.
Although English simplification of color would at first glance to make an outside observer’s job easier it does not. For instance It took me quite a while to understand that colors referred to as wine, burgundy or even lilac are the color of actual wine dried on a white cloth or a dark rose color and not always the dried blood red we associate it with in the States. That the color we might refer to as a palest purple here can also be called lilac in England or alternatively mauve or lavender. Mistakes like this can lead to an American buying a dark red striped shirt only to find it’s not as English (although it is somewhat English) as he thought and what he wanted was actually a faded red-purple color.
Lilac in England is close to pink. In fact, it is a sort of dark pink. Notice that this shirt is a fine stripe on a white background. The English are very fond of simple patterns which appear as a solid from a few feet away.
Pink and blue, lilac and blue, red and blue, blue on blue as well as yellow and blue are very popular as combinations for shirts. Usually (but far from always) there is some white involved on the shirt as well in each case.
Pink on white, blues on white, and even to a degree a scarlet red on white are all classics for one purpose or another. Red in particular is considered the shock color par excellence, the “Go to hell” stance of the city lad and the “I can wear what I please” stance of the West End habitue.
Although considered on the fashion-y side, lilac, lavender, purple and mauve are much more popular in England than anywhere else. In fact, they are not that popular anywhere else. In Italy, they sell none because there is superstition attached to it. In America, outside of the largest cities and the most sophisticated circles, these colors are considered effeminate. Although, happily, this attitude is changing.
Pink with blue stripe. Pink and blue reside coiled around the English cerebral cortex. This handsome example might be sported by a mandarin of the civil service. English professional men, even those in positions of seriousness or authority, are not afraid of color. This is Grange FR Pink. The pigs on the tie are a recurring fun theme with the English. Being a Benny Hill like chauvinist “twit” is considered part of the fun of being a lad.
Even pink is frowned upon beyond England’s shores but for the occasional client with exceptional tastes. In Canada, pink is never to be seen. But why is Pink so popular with the Englishmen? A recent survey in England suggests that pink is the color the fairer sex most wants to see on its men, and perhaps that gives us some direction.
No matter how much of an expert you believe you become in predicting what the English will like in a shirt pattern, bear in mind that even when all the proper colors are present, they still abhor complexity and there exist very real dimensions to their preferences. To a greater degree, only someone raised within the culture can see these dimensions with regularity. This might explain why one seemingly bold shirt is acceptable and another is far too byzantine.
Navy and Blue Jumbo Check. This is real English taste. The English are not afraid of scale on a shirt nor are they interested in uniformity. This is true City Lad chutzpah. Believe it or not, in England this is a classic. A shirt like this one (#22 in the classic shirting book) necessarily demands cufflinks loud enough to be seen through the pattern.
Thus, even when using the same exact colors it is crucial to set and combine them in the way the English (and their many fans) like them. Improper controversy in an Englishman’s shirt is tantamount to suffering self imposed ostracism. Acorn makes sure all the proper tribal markings are present and this is why Acorn is such an important cultural institution.
Of course, Acorn does cater to the worldwide customer who wants to either buy trademark Acorn and English designs or English takes on international styles and colors. However, the Harvie and Hudson look has come round again; a look that really took hold in the 1970s. Now, due to this English look taking hold again, even notorious holdouts of “le style drab” like the Japanese corporate elite are beginning to wear bolder stripes and checks of all sorts.
English Fabric preferences:
White is still the number one seller, followed by the end-on-end blue (you know the one with a hint of grey).
This is the workhorse of the English wardrobe. The Bengal stripe comes in many gauges and scales. On the left is Grange HC navy which is about as dark as the English will choose. In the center is King HD blue which is a staple for just about anyone who owns a jacket in England. On the right is Grassmere GF Navy. The GF sky is actually more popular but this runs a reasonable second. The English love the Bengal stripe so much that they like to see it in different qualities of cotton.
Bengal stripes are a perennial. Black stripes (and solid blacks) are a fashion statement. Many of the more fashion forward designers like them and they have a certain modern flavor. More typically the English go for three shades of blue (ice, sky and royal), pink and wine.
The black solid is getting more popular in England for evenings out; at least for younger people. Their Savile row customers probably wouldn’t be caught dead in (or would only be caught dead in) a black solid shirt. There is the idea that the black shirt reminds the collective memory of British fascists from the 1930s.
The English like to vary standards and favorites. This is nothing more than a conceptually pulled out gingham check. Its key acceptability factor is in color and paleness. Regent 8/30 Sky. In the States we would have a hard time putting a conservative tie on what we would consider a “wild” shirt but for the English, this shirt is not wild but rather a classic. Note the spitfire cufflinks (available through Harvie and Hudson). Ordinarily, the English eschew idolatry but they are rightfully proud of their contributions in WW2.
The Butcher stripe, so called because of the width of stripe worn on aprons of actual English butchers is a very popular stripe in England as is it’s permutated brother, the butcher check. These gauges along with Bengal striped and checked gauges form the backbone of the shirts worn by those in the city, in the legal temples and at the civil service.
The Grassmere GF Navy with a standard blue tie with white spots. The English love the spot theme on a tie.
A close-up of King HD blue. There is a paler version (HD sky) which the English also like.
*Grange* HD Navy. The variation in gauges and spacing of Bengal stripes is as varied as snowflake patterns.
Acorn makes both a 36” wide goods book (Acorn) and a 60” wide book (Classic Shirtings) and that’s the only difference between them. Something like 850 fabrics exists in their ranges at any one time.
The Kent range is a twill weave for those who wanted a bit more beef to their shirts. Actually the Americans wanted them more even if they’re made up by English makers. Americans also like the pinpoint oxford cloth. Burnside is more an open fabric. It is more delicate than twill.
The Grange line is the standard 100s 2×2 poplin fabric. Riviera blue is the most popular blue amongst the darker colors; the English generally wont go darker. In the Grange ET range of solids, almost every color is popular except for green, tan, yellow and grey.
The Windermere is a 120s 2×2 which feels similar to a sea island cotton, recently switched from a piece dyed fabric to a yarn dyed fabric which has increased its luster and crispness of color. White and a few solid colors are popular but mostly in the USA.
Grassmere is the most popular range (160s 2×2 ) when the English want to upgrade. And the English are known to spoil themselves on their shirts. Grassmere feels like silk; it’s that fine. They don’t do a lot of bold choices in the Grassmere because it costs the customer and the mill a lot of money thus the effect is to increase the conservatism of all parties involved in the fabric design. The English like the white, sky, and the azure most. At present there really are no Grassmere pinks and pink/blue and/or white combinations but there is a feeling that this is about to change.
Again for the present, GE, GF, GH sky are the most popular Grassmere choices in England. A true 160s 2×2 is as good a quality as anyone needs, after that level the cloth becomes increasingly more difficult to work with and the consistency is more like a tissue. The higher count fabrics are a good gimmick for a shirt maker who wants to keep making shirts for a handful of clients.
The Malham range is white on white which used to be popular in the 80s and actually outsold plain white. It’s having a revival as a “hip” item amongst young mavericks and the fashion houses. The English use this fabric as sleeves and body in conjunction with a white pique bib fronted formal shirt. White on white herringbone is also quite popular.
Royal Oxford is more popular in Italy than England. The English like the pinpoint oxford and the full blown oxford cloth because they feel it has a more American look!
The English like the solid, striped and checked Summer Pinpoint (even more than the normal Pinpoint) for both dress and weekend shirts. Although the English usually eschew texture in day shirts for the office, something about the summer pinpoint appeals to them; perhaps because it is only somewhat textured and appears smooth at a distance.
Zephyr is a sheer, soft and open weave which is popular everywhere, including England, as is the voile. It seems global warming is catching up with all of us. Zephyr in plains colours and the ZL and ZC sell well but the ZD – ZG never took off – a classic example of nice design, wrong quality.
The Balmoral is another twill which has a lot of patterns the English like in blue on white checks and stripes.
Top qualities and more specific Acorn choices that define the English.
Big checks (Like BG in the Acorn book and #22 in the Classic shirting book) with self collar and cuffs and very widely spaced large gauge stripes (Regent #200 and the like in the Classic book) with a white collar and cuffs. You hardly see the stripes under a jacket and the effect is a seemingly solid white shirt until the jacket is removed; the sort of trompe l’oeil the English admire.
DA (blue with hairline stripe in white) with white collar and cuff appeals to the English.
ET blue is vastly popular, almost everyone on the island seems to wear one.
CC sky, a medium gauge bengal stripe in the Grange range, is so popular that some men get a dozen of just that, same for GD Grassmere sky.
With the advent of the reality of multi-media monitors and their negative effect on the white shirt, blue has become the new white in England.
English Top Ten Sellers and Choices:
According to Acorn, in no particular order……
- EE Blue
- AZ pink
- CC Sky/Navy
- GM Blue
- NNG pink
- Grange white
- FJ Blue
- MC Blue
- ET Blue
- EE Pink
AZ Pink is a pink mini-houndstooth with a thin blue overcheck or windowpane which they simply cannot produce enough of (it’s also very difficult to photograph well). NNG pink is a blue poplin with a beautiful pink end on end stripe. MC Blue is (small blue and black check on a white background)
Rather classical but I guess that’s where we are at!!
Of course, there are other shirt colors and patterns popular with the English and these will be covered from time to time in future essays.
Acorn Fabric’s take on English style:
The suits are generally classical but the Englishman will “go to town with the shirt”. The English today aren’t as bad as simply putting whatever tie on top of their shirts as in times past and they are now matching their ties to their shirts a bit better.
The English enjoy a subtle, discreet customization such as having
contrasting button holes on the cuff. Or a complementing fabric on the inside of the collar or the inside/underside of a cuff. For example, having a shirt made up in Windermere Bluebell and having Grange HC Sky on the inside/underside of the cuffs. The inside of the collar may be too much in this specific case.
It should be mentioned that demographically, younger guys like the flamboyant checks and stripes ala Harvie and Hudson. The Savile row customers prefer the solids and Bengal stripes in Grassmere qualities.
How to spot an American or an Italian vs. an Englishman by his shirt? Acorn believes the cut of the shirt and suit are more of a tip off to who is English and who is not. The English are masters of making beautiful things they dare not wear. Acorn often designs something and has it made into a shirt before they decide to run a quantity of it.
*_Did you say pig, or fig?’ said the Cat.
`I said pig,’ replied Alice; `and I wish you wouldn’t keep appearing and vanishing so suddenly: you make on quite giddy.’
`All right,’ said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone.
`Well! I’ve often seen a cat without a grin,’ thought Alice; `but a grin without a cat! It’s the most curious thing I ever say in my life!’_*
What the Future holds for Acorn Fabrics:
They will be expanding the total number of offerings in both the classic shirtings and the Acorn ranges to 500 each (1,000) total. At the moment there are only about 850 total.
A new range of bamboo and linen which from a distance looks like linen but it is softer and a little more fluid than linen (trust me, I will be reviewing it). Solids to start (no white, the material doesn’t react well to the process) in cream, pink, blue, and lime green! It will be called the Barbados range. Bamboo is an ecologically friendly fabric and it is quite hip. The cloth merchant, Scabal has been using bamboo for jacket and pants fabrics for a while now but no one has yet really offered a shirt fabric. If it’s a hit, then patterned additions will be introduced.
There will be more pinpoints including a selection of patterns. There will be both pink and blue color ways.
Skipton Panama will be expanded with a pink and a grey. Oddly enough this highly textured, Italian looking fabric sells quite well in England.
More plain colors on the Lycra range because the ladies like that.
Expansion of the Windsor 140s range. The 140s has more in common with the 100s than the 160s. It is not as silky and it will not wrinkle as much but it does feel finer against the body than 100s and it takes color better. The 140s offers a good crossroads of luxury and solidity.
The Imperial 170s range will also be expanded, there is a building desire for finer fabrics that even a traditional stalwart like Acorn cannot ignore. O Tempora O Mores.
Grassmere will be expanded, more yellow and blue. Green is coming back again (not for the UK but they sell to the greater world.) No orange and brown additions.
The wool/cotton Kendall and brushed cotton Fife ranges will be expanded upon.
Many of the jumbo sized patterns in stripes and checks will be offered in new colors and combinations. Acorn’s dedication is to continue to supply the world with fabrics they can use for both business and casual; and also to keep the English tradition of shirt tastes alive. You might ask how they are they doing in this category? For the moment, the Cheshire cat grins on.
Acorn have their own web site at www.acornfabrics.com
Comment [5]
The English and Their City Suit. Part I
How does one define a culture? How does one claim that any item is truly representative of an ilk or a mindset? Further, how does a culture define itself? What was stereotypically true of a culture a generation ago may no longer exist, although it might endure as a label referenced by outsiders. To expand on this idea, what was once so definitive and current becomes outmoded. Perhaps this is part of the working cycle of culture? However, it now seems that in our new media age, years are like decades and items that once would have disappeared from posterity now merely skip a generation and are recycled before they can retire with dignity.
Do we as Americans eat the same things, wear the same things, and dress the same way as 25 years ago? Do we even look the same? I recently viewed footage from the seventies of people playing in a park during a heat wave. All the young men had their shirts off and they were so thin and underdeveloped they looked more fragile than our girls of today. Is it steroids in the meat or is it for the first time we can see on the record how we are as different from our forbears as they might have been from theirs?
There is a belief held by some that men of days bygone were dressed better than they are today. Is that in fact true? I observe photographs of men dressed in suits from the 1920s to the 1970s and I do not see the nostalgia many have come to hold them in. Their suits look heavy and badly tailored; their shirts seem stiff and uncomfortable. By contrast when I see politicians and newscasters on television today they look like their clothes are better made, better fitting and more comfortable. Is that really the case, or do I just associate the present with the way it should be done?
I often wonder what people from the pre-industrial age really looked like, really sounded like. The camera and mass media has changed the way we behave forever. Think of when you point a camera at someone, even someone you know. Their reactions tell a bit about them but more importantly, it tells us that we have become more aware of ourselves and the possibility that someone will remember us wearing the wrong clothes or expression. It fascinates me that in ages past, before the possibility of being recorded permanently with the camera there were still those devoted to always appearing a certain way, like Beau Brummell.
Forget about the bit Brummell1 is supposed to have said about people turning to look at what you’re wearing. It’s been misunderstood and interpreted too literally. I am not entirely convinced he wasn’t making fun of the listener to sound profound at the moment; a jest resonating through the ages and causing confusion. With regards to the Beau concentrate instead on his legacy because the result was no less than a stylistic compression of coal dust into diamonds forcing all men of manners to concentrate on the very subtlest of details.
And even today as the legacy of the Beau, the English rely on subtleties in the weave of a suit to let those in the know appreciate its custom make. Further, it is bad form to choose a custom touch that can be detected by anyone who doesn’t already have a trained eye for such detail.
A quartered (more or less) photo showing different shades of blue and grey. The upper left hand corner cloth is an H. Lesser 120s and 10% cashmere navy pin stripe which is no longer made. All of these are acceptably City in England with the exception, of course of the lighter grey in the upper right hand corner.
There is in the minds of many English people the idea of the “Well Cut” or “Very Well Cut” suit. This can be put in context when understanding that a certain shirt pattern or color could be worn for business but only if it were worn with a very well cut suit.
The important idea of cut and shape with regard to the suit suggests (more than any other clothing principle) a national awareness that nuance is the arbiter of social hierarchy. Ironically, details in other areas of life may go completely unnoticed. Examples may be architecture and décor. This may be due to cultural focus or it may be that with clothes there is a more manifest knowledge, even (or especially) amongst observers accustomed to beautiful clothes, to look for certain touches as evidence of class, superiority or taste.
In America, especially New York City (NYC), most do not believe that anyone can pick up the subtleties of a custom made suit and so choices in fabric are made that slap the observer in the face. We do speak about a “beautiful suit” but we seem more likely to refer to the quality or the color and pattern of the fabric than the cut and construction of the suit. Often it seems that suits that initially grab an American’s attention as beautiful will, upon closer inspection, prove to be of ordinary design or workmanship. With a suit we are wowed by something visually different and not by rich and talented shaping and cutting.
Also, I think also that whereas the English express themselves with cufflinks and a shirt and keep the suit very simple, the Americans use the suit as the center of expression which is probably why more choices are acceptable for business daywear here than in the City of London. But there is another reason, individuality. Not the same sort that leads the English to choose different things to offset themselves but the competitive individuality women demonstrate in being the center of attention.
In America, I think it is a popular enough cultural image from the past to picture two couples facing each other and dressed identically. While the women look upset and self-conscious that they’re both wearing the same outfit, the men feel ratified and look happy, like they made the right selection and are part of a team. Well that’s changing now and men are becoming as touchy about looking like other men as women are of other women.
Additionally, although London is no doubt as faceless as Manhattan, Americans live in a culture where you are what you wear. We have no “class” system to announce our importance and, it seems, many of those who are part of the power elite possess neither the breeding nor the tools necessary to identify it in others. For this reason, the Eastern Seaboard Brahmin class indicator of “scruffiness” doesn’t work across a broader more diverse cross section of Americans with both money and power.
Unlike in England where you would lose caste for caring too much, in the USA neatness and fastidiousness count and so does the announcement that you have a custom made suit. It’s the same message really between England and the USA; it’s just deployed in a different manner. The same apple green stripe on a flannel that would make a Londoner cringe impresses most Americans in positions of success that you’ve gotten something special made up.
The English do not like to talk about themselves and this may explain their more restricted and precise choices in clothes. I get the sense that they employ clothing as an opportunity to tacitly communicate as much about themselves as possible, a sort of sartorial resume. I wonder if it isn’t the opposite in NYC where one might be trying to tell people as little about oneself personally while still trying to achieve an effect of power or prosperity. Whatever the reasons, it is clear that Americans get their understanding of what to wear from fashion adverts while the English seem to learn about what to wear by a form of social osmosis.
About the color of stripes and patterns in suits.
The English do not generally like colored stripes on suits. This is partially because they do not like to match the tie to anything in the suit (which is, ironically, traditional in America), and therefore the suit needs to be neutral, very neutral. The English are fond of matching their ties and shirts and leaving the suit as a frame or backdrop. If you introduce the element of color into the suit pattern you destroy the aesthetic.
Think of it this way. Let us say you want to wear a blue shirt with yellow stripe and mate it with a navy tie with yellow spots on it. Now you pull on your suit jacket with alternating white and green stripes. If you pretend the green stripe isn’t there you’re going to look awful, and if you add green to the shirt and/or tie choice not only do you violate a cultural color aversion but you’ve matched “too much” which is a social violation for a man.
There are exceptions to the no color stripe guideline, such as the navy blue suit with a pink (which initially looks yellow or orange), purple, lilac and even a rust red stripe. It should be mentioned that the rust colored stripe is also acceptable on gray cloth. However, the first three stripe colors mentioned are always found on a navy blue cloth and are considered either a young man’s suit, a fastidious man’s suit or a dandy’s suit.
Bear in mind that these color combinations are indeed popular in England but in an unconscious manner. If you ask English people to concentrate on what accessories they would wear these suit patterns with, they grow silent. Like any other cultural truism once you stop doing it instinctively and think to express it verbally, it all vanishes.
The English accept a pink stripe on a navy background. This handsome example is a 10 oz 99% cashmere, 1% Vicuna from Harrisons of Edinburgh’s Multi-Millionaire collection (call number 89951). The pink stripe is an interesting mix of white and pink that gives it life. Sometimes a fabric really gets it right. This is where tradition, hip, and dandy all blend. The Grey pin stripe cloth is the 7-8 oz Harrisons Havana summer weave in 120s and 1% cashmere (Call number 21036).
In the USA men would take a suit with a pink stripe and mate it with a blue shirt and a hot pink tie. In England the reverse is true, they would prefer to wear a pink shirt and a blue tie. It is too obvious and too violative of a social norm to pick up a color in a suit fabric with a necktie.
But why are purple, lilac, or pink stripes on navy wool acceptable and rarely any other combination of stripe and wool color? It would seem the national passion for the combination of blue and pink is so powerful that they are willing to wear these particular bold patterns but will tolerate few others. It is understood that these exceptions are a bit difficult for the “anything goes” American mindset to grasp.
Blue stripes on either navy or grey background cloth are also acceptable. To be fair blue stripes can vary from an almost white powdery blue to a powerful ultramarine or electric blue and even to an aqua which itself can range from pale and powdery to one that is quite turquoise like. Actual green stripes, as well as bright reds, orange, yellow and brown are not worn in the City. And pinks, lilacs, purples and mauves on anything but navy wool will likely see you escorted to the exit.
The number one suit stripe color is still white, ranging from a dead white to an ashen grey and from distinct to almost undetectable. Permissible but old fashioned even for the English is either a black stripe on a dark grey background or what at first seems like a lighter grey stripe on a charcoal background but is actually rather like a trompe l’oeil effect achieved through regularly spaced omissions of the otherwise solid hairline striped pattern; achieved through weaving.
This pits Fresco against Havana cloth. The English don’t care about weave as much as color. The Fresco cloth is the right shade of charcoal and the Havana pin stripe is the lightest shade you could choose for the City of London.
And here lies the strain on suit pattern designers. The English want to look different all within a very tight constraint of choices. The demands and the resulting resources expended in the quest to produce variations on the navy with white chalk stripe fabric boggle the mind.
Prince of Wales checks, window panes and any sort of checked or plaid pattern is verboten in the City. It makes you wonder why they make these patterns at all; the answer is for leisure or for foreigners.
Even non directional patterns which add up to a solid like the nails head pattern (small and somewhat irregular narrow rectangles in grey, blue or white on a grey or grey-blue or navy blue background) are considered “American”. Both the nails head and the bird’s eye pattern (small dots of a slightly lighter shade than the background material) have made city inroads mainly because there is a vogue for solids at the moment.
Philosophical considerations that affect suit cloth choices in both England and America.
In England they admit there is a class system and everyone is far more supportive of the differences between the classes. There is a belief there that class and money bear only a tangential relationship. People can have a flair for style and clothing irrespective of their social backgrounds and be appreciated as having such by all their countrymen.
In America class is a source of constant denial. Taste appreciation is fairly uniform in England but in America ask 100 Americans what’s in good taste and you will get 100 different answers with the attitude “Who has the right to determine what is and what isn’t tasteful?” There seems a lot of defiance within our classless society which leads to a lot of unfortunate sartorial selections.
For contrast the darker English wool against what Americans consider a charcoal suit. The darker grey is a charcoal, two ply JJ Minnis Fresco cloth (call number 0514) and the lighter is an H. Lesser sharkskin 11-11.5 oz superfine (call number 28794).
In any event, the English like dark suits. In fact they like the darkest suits. Americans have no idea how dark the English like their suits because generally we will instinctively choose lighter colors. The English like a charcoal that is almost indistinguishable from black and a navy like that too. Occasionally, they will wear a “bluer” navy if it has very heavy pinstripes or chalk stripes on it. The English will claim they do not like black suits but they seem to wear them in abundance both solids and with white or grey stripes.
It is interesting that for suits the American upper class like a navy blue that’s a little bluer or more purple than the English would choose. Also, while a medium grey, a medium or dark blue-grey and the tan suit are all the mark of American gentility for the workplace, the English would never touch these cloths for City wear. Why would we develop such different tastes from each other? Although in the grand scheme of things, a black-navy vs. a purple-navy cloth choice is practically unnoticeable, in the world of tailored suit choices it is a veritable chasm.
Incidentally, when it comes to the “City” we are speaking about both a physical place and a state of mind of people doing business. The English will wear all sorts of suit patterns and shades for the “country” with the country defined as lunch with a friend in Oxford town! Thus, “country” is also a state of mind in England. We might call it “suburb” here because we have more land and more wildernesses. We also don’t have that parliamentary act which preserves the green areas and restricts development. The English have plenty of built up areas but no urban sprawl.
In any case, the Americans like the medium grey suit because it suggests leisure and an easement from business to club. Remember that the English separate the idleness of the aristocrat from the seriousness of business; we combine it.
The English also do not have our weather extremes. Pounding heat and frigid wind chills have given rise to changes in the colors and cloths chosen by Americans. Additionally, the great fogs of industrial London (which were actually clouds of soot) made anything but the darkest suits untenable. Meanwhile, in America the light suit became the mark of the well heeled both because our upper classes walked in factory free cities and because the great depression’s envious eye demanded they come across as more likeable. Light colors accomplish that.
Imagine a movie made for American audiences. Imagine further a scene with several men visiting an American company in extremely dark suits. What purpose could we surmise the director and costume designer wanted to achieve and what effect would these dark suits actually have on the audience? The intent might be to portray these men as way too serious and humorless; perhaps even to be disliked and made fun of. Is this a barrier to Americans selecting the darkest suits?
Above all I would be alerted that grave trouble was in the offing. In America, the hero wears a medium colored suit, the balance between power and casual openness. Sometimes the Hero can wear a black suit but he either wears no tie or the outfit is hip and non English looking; the black suit itself will clearly come from a designer and not be in the bench made tradition.
With regard to English tastes and what we can learn from them.
One might apply the obvious lesson here that the dark suit choice and the dark tie choice is what gave birth to the more adventurous English shirt. You may not want to choose the darkest suit cloths but it may give you pause to consider the Anglo-Saxon reasons the people who invented the suit for work choose darkly and why you yourself might instead choose a lighter shade.
Certainly, in the USA you could distinguish yourself by choosing the darkest suit colors and because color is free this is an easy way to develop a sense of style. It is far too easy to otherwise believe that style is the amassing of items, that style is the adding of etceteras like a ticket pocket.
Sometimes style is the removal of something; sometimes to distinguish ourselves we delete. Whoever said that elegance was never far from simplicity would doubtless agree. For example, removal of a placket on a shirt to achieve the French style front creates a more formal and more elegant effect. A simple deletion but how many would think of that sartorial coup?
Actually it seems that most who buy custom shirts believe it is time to load up with extras, as if it were their one and only chance to “go to town”. And I think probably that signal is picked up by the seasoned bespoke veteran. Likewise, Americans might think that when selecting a suit cloth, they need to get more color for their money, even if it is just a lighter shade of grey.
But to choose dark suits is to choose the route of power over that of the popular guy, the guy with the spring in his step and the girl on his arm that knows all the wise cracks and delivers them to charming perfection. You could choose the dark suit and be different here in America because most quail from the darkest choices. And because of this, as with the selection of solid neckties, the dark suit will distinguish you because few wear it.
To be continued…
1 Beau Brummell is quoted as once having said “If John Bull turns round to look after you, you are not well dressed; but either too stiff, too tight, or too fashionable.” Many take these words both literally and to heart but considering he liked to be looked at and noticed and had introduced a new style of dress to London that was basically shocking for its time, I find it hard to believe he didn’t just want to sound profound and exercise his own inner sense of power by playing with contemporaries who also might have taken him too literally.
Comment [2]
Harrisons of Edinburgh: Cloth of distinction
Have you ever read this poem from a time when the English valued Christian work ethic as the ne plus ultra of man’s spirit?
Against Idleness and Mischief (part)
by Isaac Watts
How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!
How skillfully she builds her cell!
How neat she spreads the wax!
And labours hard to store it well
With the sweet food she makes.
Did you know that, through Alice, Lewis Carroll mocked the poem in his books?
How Doth the Little Crocodile
by Lewis Carroll
How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!
How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spreads his claws,
And welcomes little fishes in,
With gently smiling jaws!
That was no accident, the English have a love for parody and pretending to get things slightly wrong. Alice states that she doesn’t think she’s reciting it correctly (she knows she isn’t but pretends) as she echoes the British love for knowing, “unconscious” irony. The bee is busy and the crocodile is idle, reversing the central element of Watt’s message.
Like the bee the English are industrious and yet, like the crocodile they do not seem to move quickly. How can one reconcile these two opposite characteristics? How can one be both crocodile and bee?
Aside from parody, the contrast between the two poems also demonstrates the English love for their traditions but a readiness to mock them without weakening the foundations. To want to be ancient and yet modern at the same time is part of the British duality which fascinates me. They stick to their traditions but they create items of great modernity which they often dare not wear themselves, almost as if they are outsiders to the present.
Harrisons of Edinburgh is a brilliant example of this contrast, they carry the most correct Donegal tweeds for suits; direct descendants of those worn by Oxford Dons of the 1920s and which no other cloth merchant carries, and yet they also offer some of the most up to date (but still correct) worsteds. Part of the reason is that this business is carried on by people brought up in the British tradition but who also appreciate and want to work with the world as it is today.
Indeed, they grew up in the English tradition of the City of London, Oxbridge, the West End, and the Shires, but made a determination that though they would keep these traditions alive they would also catch up with the rest of the world. They wanted to be associated with modern American finance and law, with Middle Eastern grandee-ism, with Japanese ultra corporate consumerism, and current interpretations of wealth and style.
I can picture their logo being that proverbial crocodile; an animal both adorning his antiquity and improving his look to fit the modern era. Deep down we all want to look like we have the style of our greater past, but we also want to live and operate within the modern lifestyle. Similar colors and patterns to the past, but in modern textures, weaves, finishes and, above all, weights.
Speaking with the people who run Harrisons, I discovered that their customers are almost exclusively tailors. Having the local custom tailors report favorably about a cloth is a good standard to set for everyone else around the world. Additionally, Harrisons execs do get new cloths made into jackets and suits and put them through a field test before the cloth is ordered.
Suit Fabrics:
Quality is excellent on the cru ranges which aren’t quite as good as the legendary Golden Bale but are approaching it. The 150s they say have supplanted the Golden Bale because Golden Bale isn’t what it used to be, the chief refiner of this type of wool no longer produces a lot of it and the cloth merchant, H. Lesser and Sons admirably handles the little that is available.
Additionally, the generation that adored Golden Bale is retiring and the new custom set is finding a different sort of high quality goods defines their expression. They are satisfied with the 150s and get no reports that it sags or wears out unduly
Harrisons like to offer the same patterns of cloth in different weights and finishes because their customers often become loyal to a particular pattern and want to repeat it for different seasons. As with most merchants in England, Harrisons have a continuing theme of patterns and colors unique to them. In Harrisons’ case a pink or a purple chalk or pinstripe on a navy background is one of their signature cloths.
The English approach to color and quality can be quite simple. The London City business is charcoal grey and navy blue. The West End is a bit more flamboyant but still within the same navy and grey “framework”. As mentioned above, most popular is a navy cloth with either a lilac or a pink stripe. There is however an overall decline in striped fabric sales and solids are most popular at the moment along with non directional patterns; pick and pick, Birdseye, nail-head, hairlines.
Because Harrisons try to deliver goods that won’t lose their crease or bag in the knees after a few wearings, their flannels aren’t as spongy as some other makes but they perform incredibly well. In fact, their flannels wear like a worsted, keep their crease and sell quickly. The navy and the charcoal with white chalk stripe are two of the most popular. Flannel is more of a West End fabric, Old Money and the club set. It is after all easier to lounge in a leather armchair with scotch and a cigar in a soft flannel suit.
For summer the Mystique book is popular. It is a hard wearing 8/9 oz cloth in a breezy open weave;, cool on the body summer weight cloth. The even lighter weight Havana range is popular in places where it is often warm. The colors of most of the suit fabrics are dark even for the summer selections because their stock and trade is the London city set.
The Frontier and Fine Classics bunches are suit cloths for the city boys uniform. Good value, hard wearing and always look smart. Although they are still lighter in weight than cloths from the past they incorporate the same qualities which used to be standard for the City. In the past, City boys used to (Barristers still do) like the heavier 15 oz cloths because to them the suit was more of a uniform than a sartorial indulgence.The idea was that they wore them every day, all day. Doesn’t sound like much fun or even a matter of style and it wasn’t. In part this explains why the accepted pattern and color choices are so limited; the suit literally was a uniform almost no different than one for a regiment of soldiers.
But in England it is now as much about what you can afford as about what is proper. Premier Cru 100s and Cru Classe 120s are currently very popular in England because they combine luxury with longevity. Premier Cru is one of the first top end cloths to become a benchmark for Super 100’s quality; supple, smooth against the body and yet strong. Premier Cru, Mystique and the 13oz Thistle cloth are the choices of the Old Guard Tory who lives and works in the UK.
Tweeds and Coat Fabrics:
Cashmere overcoat cloth is available, mainly in the darker colors. Navy blue is most popular. A new cashmere Herringbone overcoat cloth will soon be available in blue, grey and black. A pure vicuna overcoat cloth is also in the works…don’t ask how much that will cost. But it is their camel hair overcoat material which sings like a Mozart Aria.
Their camel hair cloth has a unique depth of quality and finish giving it a superior appearance. It is the most beautiful camel hair overcoat cloth I have ever seen. Just right to make a half-belted polo overcoat out of in the 19 oz weight, or a topcoat in the 14oz version for those who want something natty to wear over their dinner jacket (or sweater and jeans) when the weather is still mild.
Perhaps a bit buccaneer-like in England, the Polo coat is here considered an aristocratic staple. Which brings us to an interesting point, Harrisons carries cloths that cater to both the English and the Americans tastes. One is not better than the other, they are merely different and it as good to know which notes belongs to which aria, lest the lady with the winged helmet become confused.
The camel hair they offer is created by a company which specializes both in weaving and finishing coat cloth. This company has the unique knowledge and finesse to produce the right look and the proper handle to camel hair. Weaving and finishing this fabric is more complex than weaving suit cloth, it requires a very deft approach and most mills will not take the chance.
Hartwist, Porter and Harding and the other heavy tweed ranges they carry are referred to as “Bullet Proof” but please do not put that to the test. Designed originally for the life of the country gentlemen on their estates, these hard wearing tweeds signal culturally rich associations for the English. They aren’t as heavy on the shoulder as you might think them because of how they are woven which produces a porous-ness in the cloth; making them not quite as hot as you would think them either.
The Hartwist range is all made from Cheviot (a breed of sheep) twist yarn which incorporates more colors than normal (6 or 7 rather than the standard 4 or 5) and makes for a richer looking cloth.
If the true tweeds are too heavy, coarse or warm for you, try the Glorious Twelfth book which is an 11oz fabric that is a worsted cloth but is colored and shaded as if it were tweed. What gives the Glorious 12th cloth this character? The secret to the cloth’s elegance is a weave known as ‘Genuine Twist Worsted’; it is this process that gives the cloth both lift (the plush, spongey quality associated with true tweeds) and sparkle. The result is a lighter, less bulky and cooler worsted cloth which has the “pop” of traditional tweed.
The Solway range at 8oz is a similar idea to the Glorious Twelth but designed for a warmer climate. The Solway is a Super 110’s, and yes it is a fine worsted but it only pretends to be a ‘Genuine Twist Worsted.Incidentally, “Glorious Twelfth” is the first day of the grouse shooting season in Scotland. The English like the Glorious Twelth cloth to make into sports coats which they wear for social occasions in the country.
Luxury Fabrics:
At the luxury end of the spectrum there are the Cachet cashmere, Millionaire cashmere and now the Multi-Millionaire cashmere and vicuna suit cloths. The Cachet comes in a lot of standard tweed looking cloths but it is sturdy cashmere. The Cachet cashmere, made in Scotland, is for a heavier casual jacket. The Cachet has a different look to the Millionaire but it is still pure cashmere.
Both the Millionaire and Multi-Millionaire cashmeres are made exclusively in Scotland for Harrisons. The Millionaire cashmere is luxury defined. It does pill a bit in the beginning but that will go away soon and will not affect enjoyment of the jacket.
The Millionaire is lighter in weight and softer than the Cachet. Overall it is loftier, plusher cashmere. Probably not a very English choice but perfect for lounging in New York City on a rainy fall day smoking a cigar (watch your ash) and looking like a very updated version of the country gentleman.
The Multi-Millionaire cloth is cashmere with a worsted finish for suits. It sold out quickly the first time it was offered (the navy with a pale pink chalk stripe was so popular they sold out of it almost immediately.) Fortunately they reissued the range and they have again included the basic navy and grey solids, pin stripes and white chalk stripes (Hot) but also the navy with purple pin stripe (Hotter) and the navy with pale pink chalk stripe (Hottest). Although probably too much for English senses of expenditure, they would doubtless admire its understated richness on others and I simply can’t think of a better subliminal way to tell everyone at the negotiating table that you already own them.
What does the future hold for Harrisons of Edinburgh? They will not be as the lilies of the field but will toil and spin both to produce better qualities and update the designs and finish.
Why would you choose Harrisons for cloth? If you are in a mainstream business or want to be quietly admired without being fussed over. Also if you have the occasional leaning for the traditional tweed or heavier suit cloth this firm offers these too. Harrisons presents an excellent balance for men who need to circulate from the most contemporary mainstream circles to those Fogey affairs.
In the meantime, I think the envy caused by wearing clothes from their cloth will quickly dry up any crocodile tears.
Comment [4]
In search of Butcher stripes and checks
“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”
That’s a bit like how I feel when I am trying to pin down the reasons the English make the selections they do. Growing up, I thought of the English shirt style as wild or bold; an anything goes merry-go-round of color and pattern. I believed you could choose just about any shirt you like and be considered an insider and well dressed to boot. I couldn’t have been more wrong. English shirt choices are as hard to pin down and verbalize as the Cheshire cat himself. While trying to figure it all out I wondered if I wasn’t in a mad world with me, like Alice, as the maddest of all because I was sane enough to get out and did not!
All that seems to remain after my research is the equivalent of that lingering grin. The one solid piece I did come away understanding is that the English consider the shirt to be a central item of clothing as much of a focal point as American men think of their neckties. To American men the shirt is simply a chest covering to showcase their tie, for the English a tie is more like a napkin which protects their treasured shirts. Our eyes hit the tie first, their eyes ignore the tie and go straight on to observing the subject’s shirt.
Certain basic patterns are more accepted in England than they would be here. The Bengal stripe in varying gauges and distances between stripes (and their corresponding gauged checks, called ginghams) and the wider butcher stripe (and their corresponding checks, also called ginghams) are traditional standards in England making little more impact on an observer’s eye than a plain white shirt, whereas, at least at one time, they would have been considered quite aggressive in the USA.
How do you define them, can you define them? And does one figure out how to navigate the labyrinth of English shirt tastes? It seems a shirt I would consider quite a fad item is a standard there and another I would consider an attractive choice couldn’t be given away in Albion.
The classic English shirt and why they wear it:
Alice didn’t think that proved it at all: however she went on. “And how do you know that you’re mad?”
“To begin with,” said the Cat, “a dog’s not mad. You grant that?”
“I suppose so,” said Alice
“Well, then, “ the Cat went on, “you see a dog growls when it’s angry, and wags its tail when it’s pleased. Now I growl when I’m pleased, and wag my tail when I’m angry. Therefore I’m mad.”
A strong current of contrary logic flows into the selection of a item for the English man when he wants to distinguish himself. He has to make this different choice within a complex lattice of tradition. He alone understands which behaviors make his dog normal and his cat’s choice shocking.
With this in mind it is perhaps better to hear what the English themselves say about the shirts they prefer for city wear and the reasons they choose them. It is important when observing a culture to get the observations, opinions and rich experience of the natives whenever possible.
Richard Harvie of Harvie and Hudson:
The English like a look that’s not too contrived, color combinations should be close but not exact. They don’t want a feeling that someone has dressed them. This is no doubt why a navy tie with pink spots gets placed on a wine or a lilac striped shirt. One wants to avoid looking like mannequin in a shop. The English do not like feeling pedantic.
He believes in a strong shirt with a subtler tie or the reverse. Some Englishmen will wear their club tie and place them on whatever bold shirt they might be wearing. However, he doesn’t advocate putting the Guards tie (evenly gauged and spaced navy and maroon stripes) on one of their bold shirts.
Harvie and Hudson have a lot of exclusive shirt fabrics made for them. They Design or choose the pattern for the shirt material first. They then design the tie pattern and send it to Vanners, the silk weavers, and match the shirt colors to the tie colors.
In the late sixties (1960s) bolder shirts became acceptable. They look a little like pajamas and there is a reason for that. Mr. Harvie’s grandfather made up some shirts out of pajamas material in the early 1950s just to see reactions. People started asking for them for a bit of fun. Now these shirts are considered staples even by those who would never wear the shirts themselves in London.
The English wear gingham check shirts with chalk striped suits and it works. Color combinations that are popular are pink and blue. Every time a shirt order is made up for the shops, double the amount of pink and blue is usually called for.
Yellow and Blue combinations come in second with red and blue a close third when it’s a pale blue and just above a cherry red (scarlet). Green and grey are difficult colors to sell. A British racing green might sell but it generally is not worth stocking up on any shade of green.
Lilac and purple are accepted fashionable colors which while not frowned upon at all are not asked for enough. They come around every now and then. Black stripes are almost completely out.
A scarlet red gingham check shirt is very popular in varying scales. A scarlet stripe, just a bit brighter than cherry, is also popular. Sometimes even a solid scarlet shirt will be run for a bit of off-hours fun.
For shirts, the English do not like black stripes or checks. The archives show that Harvie & Hudson stopped making them up in the 1970s. He thinks because fewer black suits are worn. Interesting that he thought black, brown and taupe suits are Italian while blue and grey are English. I suppose as Americans we can choose from the entire spectrum.
It also reveals an interesting difference between the English and the Americans. Americans tend to match a tie with a color in a suit but the English don’t do this unless it’s by accident. If an Englishman were to wear a black suit, he would not wear a black tie to match the suit but he might wear a shirt with grey or black in it. If the tie then had black or grey in it to match the shirt it would be an accident, rendering what one at first glance would imagine was essentially the same as matching the tie to the suit color but yielding esoteric differences. And nuances of approach are ultimately what separate one culture from another.
In the USA, a black background or solid tie, especially a knit or grenadine one, worn with a charcoal suit has non funereal solidity to it, a no nonsense look from our historical sense of FBI seriousness or Film Noir urgency. The English only wear black ties for funerals.
But now it becomes apparent why the English do not like wearing suit cloths with colored stripes, it wreaks havoc with their basic unit of dress, the shirt and tie. To disturb the dynamic would make an entire country late, and the white rabbit of their minds’ eye would never stand for that!
Pale blue solids and pale blue and pink ginghams and stripes in micro Bengal, mini Bengal, Bengal, butcher and jumbo scales are standards. Which is an interesting point, the English like the same thing, both color and pattern, in different scales. The English also love small patterns which from a distance appear solid like mille raie stripes and micro ginghams, houndstooth (or dogstooth) and graph checks.
Although they are staples even the English don’t wear some of these bolder choices for more serious matters. Bold butcher stripes in a white background with the same single color stripe usually a navy (but a royal navy not a black navy) to a pale blue stripe. This is the choice of the self assured city worker and it carries a bit more punch than a standard Bengal stripe.
Acorn fabrics are a favorite because they are dependable, they feel good against the skin and they are dyed and finished in an “English” manner. Two fold 100s are preferred because it is a good balance between wear and comfort.
Mr. Harvie has often wondered why certain other patterns like dots and paisleys never caught on in an England constantly prospecting for new shirt frontiers. He concludes that because the English prefer yarn dyed materials, other patterns they might ordinarily like such as paisleys and dots cannot be executed well; those designs have to be printed.
The semi cutaway is the favorite collar style. There does not seem to be a good reason why this is so but it is true that a form of high banded spread collar is always the collar of choice. The straight collar is not unpopular but no one seems to ever get around to buying any. And oddly for the land where collar pinning was invented Mr. Harvie hasn’t made a collar with eyelets for his made-to-measure clients for at least ten years. He likes the look but it is not popular.
And although button downs are making inroads, they have a long ways to go before they are a standard. However, there is hope for them. Whereas there was a time no Englishman would ever wear a button down collar, they are now finding them useful for after hours socializing. The principal obstacle to total adoption of the button down seems to reside in the fact that the English are happy to wear their more deeply collared spread shirt either with or without a tie.
The double cuff is always popular and has become even more popular. Harvie and Hudson do a brisk made to measure business and see what the English desires are. The button cuff used to be more popular than it is recently which surprises him because he felt that it had been making inroads for casual wear. It seems that change can sometimes prove illusory.
Where does the English sense of color and their cultural associations spring from? The answer may reside in their heraldic tinctures; those colors used to paint coats of arms and also from flowers. Wait, flowers? Yes, colors are generally a bit duller in the paler sunlight found at Britain’s latitude and flowers are one of the few things that brighten up the surrounding flora. It is thus small wonder that lilac, pink, mauve, lavender and the like are popular for men’s clothing colors. The colors used in heraldry are primary, basic and very pure and straightforward, the ultimate Western approach.
“… thought Alice, and she went on. “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where –” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“– so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
Darren Tiernan of Dege and Skinner:
Dege and Skinner is a very proper tailoring firm which makes custom suits, shirts and military uniforms. They make a very precise, erect and crisp look for the military officer’s set.
Dege and Skinner produce their shirts in house as well as their suits. Robert Whittaker trained Darren Tiernan as a shirt maker so Mr. Tiernan has considerable expertise in this area. Additionally, he has seen a large number of English gents come through Dege’s doors and gotten to see firsthand both what items they wear and what colors they prefer.
Mr. Tiernan feels that English tastes have changed somewhat with the advent of Thomas Pink and TM Lewin. They provide bolder shirts at affordable prices which in turn serves as an experimental gateway attracting new blood to the West End’s custom shirt arena which used to primarily make white and blue solids and white and blue stripes and checks.
For the English, stripe preferences have become bolder and there is an increase in the amount of checks that they wear. In fact the English now pick bolder and brighter patterns than ever before. At one time only a couple of custom shirt makers offered the bold striped and checked material, now their (Dege’s) customers demand them.
Back in the day the standards for custom makes were the Bengal stripe, graph check, blue end-on-end and white. Now even the more idiosyncratic shirts fabrics are bespoke. The English look upon shirts as very important and patterns and colors we would consider a fad item, they consider staples. Both self stripes and white collar and cuff are favorites. The classic hairline stripe, Bengal stripe and butcher stripes are the one often re-collared and cuffed in white because they are those old comfortable friends Englishman are loathe to part with.
The English love pink and like mauve, lilac, lavender and purple as a bit of something different yet still recognizably English. All sorts of stripes catch the eye as long as the shirt is relatively pale and simply colored. The English do not like complicated shirts.
There are several checks that the English like as well but it is the Bengal stripe with or without white collar and double cuffs which is very Savile Row, very West End, very Gentleman’s club. Bengal stripes are popular in three shades of blue (from sky to Wedgwood to a royal navy), scarlet, maroon, pink, black (for the fashion forward), violet and wine.
The horizontally striped shirt is popular amongst the natty, at least in the narrower stripes. There always seem to be a couple of takers for this unique and elegant look.
The preferred collar is slightly cutaway. The eyelet collars impress him but sadly aren’t in demand much at the moment.
The button down is still not that popular. The English prefer a slightly more forward collar with a two button cuff for casual.
White shirts are the most popular, and the classic blue end-on-end shirt with that hint of grey in it. A lot of the English guys are buying twills because it is a bit more crisp and robust and keeps out the English damp. Two fold cotton 100s 2×2 fabric is the hands down most popular.
Collar stiffness varies but the English tend to like them stiffer and higher than Americans. They are much too stiff for your hero who prefers an English looking collar with American softness in the interlining. It is small differences like this which detract from the authenticity of the whole and my neck is the more appreciative to me for it.
At Dege, One man cuts the shirts, two ladies make the shirts, one lady does the buttonholes. Dege and Skinner may be one of the last fully bespoke shirt makers in London turning out around 1800 shirts per year.
John Francomb:
He is a designer at TM Lewin who oversees the different ranges for their shirts and ties. He also designs special shirts and ties. They do have a range of tailored clothes and also a dress down Friday range.
And what does Mr. Francomb believe the English prefer? Stripes over checks at the moment and very boldly and brightly patterned. The desire is to get away from the uniform feeling. The older and more conservative guys like a plain white or a Bengal stripe shirt in a navy and white or a wine and white. The English definition of “wine” is a slightly faded purplish color and not a strong burgundy or red. Also a small check in a sky or a navy on a white background is very popular, and always has been.
The shirts they offer appeal to a broad cross section of men in all sorts of commerce and age groups. This is mass appeal where the English see reasonably priced English taste readily available to them.
The spread collar in varying degrees will seemingly always reign supreme. Again the reason this collar emerged as the dominant choice for men’s clothes in England is a little bit of a mystery. It is all part of a self fulfilling dressing dynamic; heavier ties with rounder, fuller knots are preferred which gives rise to more open collar spreads. No one really knows which gave rise to the other. However the button down collar is catching on because the English like the Ralph Lauren, Yale college look!
For shirt patterns green isn’t a great seller, brown however is one of those colors which comes in and out of fashion and with a renewed interest in the country element, brown accents on shirts and ties has returned.
In contrast Pink and lilac are very popular, especially when combined with blue. In fact no matter how many permutations of pink and blue and lilac and blue shirts Lewin designs they seem to sell consistently.
The English like to match their ties to their shirts. Not matched too closely but this is an area where they will match more than elsewhere.
It seems like the older guy wants to look younger and the younger guy wants to look older. Ninety five percent of shirt sales are double cuffs. A lot of the bold stripes and checks TM Lewin offers are worn with chalk stripe suits and are favored by the city lads. Those same city lads who were enthusiastic about checks a short while ago are now leaning towards stripes again. Stripes for shirts are for the English what the grin is for the Cheshire cat; a given.
There you have it, the Cheshire cat is after all also striped…or is he checked?
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