Kilgour recreates Fred Astaire's tails

Just before Christmas I was in Kilgour, taking a look at a few of the new models the tailor is putting out, both in formal ready to wear and under its newly revitalised Bernard Weatherill brand.

During that wander, I got chatting to cutter Del Smith about his Fred Astaire project.

Del had become mildly obsessed over the preceding few months by the white tie that Astaire famously wears in the 1935 film Top Hat. Kilgour French & Stanbury made that suit for Astaire, and it was Del’s wish to try and recreate it.

The germ of the idea was a request from a customer for some rather special tails. Del turned to the film, and became fascinated by the appearance of small technical details that made the tails easier to dance in, including a particularly large sleevehead and exaggerated rope on the shoulder, in order to accommodate the sleeve.

The edges of the waistcoat were also rounded rather than pointed, to prevent them getting in the way of a raised or leaping leg. Archives show these were aspects that Astaire particularly requested for clothes used in this way on screen. The coat was made in a Holland & Sherry Super 130s cloth, woven in a fine herringbone.

It’s a beautiful piece Del, well done.

Steven Hitchcock: a stylish tweed

The Rake is running a few articles at the moment around the theme of families, and particularly fathers and sons. Tailoring is particularly strong ground for these relationships, I suppose because it is so male dominated, because cutting is a solo craft and because of the need for long periods of tutelage.

All of which is fitting because for the past few months I’ve been in the process of talking to Steven Hitchcock – son of Anderson & Sheppard head cutter John Hitchcock – about having a jacket and trousers made. John has cut some of my favourite suits, particularly double-breasteds, and I was interested to experiment with ex-A&S cutters who might be similar in style, but of course cheaper.

Steven’s prices start at £2700 (with VAT), a few hundred short of A&S (which is still very reasonable for the Row). He works out of the ground floor of No 13 Savile Row, along with several other cutters. He also visits New York, though only New York, three times a year – indeed will be there next week.

Steven was at Anderson & Sheppard for nine years, half as a coat maker and half as a cutter, before setting up on his own in 1999. He used to have premises on Old Burlington Street, moving when it was demolished, and then at 13 New Burlington Street, which was also redeveloped. His workmates at 13 Savile Row seem remarkably calm given Steven’s track record with buildings and unlucky numbers.

Steven’s style is very much soft tailoring the A&S way. The only differences we discussed were the attitude to darts that run the length of the forepart – perhaps less attractive but then perhaps needed for larger gentlemen – and a greater flexibility around construction and style. We were to aim, for example, for the shoulders of the jacket to be particularly soft and added the style detail of gauntlet cuffs on the sleeves. I think John would raise an eyebrow to gauntlet cuffs.

We picked a pale blue tweed from Holland & Sherry – the SherryTweed bunch – that comes in at just 11 ounces. The trousers, which will probably not be worn with the jacket but rather fill a hole in the wardrobe, will be in an olive green moleskin.

Photography: Les Topham-Brown

Permanent Style growth

I finally got round to looking at the analytics last week, and it appears that the traffic on Permanent Style has grown from 140,000 visitors a month to an average of 190,000 without me noticing.

The peak in September and increase in visitors from Japan suggests a certain 'icon' feature may have had something to do with it, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support over the past five years. I do hope you continue to like it, and don't forget to check out The Rake online now as well.

Simon

Buy good English shoes

Good English shoes are pretty much always worth the money you pay for them. Three things reminded me of this in recent weeks.

One was a friend’s wedding. After years of buying in the low end of the market, he bought a pair from Crockett & Jones to get married in. I was staggered how good they looked on him. Dark brown Oxfords with a toe cap but no broguing, they were a shining example of how poor the average quality is of men’s shoes. Crockett & Jones are not very expensive, certainly by the standards of some of the brands on this blog, but they looked a million dollars.

Second, a colleague was bemoaning the state of his work shoes and how he needed a new pair. They were cheap, pointy, glued ones from Jones or some such. Because they are made with a corrected grain, the scuffs took away any pretense at leather on the surface. Because they had no internal structure, they curled up at the ends. He’d had them a year.

The third thing was the string of comments on recent posts about bespoke and made-to-order shoes from Gaziano & Girling and Cleverley. I realise that for many men these are not viable options at £1000 to £2000. But I hope they illustrate the beauty of English shoes, and provide inspiration for buying good, ready-to-made models. I will make a conscious effort to reiterate this in future posts.

Crockett & Jones shoes cost £300-and-something. A glued pair from Jones costs around £100. The former will last five years easily, with a resoling or two, while the latter looked terrible after a few months and trash-worthy after a year. Which do you think are better value?

I have my favourite English brands. Edward Green and Alfred Sargent are among them, plus the bespoke makers already mentioned. But as I’ve said before, with English shoemakers you generally get what you pay for (I can’t speak for those whose prices are decided by an Italian fashion label).

It has been suggested that I don’t like Barker (standard range) shoes. This is not true. They make great shoes. I would always prefer someone buy Barker than an imported, glued pair, and they will last much better. But more expensive English shoes will be better quality, and if you’re going to spend £1000 on a suit I think you should spend up to half of that on your shoes. The shoes will be more versatile as well.

Buy good shoes, don’t wear them every day, put shoe trees in them and brush them down after use – you will actually save time in less-frequent polishing. As far as retail outlets go, John Rushton just off Oxford Street is always worth a shout.

In Northampton we have the greatest hub of quality shoemaking in the world. It’s time more people took advantage of it.

Images: Edward Green

London screening of O'Mast

On February 2 there will be a screening of O'Mast, mentioned here before, a beautiful film about Neapolitan tailoring that has only previously been shown in New York. It is being run by B.B. Esq and will take place at the Rook & Raven gallery, near Tottenham Court Road.

More details on the B.B. Esq site.

Gaziano & Girling: Deco - the shoes

It should have been obvious from my piece back in May on Gaziano & Girling's new Deco line that I would be very tempted by them, and this is the result a few months later.

They are gorgeous shoes, whole-cut Oxfords in a luscious black calf. Apart from a light bit of bleaching on the toe, the styling is kept to the last and waist treatment. But what style. A narrow rounded waist spreads flauntingly into a square sole, creating the so-called spade effect. The toe box is long, though the shoe is also deceptively wide across the vamp.

That is probably where I went slightly wrong with the sizing. I was concerned that the last would be too narrow, and so went for a 9 rather than my normal 8 1/2. As a result the shoes are a little too big. You can see that in the wearing (about a dozen wears so far) they are creasing in a few different lines on the vamp. That's always a risk with whole-cuts, of course, but it is exacerbated in this case.

The style itself will not be to everyone's taste. For me, they are a wonderfully sharp alternative to more classic, subtle business shoes like the Cleverleys I wrote about last week. Perhaps with silk laces for black tie, rather than meetings. Then again, even those Cleverleys are sharper than the more square-toed Cleverleys I got in the sale two years ago.

Incidentally, in the picture above you can get a better sense of the 'gap' around the waist that gives shoes such as these such delicacy - as I referred to in that Cleverley piece last week. That's the most exciting aesthetic thing about bespoke shoes, for me.

For more details on Deco, see feature here.

How great things age: Tod's driving shoes

For the next in my series on How Great Things Age, here are my beloved gommino driving shoes from Tod's.

I've had them for three years and wear them almost every day. They are my default shoe when I come home from work and usually for any time around the house at the weekend. Given this intensive wear, they have worn very well. No stitches loose, no cracks in the leather and they have become more and more comfortable over time.

Of course I look after them pretty well in other respects. They get a coat of shoe cream every month or two that refreshes the skin and prevents any chance of drying out. The difference is particularly marked on the sole, which can start to crack otherwise. You see them here just before they get another coat of cream.

I do occasionally wear them outside - when popping across the road to get milk for instance (with two kids under four this is a frequent errand) - but try to keep this to a minimum as the detrimental effects on the leather around the heel are obvious.

Tod's driving shoes are handmade in most respects, but then then there isn't much to the construction really. A layer of rubber nubbins (the gommini) is inserted through the leather body of the shoe, an internal rubber layer added on top and then a leather insole. The vamp is sewn by hand around the front; all other sewing around the tongue and collar is by hand-guided machine.

The quality is in the materials and the quality control, as with many luxury products (socks being a recent example cited here on the blog). They are all made in Italy's Cassette d'Ete, the town were Tod's head Diego Della Valle was born and both his grandfather and father worked (the former a cobbler). Tod's talks a lot about the more than 100 steps involved in making a pair; a good portion of this is management and quality control.

Let's close with a rather pertinent quote from Della Valle: "If you examine the iconic products around the world, whether a watch, a pair of sunglasses or a pair of shoes, there is a simple test to their authenticity. Do they become more charming as they get older? I love to see a man wearing a very old Rolex that he got when he was young and made his first money. To see how it has aged with him, how it has shaped his experiences - that is real elegance."

And that is the reason that, so far, I have resisted buying a second pair of Tod's driving shoes.

For more in this series on How Great Things Age see:

Bentley Antiques
Dunhill box
Globe Trotter luggage
Edward Green shoes

Five tips on pocket handkerchiefs

I love the fact that more men are wearing pocket handkerchiefs. It’s a great avenue for expression and way to wear colour when so many men dispense with a tie. But it is also dangerous. It is unusual, and therefore stands out. If not done right it can undermine any suggestions of style elsewhere. Hence, five tips on handkerchiefs.

1 Stuff it. Even if you prefer a square top to the handkerchief when it peeps out of your breast pocket, stuff it in. Just fold it into a square and then stuff it in.

Don’t attempt a razor-sharp thin white line – the so-called TV fold. It looks good in Mad Men because everything about them is that sharp and that groomed. Until you have your suits made for you and pressed every morning, and preferably have your own make-up department, stuff your handkerchief. It should look like it’s meant to be used anyway.

2 Assuming you’re not also wearing a tie, think of the colour of your handkerchief in the same way as your tie. The same dark colours and simple patterns worn just as well. It doesn’t have to be bright.

If you are also wearing a tie, the colour of the handkerchief can pick up on a minor colour in the tie, shirt or anything else. Or pick up on nothing, just harmonise with the other colours (in the same way the tie does).

3 The key to stopping the handkerchief falling down inside the pocket is to make sure part of it is touching the bottom of the pocket. Stuff it in until it touches, then pull out what you need. The Lazy Fold is a good way to achieve this.

4 The only real quality consideration in a handkerchief is that the edges should be hand-rolled: turned and secured with broadly spaced stitches. If there is a straight line of thread joining these stitches, that is a machine imitation of a hand roll.

Beyond that, the handkerchief just needs to be big enough. There is little difference in the quality of the silks.

5 Try wool. Or wool/silk mixes. Silk can be too flashy for some, as can white linen. Wool takes the shine off things, like the pattern shown at top (on sale at Drake’s) and can be both more casual and quietly sophisticated. Traditionally goes well with rough country cloths like tweed, but also a nice change of pace with a worsted business suit.

New run of Permanent Style Tweed

Thanks to everyone who ordered by January 10 - the response was lovely. Those that ordered by now will receive their cloth next month: it is being woven now.

As promised, there will be a second chance to order, with a deadline of February 24. Same contacts and prices etc apply. And there are still a few swatches if anyone wants one.

Review of Le Snob: Tailoring

A nice review by a fellow blogger here: The Modern Gentleman. Sales were great over Christmas. Thank you to all those who supported to book. And Steve has nothing to fear - the next book should be out by the end of the year.

Cleverley imitation brogues - final pair

As ever, this was partly my fault, but the Cleverley bespoke imitation brogues arrived a couple of weeks ago after a long wait. They are imitation, of course, because there is no separate section of leather at the toe cap – the wingtip is simply lines of perforation. They are also, to my mind, the perfect compliment to a business wardrobe: shoes that whisper of sophistication and elegance. An interesting contrast to the Decos from Gaziano & Girling, for example.

As mentioned, we didn’t tighten the shoe across the toes on this pair of Cleverleys, and this has led to a great improvement in comfort compared to the first pair. These shoes truly feel like the bespoke experience now: perfectly tight around the ankle and heel, so ruling out any slippage, and just roomy enough around the joint and toes to ensure complete freedom of movement. We also stretched the first pair a tiny bit at the point they were rubbing, but I have yet to test out what difference this has made.

Elsewhere the look of the shoe is everything you would expect: a beautifully chiselled and tightly lasted waist; an elegantly pitched and narrowing heel. Together they produce the impression on the viewer of walking on minimal surface area, making the foot appear a little dainty. It’s a look that will be familiar to anyone that spends time perusing old photos of Cary Grant, Fred Astaire or their ilk. The gap, the exposed light under the bridge of the foot creates a beautifully harmonious line.

A lot of money, but certainly worth it. And as I seem to have acquired shoes far faster over the past few years than suits, it may have to nothing but bespoke – or bespoke-level make – from now on.

Those interested in Cleverley might like to know that the dates for travelling to Asia from next month are:

Tokyo

BEAMS HOUSE (HARAJUKU)
International Gallery
3rd & 4th February

Singapore

FOUR SEASONS HOTEL
1st & 2nd March

Hong Kong

THE LANDMARK MANDARIN ORIENTAL HOTEL
3rd, 4th & 5th March, 2012

Reflections on Pitti Uomo

Pitti is a beautifully set-out trade fair full of brands I love, exhibiting on often lovely stands. But it is still a trade fair.

This is a place for sales and negotiation. Friends such as Mats at Trunk Clothiers, Will at A Suitable Wardrobe or Kirby at The Hanger Project are here to discuss stock for the coming season, and perhaps discover something new. This is not a place for journalists. There are more photographers taking ‘street shots’ than there are journalists covering what the brands are promoting for Autumn/Winter.

That is one of the reasons it is not easy to make new discoveries. The first question people ask is ‘how many stores do you have?’; tell them you’re a journalist and there is a frantic search for the PR. Most of the most pleasing aspects of being in Florence therefore were spending time with local producers (Stefano Bemer, Lorenzo Villoresi, Liverano & Liverano) and meeting people at Pitti that I had previously only talked to by phone or e-mail. Examples of these were Irish knitter Inis Meain, Italian knitter Fedeli and Italian trouser maker Rota.

Zanone's knitwear in the Slowear building

Nigel Cabourne's super-soft double-brushed tweed

Kiton continues its retro look, exhibiting only CIPA products

There is broader coverage of these brands and others on The Rake website. As of this month I am taking over editorship of the site, so expect some more regular coverage on bespoke experiences there as well as contributions from other Rake writers. And look out for the launch of the digital version of The Rake, for iPads, iPhones etc.

As for Pitti, my abiding memories will be of litres of free espresso in the press room, men preening themselves in the sun and the very odd experience of being tired and slightly bored surrounded by beautiful luxury menswear. A trade show is a trade show in the end, whether you’re selling cashmere or crankshafts.

Oh, and there was a very large pair of trousers.

Rake pieces here. Photography: Luke Carby.

Graham Browne: Brown cashmere and tan cotton

An autumnal outfit this, commissioned a little too late in the summer and then delayed by various factors so that it was ready just before Christmas. Still, on a clear winter’s day with an overcoat it serves very well and it will also do well into the Spring.

The brown cashmere jacket from the Harrison’s Moonbeam bunch is about the only weight of jacket I wear outside of summer cottons and linens, and the odd heavy tweed. For when you work in the same air-conditioned office year round, outside temperature is less of a consideration. Or at least it is if you are determined to wear your jacket at your desk.

The tailor at Graham Browne did a special job with the inside of this jacket, extending the facing around onto the inside of the forepart and leaving the lining to run just around the inbreast pockets and across the back. This design, similar to that on my Rubinacci jacket, was an experiment for a traditionally English tailor but came off rather well. I’ll do more detailed photos of that at a later stage.

The trousers are a cotton gabardine but in retrospect I should have opted for wool gabardine. While cotton is great for a slouchy summer suit (as seen here, also by Graham Browne), in trousers alone its weaknesses in drape and sheen are exposed. This is no one’s fault but my own. It will quickly be corrected, however, with some cream trousers being made for summer.

Grey sweater by Loro Piana, brown lace-ups by Cleverley, navy grenadine tie and wool/silk handkerchief by Drake’s.

The Tailor & Cutter - a square dinner jacket

 

This drawing from The Tailor & Cutter is lovely; but it's not really my style. Not because a white dinner jacket would be too showy unless I were dining in truly balmy weather. But, rather, because everything about it is too square. 

The effect begins with the lapels, which are both straight down their length and horizontal in the peak. It continues with the square, presumably heavily padded shoulders. Then the straight breast pocket, floating too far away from its lapel. The two bottom buttons are fastened, giving a sharp but square finish to the jacket's bottom edge. The width of the trousers doesn't help either. 

I like jackets with a little shape. Some curve, some flow, some movement. There is certainly an argument that a dinner jacket should be sharper than a regular suit, but this is too much.   

EB Meyrowitz: First glasses, and fitting

Having been rather taken with both the style and personalised service of EB Meyrowitz (see previous piece here) I decided to have a pair of glasses fitted late last year. The experience speaks of the expertise of Sheel and her sisters, but also of the difficulty in fitting straight-armed models.

The style I opted for is called the Starsky. Not that Hutch’s partner ever wore frames of this design, just that he was the general inspiration. You can see them in the photo above, second from top. They are a pale brown tortoiseshell (pattern) in a rather large scale. That combined with the rather square, thick nature of the frame makes them an imposing design, but they won’t necessarily be worn every day. Perhaps more accent piece than functional accessory.

One design aspect I particularly liked was the straight arms – as opposed to the usual, ‘hockey stick’ arms that curve behind the ears. The only problem with this design is that it is harder to get enough purchase on the head, curving the arms snugly around the skull, without being uncomfortable.

There are a surprisingly large number of variables in the positioning of arms: the angle of the hinge; the angle at which the arm comes out of the hinge (both in-and-out and up-and-down); the curve of the arm at various points along its length (again, curve in/out or curve up/down); the twist of the arm. The first two Sheel had set for me according to her measurements of my face; the latter two we adjusted at least 10 times by heating up the material.

Now any optician should look at arm length etc and fit a pair of glasses on you. They will probably use exactly the same heat system. But I’ve never seen anyone take so much time and care over it – it has parallels with the care that goes into the designs and hand-making of the frames themselves.

The heat adjustments we did in two sessions a week apart. Sheel was anxious for me to come back to check again, and I feel guilty that I haven’t done so since Christmas. Very few people other than craftsmen care more than I do about these things. It’s a pleasure to work with someone that does.

Photography: Andy Barnham

Permanent Style Tweed: Sample

We've had so many requests for the Permanent Style Tweed that it has become economic to weave a sample length.

You can see the cloth here - it has turned out as I expected, which is a relief, with variation both in the tone of the grey and created by the bracken woven in. At a distance, it is simply a mid-grey with some nice surface detail. Up close you can see the colours and the broad herringbone pattern is almost indiscernible.

All orders for the tweed must be in by January 10, which is when Breanish's weavers are back at their stations and will begin work on this cloth. If there are enough orders after this date, however, we will look at a second run.

There are swatches of the tweed available now, requested by emailing Iain at info@breanishtweed.co.uk and in the US through Jodek at info@jodekinternational.com. Graham Browne in London also has a couple of swatches, so feel free to pop in there for a look. Obviously time is running short for receiving a swatch and putting in an order by January 10 though.

More information available on the Permanent Style Tweed and Breanish at the links above.

Gieves & Hawkes: The perfect travel blazer 4

The Gieves travel blazer is finished and has turned out wonderfully well.

First the fit, for that is the most important thing after all. After three fittings everything on the jacket is perfect, from the shape through the waist, to the sleeve length, to the drape down the back. It’s amazing how many tailors refuse to get the sleeve length right – Kathryn Sargent joins Rubinacci on a very short list.

Kathryn also found just the right compromise on the back, by stretching the cloth slightly over my shoulder blades. We had a little more trouble with the trousers, which took all three fittings to get a nice clean front with no straining below the waistband. Then again, that’s never easy to achieve without pleats.

The style of the jacket overall is a structured one, with decent padding to the shoulder and a strong chest. But neither is as great as the Huntsman tweed jacket, and probably more akin to the double-breasted from Henry Poole. Overall it’s a very nice, English-looking jacket with just enough softness in the hopsack cloth to stop it looking stiff.

The interchangeable buttons on the cuff were achieved in the end with a strip of cloth that attaches to the jacket with poppers. Once secured in this way, the four buttons can be inserted through their respective buttonholes. The buttons on the front of the jacket are secured by metal rings, not unlike key rings, which are then covered by a placket on the inside. These are gold-plated buttons engraved with the crest of my Oxford college, Trinity. The alternative set will be brown horn.

The nice thing about patch, bellows pockets and swelled edges is that the handwork on the inside of the jacket is brought outside, without ostentation. I particularly like how the outbreast pocket looks with handkerchief stuffed in, and the feeling of stuffing the hip pockets – whether with hands or notepad.

Gieves sews a large, branded label into the right side of the chest, above the inbreast pocket, as well as the more discreet label with the customer’s details inside that pocket. I wouldn’t have opted for that had I known, but when this is the only fault you can find with a jacket and trousers, someone has done very well.

For more photos, see Andy Barnham.com. For previous installments in the Gieves series on Permanent Style, please use the search function.