Ormonde Jayne Perfumery

It’s always a great day when you discover something new, particularly when it seems to be everything you were looking for.

I was a little reluctant to write about and recommend a perfumier given that aftershaves and colognes are personal things; and describing scents requires a certain type of linguistic dexterity I’m not confident I possess. But specialising in unusual oils and ingredients Ormande Jayne produces something very different, so I thought it a perfect Mensflair recommendation.

I decided to visit having received a press release from the company. While plenty of sites are happy to re-print company propaganda I like to check things out for myself, so I popped in on Saturday.

A very small boutique based in the Royal Arcade on 28 Old Bond Street, the antipodean girl that served me was both extremely knowledgeable and very polite. As it happens I also met the founder Linda, who came down to say hello. A woman who was eminently approachable, even a little nervous when talking about herself, I found her very pleasant. Her background is as exotic and original as the scents she produces; having travelled the world running boutique hotels, a soya bean farm, a small chain of ice cream parlours she started her scented career selling flowers by the roadside and learning to make scented candles and bathing oils.

Ormonde Man is my favourite of the scents. Rich and layered, if velvet had an odour this would be it. At the top end it’s spicy and woody with floral undertones that provide balance and stop it from being heavy and old fashioned. It lasts for the day and as it wears the top notes fade and the floral undertones take over, providing a clean fresh smell reminiscent of lavender, roses and talc, but without the sickliness or smelling too feminine. Occasionally catching a sniff as one moves around you feel cocoon in pleasantness.

Ingredients include; Juniper Berry, Bergamot, coriander, cardamom, cedar, sandalwood, musk and unusually Black Hemlock.

At £68 it’s at the top end of the cost spectrum but worth every penny in my view. It’s my birthday in March so I may well treat myself.

There are other fragrances to choose from, Isfarkand being another notable one, and Linda is keen for people to take sample scents to try out for themselves. Ormonde Jayne has an online presence and they ship to the rest of the world.

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Reader Question: The Differences In Bespoke Tailors

CS, Los Angeles: I have been reading PS for the last few months in an effort to educate myself on various matters of style. First and foremost, I want to thank you for the time and effort you put into your work in this area. I suspect that you have a day job (and I believe you mentioned having at least one daughter in a post), so, from the perspective of another young father-professional, your work is all the more impressive.

Please forgive the bluntness, but I was hoping to get your views on why it is you chose the tailors you did for your first few British bespoke items.  Is it simply the price range of the larger names that caused you not to try them out or is it a value calculation?  Did you feel that you had the same options with Graham Browne that you might have had with a ‘bigger name’ shop?

Dear CS, thank you for your question. I cannot afford Savile Row at this point in my life, so that limited my decision. But I have also over time learnt the various ways in which bespoke tailors – all of whom deserve the name – differ from each other. And that informs the value calculation.

The first point to note is that the materials are all the same. Unless you want the exclusivity of Huntsman Opus or some such record cloth, you can find the same wools and linings at any bespoke house. Everyone uses Lesser, Minnis, W Bill etc and the same lining books.

Second, the process is the same. Both GB and one of the more famous Savile Row names will take an equal number of measurements, create a unique paper pattern and cut the cloth by hand, creating a basted suit that will be ripped apart and re-cut, and remade for a forward fitting. Then the final suit will be made, which can be altered again. In this way they are both entirely different to made-to-measure.

Assuming some minor changes are made at the final stage, this means visiting the tailor five times. Many Savile Row tailors will insist on more than this. That’s more expensive as it means more staff, more cutting and more time. But whether that is worth it depends on fit, which will be discussed later.

Third, the style and design options are unrelated to price. Some tailors, such as Anderson & Sheppard or Huntsman, and more known for a particular style and are more likely to stay with it. Others have no particular house style, but dislike experimentation or anything out of the ordinary, as it takes longer.

This is a question of personality rather than price. Russell and Dan at Graham Browne are always surprisingly excited about experiments – as demonstrated by both my and Guy Hills’ (of Dashing Tweeds) commissions. Some Savile Row tailors are equally impressive in that regard.

So those are the similarities. What are the differences? Well, Graham Browne does a few things with a sewing machine rather than by hand. For example, it attaches the layers of chest canvas together by sewing machine. These are still not tight stitches, and the canvas as a whole is secured to the jacket by hand, to ensure movement, but that construction of the canvas would be done by hand at most good Savile Row houses. It takes ages. And so it is expensive.

Personally, I love the way that my Graham Browne suits have adapted to my chest and feel personal. Far better than any expensive off-the-peg suit that had a floating canvas (Ralph Lauren Purple Label, for example). But a Savile Row suit might adapt better there – I don’t know, I’ve never owned one.

Another difference is that Graham Browne does not make its own shoulder pads. They are pre-constructed. Unless you have unusual shoulders, though, I don’t think this makes a substantial difference.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly for the price, Graham Browne offers little after-sales service. They cannot sponge and press suits onsite. With good Savile Row houses, this is included in the price and can be done for years to come. And while GB would be happy to carry out minor alterations after the fact, it will not substantially alter and refurbish a suit several years down the line without some cost. Good Savile Row houses will – it’s part of the service.

These last three points are all part of a value calculation, as you put it. They are all things that GB has opted to do without in order to charge less. And I’m perfectly happy with that – the construction is great and the fit fantastic, which are the priorities with bespoke.

Then there is definitely a premium for a big name (however small) and it costs a lot more to have large premises on or around Savile Row. That’s obvious if you look at the prices of Savile Row-trained cutters that now work somewhere else in the country (like Thomas Mahon) or in smaller premises (like Steven Hitchcock).

But, I think the most important thing you get, or should get with a Savile Row tailor, is consistency and quality of fit. Savile Row head cutters are at the top of their game. It is a prestigious position, and they are very good. You can have confidence that they will make you a very well-fitting suit, where you couldn’t with a smaller less-known name. It’s less risky. Not that the biggest names don’t sometimes get it wrong – but you’re on safer ground.

You can also justifiably be more demanding on Savile Row (back to the idea of service), changing things or requesting more fittings. The tailor is likely to be more demanding on that score as well.

There is a chance that there are tiny points of fit on a Graham Browne suit that would be improved on Savile Row. But I can’t see them and I’ve had suits made for a while now. I think Russell is a good cutter and others think so too.

Would I have a Savile Row suit made if I could afford it? Yes, I would. But given that it would cost three times one from Graham Browne, I would have to be earning at least three times what I do now.

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Style Movie: A Room With A View

Merchant Ivory productions were some of the few films that were marketed, formally and by word of mouth, by the mere fact that they were ‘Merchant Ivory productions.’ Whereas other films would be related to as ‘the new Spielberg’, ‘that Tom Cruise picture’ or as the vehicle of some other individual of sufficient wattage, those of Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, in a similar manner to the Coen brothers, were accorded the grand respect of being referred to as a product of the producer and director – all else in the production, no matter how starry their name, were of lower billing. For it is a mark of respect, and admiration, that the creative force, and not the marketing force, should be so highly perceived; in much the same way that an eager public would flock to see ‘the new Picasso’ rather than ‘a painting featuring Picasso’s mistress.’

Artistic, brimming with beauty and unashamedly nostalgic, these productions, invariably period dramas, have offered the movie aesthete an escape from the humdrum of Hollywood. The San Francisco Chronicle once wrote that the Merchant Ivory partnership connoted a genre in itself; “stuffy, worthy, well-acted entertainment, sumptuous in its sets.” ‘A Room with a View’ is without doubt one of the most famous, and most admired, of these productions. Set in Edwardian England, boasting Helena Bonham Carter, Daniel Day Lewis, a Puccini soundtrack, a fistful of Oscars and fabulous costumes, it is a paean to the triumph of beauty over social convention.

Costume plays a particularly important part in the story. The heroine, Lucy, finds herself drawn between the cultural snob and dandy, Cecil Vyse and the somewhat less refined and brooding George Emerson. However, despite the efforts of representation in the film, to convey Vyse as a cold, mirror-gazing fop and Emerson as a less decorated, more wholesome individual, it is difficult to regard all the ensembles as anything but perfect examples of Edwardian refinement. These bows and boaters mingle, as I have written before, perfectly with nature and the architecture that surrounds them. And, more than that, they illustrate so very well that, while certainly far more ornamental than gentlemen of today deign to be, that the ornament is not exaggerated, nor is the variety of ensembles without purpose or consideration of practicality or situation.

Take Daniel Day Lewis’ brilliantly insipid Cecil Vyse; though high starched collared, silk cravatted and pearl pinned, Vyse cannot possibly be ridiculed for ‘impracticalities’ of dress or ‘inappropriate elegance’ in simple surroundings. While always waistcoated, he adopts a jacket correct for the circumstance. Vyse in the Surrey summertime wears a lightweight linen jacket of casual structure when reading aloud during a game of tennis, wears a smarter white jacket to receive engagement well-wishers and when returning to town, the more formal Edwardian frock coat and bowler hat – reflecting his departure from the informality of the country. When in Italy, the gentlemen adopt lighter colours and lighter weights of fabric but never allow the temperature to alter their ensemble entirely. Even the younger gentlemen, enjoying a summer away from school, wear shirts, ties, striped jackets and cotton waistcoats.

Though invariably white shirted, the gentlemen exhibited great variety of neckwear, waistcoats, hats and footwear – is there anything more divine than a creamy white lower half in summertime? – and offered excellent reasons, both practical and aesthetic, for adopting lighter colours in the warmer months. There were also numerous reminders that wearing trousers properly, on the waist, is far more flattering than wearing them halfway down one’s legs.

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Brand Review: Drakes Of London

It is always unnerving when you encounter a brand that sounds plausibly antiquated but is in fact still in its first generation. I once wrote of Aspinal of London, a company that borrowed seven of the eight letters of a famous Mayfair gambling club, perhaps in a bid to sound credibly ‘upper-crust’; a remarkably young company, considering the heritage design and appeal of its products. I was equally surprised to learn that Drakes of London, a brand that could easily have been around since the time of Queen Anne, was actually the same vintage as my parents’ marriage.

Unlike Aspinal, Drakes is not a name plucked from the top shelf of ‘England’s Most English Appellations.’ It happens to be, rather simply, the surname of the founder, Michael Drake. I hadn’t heard anything of Drakes before buzz in the style forums, and in various glossy magazines, focused on their apparently excellent online store. Famous for their ties, scarves and silk handkerchiefs, I needed little encouragement to pay a visit.

Aesthetically, Drakes is resolutely conservative. Not that this is any bad thing. I didn’t see a single tie in their collection that I wouldn’t like to own. The designs are in perfect taste, the colouring is subtle; paisleys, polka dots, stripes, foulards and Prince of Wales checks. Approving of the entire collection of neckwear, including the wonderful tartan bow ties, I moved on to scarves.

Drakes scarves ought to be their flagship items for it was the early success of their scarf sales that led the company to explore the manufacture of other gentlemen’s accessories. I liked the vast majority of the scarf stock on offer, although there were one or two that I considered a little ‘trendy’ and passé – the sort of thing you might see in a Boden catalogue.

The handkerchiefs, casually labelled ‘Pocket Hanks’ on the website (not the Forrest Gump iPhone app), are truly spectacular. The Moghul Knights and Bird of Paradise designs, “inspired by paintings from the Moghul period in design and colour” are a gorgeous example of tasteful pattern, colour and texture; 70% silk, 30% wool, they are pure pocket tapestry.

I was also considerably impressed with both the aesthetics and apparent quality of the other items in Drakes online store; beautiful cashmere shawl collar cardigans, Fair Isle sleeveless jumpers, a rainbow of socks, delicate little cuff links. Nearly every item was to my particular taste.

There was, however, one thing which irked me; a nagging irritation that dogged the pleasant tour I was making. Drakes is still slightly too expensive. I made an examination of some Drakes items at Dover Street Market and, like everything else at Dover Street Market, I considered the items overpriced.

I admire the brand for not selling out. I admire the brand for manufacturing the items in the British Isles and I am in no doubt that the items are of a rare quality, but some of the items offered, such as the £125 cotton shirt, the £125 wool scarf and even some of the £85 wool ties, are rather unrealistic in terms of price. I can also detect that Drakes realises this; “Learn why our shirts are so special”, “entirely made by hand in England”, “woven in the Scottish Borders”, “hand rolled”, “hand printed”, and various other details of manufacture that bring a tear to the eyes of every nostalgic patriot, all smack of a company trying to justify itself.

Having said that, my perspective is that of a man who has matured in the era of unsustainable disposable fashion. Drakes naked statement, which stands proud as you like against the winds of cheaply produced, disposable, ethically dubious wares, says it all; “Every day at Drakes we ask ourselves not how can we make it for less, but how can we make it better.”

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One For The Albam

These beautiful loafers are my latest purchase. While highlighting them a while ago, and having lusted after them since, I’d only just got the spares together to buy them.

They’re a beautifully crafted collaboration between Northampton’s Grenson and British independent clothier Albam. Sadly, the photos don’t do them justice.

I’ve often found it difficult to qualify what Albam’s style is. The clothes come under the category of casual, but as to the aesthetic, that’s a little harder. But, if Savile Row is Cary Grant then Albam is surely Steve McQueen.

A store I mentioned briefly in my first Mensflair post, founders James Shaw and Alistair Rae are what I class as enthusiasts/designers.  Started just three years ago, these guys really do encompass the best of modern Britain; taking history and heritage as their cue, they subtly reinterpret designs for a new audience, thereby producing garments that manage to be both classic and contemporary. Aside from the painstaking attention to detail, they are sticklers for quality going to inordinate lengths to track down small British manufacturers – which you can read about on their blog.

I haven’t yet met either James Shaw or Alistair Rae, although if I could think of some original questions to ask I would. However, if you want a flavour of the men behind the company then this interview should suffice.

I have a few of their bits now and there is nothing not to like about this retailer.  And while they’ve attracted quite a bit of attention from the mainstream media recently, success hasn’t gone to their heads. The service is excellent, the chap who served me, Jude, is certainly worth a mention. They appear to have a genuine desire to work in the shop possessing an obvious enthusiasm for what they do, and for whom they do it. This translates into friendly, helpful service without attitude or pushiness. For example, when I got home I realised I’d been overcharged for the loafers. But I called the shop, they realised they made a mistake just after I’d left and were in the process of trying to contact my bank to get hold of me. Now that’s service.

London based they have just two shops (the second recently opening in Shoreditch), but for the billion or more of you who don’t live in London they do have an online store.

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