Manolo for the Men

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.)

Izzy recommends the soft-shoulder look for those who can get away with it, a group which, unfortunately for him, doesn’t include David Hyde Pierce (here posing with his recent Tony Award).  Unless he plans on mastering the military press at the gym, he needs a jacket with some padding to bring his shoulders closer to horizontal.

Displaying a flesh-colored hand, Valentino proves himself to be at least partly human.  Kind of like a reverse Luke Skywalker.

In his Book of the Courtier, Renaissance man Baldassare Castiglione coined the much-needed, and delightful, word “sprezzatura”:

It is an art which does not seem to be an art. One must avoid affectation and practice in all things a certain sprezzatura, disdain or carelessness, so as to conceal art, and make whatever is done or said appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it … obvious effort is the antithesis of grace.  

It is, in sum, the art of making the difficult look easy.  Needless to say, it applies to one’s life just as much as one’s appearance.  But when applied to the latter, it counsels avoiding perfection, even if that means creating intentional flaws—though they must never be seen as such. 

Examine the Milanese gentleman above.  With his negligently unbuttoned shirt, floppy pocket square, rumpled linen jacket with its sleeves folded back—this, my friends, is sprezzatura on a bicycle.

 

 

As a matter of principle, Izzy objects to Jude Law’s micro collar and sliver of a tie. But at the very least they should have been complemented by a shorter jacket sleeve.

A macho boutique might sound like a contradiction in terms, but one new shop in New York is trying to do just that. Part haberdasher, part barbershop, Freemans Sporting Club aims to be all things masculine.  Whether they’re able to achieve that, Izzy doesn’t yet know, but he is definitely excited by the fact that they are offering suits tailored by the illustrious Martin Greenfield out of deadstock.  According to this article about one of the store’s owners:

Durability of material and shape underpins his decision to use vintage deadstock, most of which dates to the ’40s and ’50s. Unlike Super 180s and other popular high-twist wools, FSC’s vintage stock is often only 70 or 90 twist, and, therefore, much stronger. Greenfield’s son, Jay, explains that “most suits today are designed to be made by machine and glued together,” and the fabric is therefore very light. “Because we make it by hand,” he says, “we can use fabric with more body and shape.”

FSC’s emphasis on durability translates into a crisp, structured suit body that will soften with age, but will always maintain its form. The suits are built around Swiss cotton and black horsehair canvas with black gossamer linings that reveal the basting and other remnants of construction.

Izzy hopes to stop by the shop for a look and feel on his next trip to Gotham.

Looking a bit like a turtle sticking its head out of its shell, Eddie Murphy would have benefited from a higher collar. Also, while midnight blue is an acceptable and sophisticated alternative to black in formal wear, the color of Murphy’s jacket is both unflattering and too light to qualify as such.