A Suitable Wardrobe

An Unexpected Blend

2010-03-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

I have written before that in my opinion pink combines best with gray suits (this despite the British predilection for wearing that color with navy).Pink in turn combines well with lilac, particularly a subtle shade that is almost, but not quite, indistinguishable from gray. And when jacket, shirt, necktie and square each have white in the pattern, the elements blend together.

The Delayed Return of the DB Vest

2010-03-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

The film "Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps" was originally supposed to be released in April but has now been moved back to October. And that undoubtedly means that the return of the double breasted vest, worn by Michael Douglas with his single breasted suits, will also be delayed. Douglas' clothing in the original "Wall Street" created ready to wear demand for suits with braced trousers as well

Always Be Specific

2010-03-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

I was was a Brooks Brother customer for decades and that firm trained me to be fairly casual when ordering clothes. They had their own way of doing things and one need only choose a cloth, specify single or double breasted and wait until the garment was complete. That casualness ended on Savile Row. My first tailor there was another of those institutions that had own their way of doing things,

Always Have a Fitting

2010-03-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

It is travelling tailor season again and Peter Harvey and Graham Lawless of Davies & Son were in San Francisco last week. They arrived with a work in progress - a city suit in a 15 ounce worsted from Smith's Whole Fleece bunch. The cloth has substance between the fingers but it feels significantly lighter on the body than either a flannel or a tweed of the same weight, and should be wearable

Spring is Coming to ASW

2010-03-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

Spring is in the air, and with it come lighter colors like the ones worn by the gentlemen in Esquire's illustration of visitors to the 1939 New York World's Fair. Lighter colors and other accoutrements of Spring will be arriving at the ASW Online Haberdashery beginning next week. The United States Customs Service is hopefully busy clearing shipments of neckties, pocket squares and handkerchiefs,

Of Trousers and Cuffs

2010-03-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

In the late 19th century, men's trousers were worn at the natural waist, unpleated and uncuffed. Cuffs, or in England turnups, originated on a certain Prince's country clothes at the beginning of the twentieth to keep his trouser bottoms out of the mud. Their popularity was assured by the natural inclination of the English aristocrat to emulate the smallest details of the royal family's clothing

Back to the Drawing Board

2010-03-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

I had been looking for some cloth for a light weight odd jacket and settled on a swatch of black and white seersucker that looked as though it would make up well for summer evenings in the city. Then this photo of it came along.It may only be that slanted pockets on city clothes are not to my taste and a slouchier look suits me better. It may be that for me the coat should be paired with dark

A Good Day for the Black Homburg

2010-03-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Oh they look fine worn with an odd jacket, as worn by the late Richard Merkin in the photo, but I cannot bring myself to appreciate sunglasses with a suit. Call me eccentric, and plenty of people have, but to me the combination is just a little too close to Tommy Lee Jones in Men in Black. Now there are problems with hats, principally where to put them when they are not on the head but also

Hand Sewn Trousers

2010-03-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

Neapolitan trousermaker Salvatore Ambrosi is visiting San Francisco for the first time (he will be in New York later in the week) and half a dozen men took him to dinner. Business was conducted first.They fit perfectly of course but the Ambrosi trouser looks like other trousers from the exterior. Only when one looks inside does the workmanship become apparent.The differences begin with the color

Silk and the Open Collar

2010-03-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

Of the ways to fill an open shirt collar, I like the neckerchief, like the one worn by the late French actor Philippe Noiret, best. But just try to find one - Jermyn Street's New & Lingwood is the only place I know of that stocks them and the last time I checked they had them hidden in a drawer.To my mind, neckerchiefs deserve more popularity than they receive. Whether worn discretely, with the

An Old Favorite

2010-03-07T09:00:00.000-08:00

Today's illustration is an old favorite, and a timely one for early spring. Change the plus fours for trousers and both men would be well dressed for country activities eighty years after Robert Goodman drew it. Of particular interest to me is the use of color. Each man wears at least one element that is seemingly uncoordinated with the rest of his ensemble. On the left, a scarf with a red ground

Cover Your Thighs

2010-03-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

I do not understand mid-thigh city coats like the one Tommy Hilfiger sent on to the runway at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York recently. Oh, a heavy tweed coat of that length has some utility on the weekend but in the city I would think that men wearing those lightweight suits that the designers are offering would prefer to wear something more than long underwear to stay warm. And of course

Pocket Squares and Outercoat Pockets

2010-03-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

It was windy and cool enough for a topcoat the other day and out came the covert coat. As usual the chest looked a little bare so a silk square went into the breast pocket (a red carnation would have done the trick but none were handy). Pocket squares in outercoat pockets are mildly controversial of course. Even HRH the Prince of Wales, diligent pocket square in suit jacket person that he is,

The Astrakhan Collar

2010-03-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

Someone rather famously called them suitable only for theater impresarios but the Astrakhan overcoat collar was worn by Winston Churchill and the Duke of Windsor.Astrakhan collars are generally found on double breasted Ulster style overcoats when they are seen at all. The Ulster is a predecessor to the polo coat and has many of the same features including sleeve cuffs. Like the polo, versions

Clothes for Sprinkles

2010-03-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

The City had rain early in the morning the other day, turning to sprinkles by 10AM, and that is to my mind the perfect weather for a hat. Felt hats should not get soaked, but they do a fine job of keeping the head dry otherwise. Combine them with a winter weight suit and a scarf to cover the chest and a coat becomes unnecessary in 50-60 degree weather (10-15 degrees Celsius).My favorite hat in

The Rebirth of the Dressing Gown?

2010-03-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

I must admit that I am a rather indolent fellow on the weekends, at least when it comes to getting dressed. I regularly spend mornings in my study dressed in my pajamas, which would be fine except that I somehow misplaced my one and only dressing gown after I put it aside to be altered at the end of the winter before this one. And the room is cold, particularly with the windows open to let out

The Last of the Vintage Tabarome

2010-03-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hidden away on the official Creed fragrances site (that rarely shows up on a Google or any other kind of search for some reason-thanks to reader Sam for pointing it out) is the full line of Creed fragrances for men. Creed's scents are true perfumes rather than colognes and last the entire day on the skin. They are the only brand I have found with that kind of longevity other than the somewhat

Ugh

2010-02-28T08:08:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it takes a photographer to illustrate that the day's clothes simply do not, as the saying goes, cut it.Trying to layer lighter weights to go out to lunch in moderate weather resulted in this lightweight tweed jacket combined with a sleeveless sweater, shirt with a button down collar that hasn't fused properly (I get them unlined and it sometimes takes a few launderings before they

Maintenance: How to Wash Socks

2010-02-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

The secret to getting more than a few wearings out of expensive and delicate socks like the cashmere and silk argyles in the photo (they were courtesy of Kabbaz Kelly - profligate though I might be $80 socks are too dear for my wardrobe) is cold water, and plenty of it. For heat is the killer of expensive hose, whether wool, cashmere, silk or cotton. Even after a man has been playing in the mud,

The Summer Palette

2010-02-26T07:00:00.000-08:00

I wish I had written Michael Drake's very elegant description of summer clothing: "fawn colored linen suits with blue chambray shirts, raw silk neckwear, and woven straw hats." For natural, khaki, and light to mid blue is the ideal color base for summer's tailored clothing. Oh, throw in light gray if you must, but that is a concession to the city for men who are not able to be at the seashore for

The Game is Afoot

2010-02-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

The search for a small messenger style bag drew several excellent reader suggestions (what appears to be the perfect camera bag is on the way from a Billingham's reseller) that provided grist for the mill. So, armed with a plethora of anachronistic phrases, a friend and I set out in the rain to visit San Francisco's Glaser Designs.Glaser Designs is a leather goods maker that specializes in

The Silky Sheen of Mohair

2010-02-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

I no longer have it but there is a photo of the late Gianni Agnelli wearing a mohair and wool dinner jacket that illustrates the best use of the hair of the Angora goat in men's clothing. Agnelli's clothes catch the light in a way that wool does not, but precisely as evening wear should. And though there is no evidence in the photo, his dinner jacket undoubtedly wore cool, for that is another

Put One In Your Wardrobe

2010-02-23T07:00:00.001-08:00

Horizontal stripes play a very limited role in men's clothing. True, they are sometimes found on knit ties, polos, rugby jerseys and prison uniforms but the only other place that comes to mind is a man's dress shirt body, a rare species indeed. Horizontally striped shirts are a style little seen since the 1980's, when Alan Flusser put Michael Douglas in them for the movie Wall Street.Since

Summer Preview

2010-02-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hong Kong's W. W. Chan delivered a summer odd jacket this week and though it is not warm enough to wear in our winter weather it needed a workout. The first step was steam (Chan ships its jackets in medium FedEx boxes, presumeably to save on shipping, but the price is that they arrive heavily creased). A lot of steam got most of the creases out but the careful observer will notice that what were

A Small Messenger Bag

2010-02-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

The reader responses to my grumbling about pockets the other day reminded me about bags. As it happened I looked around unnsuccessfully online and in several luggage shops for a small leather messenger bag last summer. I need something much smaller than a gym bag but was unable to find one from a source I trust.One comment called out the Click mini-messenger from Timbuk2, which would suit the