“You really should” someone told me “check out Gieves & Hawkes these days. They’ve got some interesting things and they’re trying to appeal to a sort of… younger generation.” Warning sirens started to sound. An ancient, world famous tailor? Clothier of some of the most colourful characters in military history? Having to appeal to a younger generation? “What on earth for?” I pondered. I decided to follow the advice and wander … [Read more...]
There was always something a little fishy about the choice of Castle Howard as the setting, once again, for Brideshead; the seat of the aristocratic family, the subject of Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. That the film makers of the feature length version simply had to choose this famous baroque pile in Yorkshire for the family home of the Marchmains, to match the 1981 miniseries, made me a little less optimistic about its release. It … [Read more...]
On Saturday night, when I attended the grand reception of a wedding, I realised something I have suspected for quite some time: I prefer white tie to black tie. I cannot help it. As I was comparing the lines of the gentlemen dressed in tails to those dressed in shorter jackets I couldn’t help but feel that the shorter jackets, though many were well cut, were no match for the breathtaking elegance of an evening tailcoat. The ‘tuxedos’ were … [Read more...]
A lot is written about suits on men’s style pages. A heck of a lot in fact. And it is hardly surprising that it should be so; many of us require, for professional, occasional or aesthetic purposes, a suit at some point in our lives. My first suit came before I was seven. I looked rather ridiculous of course; an improbable character from a fairy tale – with blonde ringlets, a little waistcoat and tiny turn-ups – but it was the beginning of … [Read more...]
Although I am a man who would scarcely converse on an encounter made in a department store men’s room, a recent experience in a toilet at Selfridges made me reconsider. A brief moment, passing through the swing doors into the department store’s rather basic and disappointing facilities, provided the light bulb; I passed a gentleman who was dressed in black, quite literally, from head to foot. There was not a scrap of colour, even a square … [Read more...]
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