Teach Your Children Well

Last week my five-year-old son asked my wife why we did not dress him in “nice” clothes. Bear in mind that much of his wardrobe is a miniaturized version of my more casual attire. For school he wears blue jeans with sweaters or simple solid-colored polo shirts. Over that he may wear a navy pea coat, a waxed cotton jacket or a bright yellow rain slicker. At church he might be seen in navy blue pants, a white dress shirt, gray cardigan and red, white and blue bow tie. So why does my son think I am depriving him of “nice” clothes? Apparently the kindergarten definition of “nice” involves t-shirts emblazoned with the latest logos from popular culture. It is also apparent that my son is feeling some pressure to conform his dress to that of his peers.

In most retail stores it is surprisingly difficult to find boys’ clothing that is devoid of decoration. It seems that every shirt is embellished with a bulldozer, a football, a rocket, a dinosaur or a pirate. Somehow, more than thirty years later, Star Wars remains a popular theme. There are t-shirts for Spider Man and Sponge Bob and countless other cartoons of which I am either too old or too out-of-touch to even be aware.

So do stores sell these embellished clothes because that is what parents want to buy for their kids? Is this driven by demand? Or do parents just dress their kids in these clothes because that’s what’s available at the local store? In this regard I wonder which came first, the chicken or the egg.

As you may have gathered, I am not a fan of logo-emblazoned children’s clothing. Our society is infected with a sloppy, lazy attitude towards dress. That attitude is being reinforced in the next generation. Habits are learned young. I, for one, do not want to one day find a picture of my son on the pages of People of Walmart wearing tattered jean shorts or a t-shirt that says “disease free” with an arrow pointed at his genitals.

Notes from Rome Part 3

This post represents the last of my notes from Rome. Things which work well in one locality don’t always travel well to work in another – just ask anybody who’s brought back a pair of cowboy boots from the US. Nevertheless, they can get you thinking in the right direction.

Things to consider and lessons to learn:

Trainer Shoes

I expected to see plenty of elegant slim welted Blake Stitched leather shoes when in Rome. Not a bit of it. It seems Italians know the limitations of Blake Stitched shoes for wet weather as well as the rest of us do. And so they pick entirely practical options with rubber soles. These came in two forms; by far the most popular is the trainer shoe – as pictured above. This half-breed footwear is one I’ve warmed to in recent years. More practical for lengthy periods of ankle work than straight shoes, but substantially more elegant than trainers and luggers. The other shoe type to be found was chukka boots, again with heavy duty Dainite Rubber soles. However, in each case the preferred material for the upper was suede, even in wet weather. Brave fellows.

Simple Colour Pallet

The prevalence of suede footwear fitted very well with the reserved colour pallet that most men exhibited; the suede being used to add texture and interest. Black, Navy and Beige – particularly in the trousering department were the colours adopted – not a lot of grey surprisingly.

Although entirely in keeping with the season, it’s not a colour pallet to excite the imagination. However, the clever mixing of texture within this limited colour range provided depth and interest. So a black shiny synthetic puffa jacket might be paired with beige moleskin jeans and brown or black suede trainer shoes. There is elegance in simplicity, and that is the fundamental lesson here.

They Know The Value of Scarves

It seems curious that a peoples’ of the Mediterranean should show the greatest appreciation for scarves. The chap pictured above is typical of what I found and saw. Take a very simple colour pallet and use the scarf to add an additional note, breaking up the monotony and effectively providing your personal style cue.

Fur Collars

I’m a fairly open minded sort, but you’ll never convince me that what my wardrobe needs is the odd fur collar. But the Roman’s wore them prolifically and so they credit a mention at least.

Layering and The Appearance of Layering

I’m a big fan of layering clothes, it’s almost an obsession. The Italians are masters at it, so it is not surprising that they’ve taken it to a different level. Whatever your size the one disadvantage of layering clothes is that, while you’re adding depth and texture you’re also adding bulk, which can thicken or straighten your silhouette. This is true no matter what size or shape you are.

The Italians have worked around this by creating jackets with zipped inlays (as demonstrated by the chap in the Photo, Adrian Holdsworth of London’s Volpe). This creates the illusion of layering without the bulk.

And there in a nutshell is my weekend in Rome – minus the hangovers.

Notes From Rome Part 2

In my last post on Rome I dealt in generalities and impressions, so in this post I’ll cover some specifics. Or more to the point, certain definable items that seemed to be the norm in the Roman males’ wardrobe.

Sadly I won’t be covering Italian suiting and business wear. I was there over a weekend so these notes cover the weekend wardrobe. It was my intension to provide you with lots of beautiful photos, but sadly my stay coincided with Monsoon Season. So we’re making do with the few images I could snap and those I’ve pinched from elsewhere.

Given the whether it is perhaps natural that the primary element to elicit my attention was outerwear.

Outerwear:

When I think about Italian coats I think double breasted, wool, cashmere, moleskin and of course Camel; all in keeping with those wonderful shots on The Sartorialist. But I saw none of that. What I did see was to my English sensibilities an eye opener.

Loden Coats

Standing at the Roma Termini taxi rank I caught the last few moments of the Roman working week. It was a wet, windy cold Friday night, ideally suited to the natural qualities of the Loden cloth. A subject we covered here many posts ago. Thinking about this coat with its tent-like cut, the long centre pleat at the back, compared to more conventional styles it has sprezzatura built in. Most of the men I spotted wore them long – just above the ankle or round about mid calf with the collar flipped up. A bright contrasting scarf and suede footwear added touches of sympathetic density (imagine the chap at the top in a 3 quarter length coat).

Synthetic Anoraks

When you think Italian chic, anoraks don’t exactly spring to mind. But these were everywhere. Black Gortex seemed to be the standard. Even the business men I spotted not wearing Loden coats had these on. In England such coats are often found in charming shades of beige and are the preserve of old men. But Roman’s combine practicality with style, keeping the cuts slim and waists shaped, the colours muted – any colour you like as long as it’s black. They use scarves, suede shoes and thick trousers to add interest and luxuriousness. They also layer, wearing jumpers and jackets underneath, making a practical glamour-less coat a blank –albeit black - canvas.

Puffa Jackets

This appeared to be the must have bit of outwear for the season. Well, I don’t know about your neck of the woods but here in England Puffa jackets are regarded as a bit naff, particularly by middle class types like myself. Of course take the sleeves off call it a Gillet and you’re virtually Old Money, but that’s another story. In Rome the Puffa was the keystone of the weekend wardrobe. Cut in a variety of lengths, some complete with fur collars. Again, cuts were slim, and combined with muted colours and suede footwear.

In the final part I cover footwear and other details that caught my eye.

Notes from Rome Part 1

Well I made it back from Rome, with fewer brain cells, substantially less money and mercifully no criminal record. Suffice to say a very good time was had by all.

Rome is a truly beautiful city, and I could see myself living there for a spell. I expected to see some well dressed people, but what amazed me is just how many well dressed people I saw. Of course it’s easy to discard that which you see every day and fall for the seductive power of ‘different’.

But for all England’s clothing heritage and influence upon the world, in truth very few men here actually take the business of dressing well seriously. The majority, correction the vast majority, come under the general heading ‘scruffy’.

But in Rome, aside from tourists, the odd unlicensed taxi driver (don’t ever take them up on their offers) and one or two members of my own group, I honestly couldn’t say I saw any badly dressed people. And it wasn’t so much that I liked every look I saw; but what made the difference was that clothes were well cut, well cared for and clearly an effort had been made to pair them together - something which has to be learned. That I would say is the definition of well dressed, whatever your particular style preferences. Even amongst the young men and women who gathered in the Compo de Fiori to chat and mingle – the way socialising is done in Rome – there wasn’t a frayed jean hem and no one had their arse hanging out over the waistband of their jeans.

All these elements are compounded by the fact – and it was something both I and my mate remarked upon – that you’ll rarely see a fat Roman, and this is despite a diet of pasta. Of course we were encamped in the centre of town, which was decidedly more glamorous than the suburbs, but I thought it was telling.

A couple of times I managed to slip away from my group of friends and indulge my love for shopping. As you may know BespokeMe’s bread and butter is finding independent stores, by no means an easy task. And yet in Rome not only did I get the distinct impression that there were more menswear retailers then women’s wear, but I noticed very few chain retailers (Boggi was one). Most of the shops were small independents producing their own ranges. These varied from tailors and full outfitters to underwear shops.

My experience can be summed up in a text message I sent to my girlfriend while on an early morning reconnaissance: “I’m in heaven. I’ve never been in such a beautiful city surrounded by so many stylish and beautiful people”.

In the next posting I’ll highlight some of the interesting keystones of the Italian male’s wardrobe.

A Picture Paints A Thousand Words

I’ve often thought people fall into one of two camps: you’re either stimulated by the visual or stimulated by the literary. For example, my girlfriend devours thrillers; whereas I’ll rarely read a work of fiction and yet I’m a film buff.

As the quote says ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ – actually that’s a slight bastardisation of a much disputed quote. But it makes the point; and it couldn’t be more true in my own case. I’ve read books on style and dress – not as many as fellow columnist Andrew Hodges - but I’ll be damned if I can remember half of what I’ve read. My picture library on the other hand is vast. Culled from the internet, magazines and the like, I’ll pore over the images, analyse them, deconstruct what I’m looking at, make connections and learn lessons.  Above all I remember them, and incorporate what I’ve learned.

It was Cary Grant, perhaps the best dresser of them all, who once said; “One pretends to do something, or copy someone or some teacher, until it can be done confidently and easily in what becomes one’s own manner.”

And in that vein I’ve spent a great deal of the last month familiarizing myself with blogging phenomenon Tumblr. I’ll confess that despite being a blogger I am not a tech head – you should see my mobile phone! So I apologise to anybody for whom this is stale news. But this whole field has proved something of an accidental delight for me.

For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, Tumblr would best be described as a pictorial twitter. Viewed in ‘Archive’ it’s a great glorious pictorial ramble. So for those who find it easier to learn from the visual as opposed the literary, here are a few that caught my eye.

1. Man of Class

2. Todays’ Tie

3. Prepidemic

4. Guy Style Guide

5. Dandy and Dapper

6. Peacock Magpie