Manolo for the Men

According to journalist Harry Mount (a member of the British aristocracy who, while in college at Oxford, was reportedly pushed down a hill in a porta-potty by a Hungarian count), the snobs are winning in their crusade against pockets on dress shirts:

The news that sales of shirts with breast pockets have collapsed – from 90 per cent of all shirts sold a decade ago to 25 per cent today – doesn’t surprise me. The clothes snobs have been fighting them for years, and tragically – for a breast pocket fan like me – they’ve won.

As they do in all clothes snob battles, snobs appeal to style when they make their argument, but what they are really appealing to is snobbery – to the ancient cry of “I know this rule and you don’t; I’ve got it right and you haven’t.”

Tailors say a breast pocket destroys the line of the suit. Of course those 12 square inches of thin cotton pocket – far thinner than the line of buttons alongside them – don’t destroy the line, unless you put something in it.

But whether the pocket is full or empty is neither here nor there. The real point is that the pocket is useful and, in clothes snob world, usefulness is the enemy of grandness.

It is true that, for both men and women, the more functional the piece of clothing, the less formal it is. Think of how you cannot roll back the sleeves on a french-cuff shirt, or how the pockets on a (slimly cut) tuxedo jacket can barely fit anything beyond a money-clip. When it comes to breast pockets on shirts, the issue is to what extent you are willing to trade formality for functionality, a question that each gentleman must determine for himself. Also, it should be noted that it is far more common in Britain than in America for men to wear shirts without pockets, which is a reflection of the relative informality of American attire. While Izzy himself enjoys the smooth, clean appearance of pocket-less shirts, which he does prefer when getting all snazzed up, on a day-to-day basis he gets frustrated when he has no convenient place to stash an iPod or a corned-beef-on-rye.

But whatever the basis for your decision to favor shirt pockets or not, please ensure that it has a firm moral founding. Snobbery, after all, is the vice of making inequality hurt.

With its wide lapels, big pocket flaps, matching vest, and narrow sleeves, Tom Ford’s suit would look straight out of the seventies except for the peak lapels and roped shoulders. While Izzy appreciates the latter features on their own, together they create a too-pointy appearance in the shoulder area.

While a low lapel can make you look like a maître d’ or Bill Clinton in his first term as president, a high lapel can fool people into thinking you’re a member of the aristocracy. Just don’t tell the gentry that you got the cotton twill jacket on sale at J. Crew for a proletarian $79.99.

Since Izzy is so often complaining about gentlemen wearing their jacket sleeves too long, it’s almost nice to see the opposite error, in which there is too much of a good thing. A quarter inch of cuff is too little, a entire inch, too much, but a half inch?  It’s jussst right.

First published in 1964, and long out of print, the ABC of Men’s Fashion has just been re-issued. Izzy can’t claim ever to have read the guide, but it was at least written by Hardy Amies, the conservative-minded British designer most famous for being dressmaker to the Queen. (The son of a civil servant, he was notorious for his in-your-face snobbery: “I can’t help it,” he once defended himself, “I’m immensely impressed by all genuine upper-class manifestations.”) Izzy thinks it a shame that the new, bland cover ditched the original’s head-turning gentleman in a mod suit—note his narrow trousers and the jacket’s high gorge (where the lapels meet). His hat’s proportions are unfortunate, but such were the times. Even James Bond had to suffer a high-crown, narrow-brim trilby in Dr. No.

In honor of Labor Day, Izzy wishes to remind his readers of the travails of the working man. After all, even Cary Grant nearly burst a blood vessel in his forehead while knitting his own sweaters.

It may pale in political importance next to the tapes of President Nixon’s phone calls, but this surreal 1964 recording of LBJ ordering custom trousers from Joe Haggar still deserves a place in the history books. Be warned: the salty Texan’s choice of words—and colors—is of questionable taste.

New York magazine journalist has written about his first foray into bespoke tailoring, even though he was apparently ignorant of the subject.  Not only does at first think it’s OK to button all of jacket’s buttons, from the wrinkles on his trousers, it looks like he chose his fabric poorly.

The Wall Street Journal just published a detailed article on Black Fleece, the forthcoming, highly-anticipated Brooks Brothers line designed by Thom Browne, the trad yet avant-garde designer:

Can Brooks Brothers appeal to a younger, hipper customer?

Next month, the privately held haberdashery will launch the biggest print-ad campaign in its 189-year history to introduce Black Fleece, a high-end collection by avant-garde designer Thom Browne. It’s part of the retailer’s broader effort to signal that it’s keeping up with the times and to draw in new customers.

Featuring clothes by Mr. Browne, known for ankle-baring gray-flannel suits and cropped jackets, is a departure for the venerable Brooks Brothers. Mr. Browne’s suits developed a cult following as the slender, 5-foot-10 budding designer sported them around New York’s Meatpacking District, where he began his own business in his apartment in 2001…

The Brooks Brothers collaboration with Mr. Browne is the latest effort to reach new customers, with a strategy now widely used in fashion and retail. Just as the brand Louis Vuitton became hip again under designer Marc Jacobs and Target Corp. upped its stores’ cool factor with Isaac Mizrahi, fashion marketers today “can’t operate without having a cutting-edge designer name,” says David Wolfe, creative director of Doneger Group retail consultants. “Thom Browne allows Brooks to layer in a designer name that has nothing to do with its core business, but enhances the image and cachet – that helps them move the regular merchandise.”…

It remains to be seen how Mr. Browne’s collection at Brooks Brothers will go over with customers. Mr. Browne’s fans won’t see his name on the label, which features the Brooks Brothers fleece logo in black rather than gold. Though not as extreme as his own label, which will continue to sell at other stores, the clothes have a decidedly close-to-the-body fit. Men’s sizes go up to only a 46-chest jacket. All the pants in the collection, however, come with unfinished bottoms that can be hemmed the way the customer wants and don’t have to be as short as Mr. Browne wears them.

On Brooks Brothers chief merchandising officer Lou Amendola, who has been working closely with Mr. Browne, a gray-flannel style that he was test-driving looked like a snugger version of a Brooks Brothers suit. He says Black Fleece is aimed at an “attractive 30-plus, young professional who needs to dress up but wants a little bit more of a style to conservative clothing.”…

Brooks Brothers plans displays of Black Fleece items on tables with jackets opened so customers can study the handwork that went into the garments….

Mr. Browne, who will make appearances at several Brooks Brothers stores, including one near his hometown of Allentown, Pa., acknowledges that his styles could take some getting used to. But he says that once men put on the jackets, they’ll discover that they can move their arms despite the snugger fit. “People don’t realize fitted clothes make you look thinner,” he says.

Izzy wholeheartedly agrees with the sentiment, and is eager to check out the new line when it debuts.

In a reverse of the Norman conquest, British tailoring has successfully invaded France.  The Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, the nefarious-sounding organization that legally controls what may be termed “haute couture” in France, together with Great British Bespoke, is putting on an exhibition showcasing the work of 12 Savile Row tailors.  According to the Daily Telegraph (whose website provides a video of the show):

the exhibition features original court regalia, military uniforms, morning suits and formal dress.

Designs by Ede & Ravenscroft (est.1689) include the late Duke of Norfolk’s court dress as Earl Marshall, while those by Henry Poole & Co, est. 1806, include state livery for George 111, uniforms for Napoleon 111 and the financier, J. Pierpoint Morgan’s court dress for Queen Victoria.

These contrast with the black sequined and white sequined evening suits made for Bryan Ferry’s 2006/2007 tour, by Richard Anderson, the bespoke black cocktail suit made for Pete Doherty, lead singer of Babyshambles, by Richard James in 2006, and the black-beaded peacock evening coat Huntsman tailored for the designer Alexander McQueen in 2002.

Nearby is the morning suit, controversially worn to Royal Ascot with a striped shirt and polka-dot bow-tie, by the then Prince of Wales, later Edward 111, in the 1920’s by Davies & Son, while a black and white portrait shows the American designer, Tom Ford, wearing his tailcoat made by Anderson & Sheppard in 2005.

For those who can’t make it to Paris, the exhibition will eventually make its way to London and Tokyo.

With the gape in his shirt collar, the 1970s-sized bowtie, and industrial-sized watch, musician Nick Cannon is ready for the prom, not an awards show. 

Although few still follow it, there is a hoary rule that a gentleman never wears a watch with formal wear—after all, on those occasions he would never need to take notice of the time.

The Sartorialist took some great photos at Pitti Uomo, the famous men’s ready-to-wear show in Milan. 

This distinguished-looking, no doubt Italian gentleman is casual but debonair in an unconstructed jacket that appears to be made of linen and/or cotton.

Accoutered in a peak-lapelled suit of sumptuous cloth, Valentino CEO Matteo Marzotto looks like the merchant prince he is.  (Note how the color of his pocket square pops out.)

And GQ deputy editor Michael Hainey show you can get away with a too-tight jacket when it’s clearly intentional.  (The hair helps, too.)