The Fabric Lapel Flower

One of the best things about a blog that appeals to an international audience is that it enables education and sharing of particular customs of a country. The emailed questions and commentary often begin with an observation of national differences; “It seems in England that you…” , “Here in Germany, we…”, and are followed by an analysis of cultural and sartorial distinctions between Blighty and whichever land the commentator hails from; effecting a diplomatic dialogue that is based on sharing and understanding of which the United Nations would be most proud.

One recent comment related to a tradition of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries in adorning lapels with paper poppies throughout October and early November. One of the posts made during this month featured a paper poppy and prompted a reader to ask where I had found what he had innocently considered was a ‘red boutonniere.’ The really interesting part of this story was not the question itself, nor was it my thorough but dull explanation of the tradition but what the reader provided in response: lapel flowers from J and HP Clothing.

Though I have always preferred real flowers for buttonholes, I had often considered artificial flowers for days when the vases in the house were empty, particularly as I had managed to get so much use out of a velveteen paper rose that came with a box of Godiva chocolates. I had noticed a fabric buttonhole in the lapels of one of Rose Callahan’s recent photography subjects on The Dandy Portraits and was struck by its remarkable resemblance to a real flower; only on very close inspection can you see the rough edges of the ‘petals’ are in fact frayed fabric.

J and HP Clothing buttonholes are not intended to be as realistic. Many designs are polka dot, striped or checked. Secondly, the finish of the ‘flower’ is thicker, the fabric is not translucent at the edges and only a man at more than 10 paces would be fooled into thinking a carnation had been snipped for the benefit of your lapel. However, this is part of their charm and appeal. I have encountered many men who adorn their lapel with a multitude of decorative pieces; badges, pins and corsages. These colourful fabric flowers are of similar appeal in that they add art without artifice. Made from cotton and secured to the lapel by, that’s right, a button, they offer an alternative or an addition to that other occupier of the suit jacket’s upper left quadrant, the pocket square.

The Little Things in Life

As I mentioned in my last post, when I travel I invariably have a list of items to purchase from said destination.  And so here were the things which I brought back to dear old Blighty and considered innately Italian.

Something I picked up on during my visit to Rome last January was the fact that Italians are just as aware of the short comings of classic Blake stitched shoes during winter as Englishmen. To compensate they’ve developed elegant footwear hardened for winter use. While the English do Dainite soled shoes they can be a bit bulky. So my trip seemed an ideal time to pick up some elegant Italian winter footwear. These long wing oxfords have double thickness leather soles with rubber overlay, which still makes them less bulky than Goodyear Welted shoes. In my experience the English will frequently forgo practicality in favour of tradition and the maintenance of basic good form. The Italians, however, suffer no such hang-ups, often combining the classically inspired with modern practicality to great effect.

Italian footwear tends to come up on the smallish side. While the last is long and a little narrower than I’m used to they are nevertheless comfortable, supple and better suited to withstanding wet winter pavements than my English leather soled footwear.  These were from inexpensive family firm Otisopse, based in Florence. I don’t know enough about Italian shoe brands to risk spending too much. But, I figured at €90 they were comparable to entry level Loakes – which are perfectly good shoes. The English don’t really do brown shoes with navy suits, although we’re getting better. So here was an inexpensive opportunity to add some winter-proofed Italian styling cues to my very English wardrobe.

If you go to Florence then as far as purchases go gloves are a must. The most famous, amongst the many local retailers, is Martelli. This family firm actually make their own gloves (handmade) in their own workshop in the area itself. The prices are noticeably cheaper for a markedly superior product than one would find even in the UK.  These particular gloves are Navy leather with a soft cashmere lining and cost me just 39 Euros (about £35). The shop assistants fit the gloves on you and the range of colours and leathers available is bewildering.

As a rule a man can do little wrong if he matches his gloves to his shoes: brown with brown, black with black and deerskin with chestnut. As your confidence with colour matching grows you can consider branching out. As it happens I have a pair of navy tassel loafers so these will fit nicely. But I’m considering buying a fawn Covert Coat this season which will invariably be paired with navy suits and navy scarf. So while navy is an unusual choice I’m hoping it will work rather well with other items in my wardrobe.

A country famed for its ties, they were the first thing on my list when I’d decided upon Italy for a winter getaway. In particular wool and cashmere ties were the goal. The must have accessories for this year’s autumn and winter, I figured I’d get both at a cheaper price and in greater variety thanks to the country’s preponderance of cashmere and wool manufacturers.

Although there was a wonderful array of cashmere ties available at an average of €120 they were still a bit beyond what I consider reasonable for a tie. Wool ties were plentiful and at a more reasonable €50-€80 a pop. The quality was better than those I’d found in London as was the price. These two I bought from Boggi and a little independent store called Derby.

Wool and cashmere ties add texture to worsted suits which combined with the natural matt finish provides sombre solidity ideal for winter months. The solidity and sense of richness that comes from wool and cashmere also adds luxuriousness, although that comes out best when the tie is mottled or woven with a pattern, as above. I’m hoping the brown one will better enable me to integrate those brown shoes into my wardrobe. So far it has.

A World Wide Wardrobe

I’m not an easy traveller and don’t really do holidays except under duress - liberally applied by my girlfriend Westie. One thing that does motivate me to leave the country is the promise of filling certain gaps in the wardrobe.

It’s funny how one associates certain items of apparel or modes of dress with one or other country. For example, I always associate England with suits and business shirts. Conversely, I always associate America with weekend wear. The result being that on past trips, as in future ones, I’ll seek out chinos (Bill’s Khakis), jeans and high performance working footwear, like Red Wing Boots or the much sought after Alden Indie Boot.  Gitman shirts, Woollen Mills Pendleton shirts, Nantucket Reds and Bass Weejans all go on the list. But I’d never buy a formal shirt in the US.

Where ever I travel I tend to have a precast list of things which either I can’t readily get in the UK or which would be of a better order and better priced in my chosen country. There are few countries in the World from which I could not conceive of some item or other worth acquiring. Even countries not necessarily known for their sartorial standards like New Zealand or Australia. I highly recommend possum socks for those winter months and Paua shell cufflinks should you find yourself headed to NZ. And of course if you’re going to Oz then RM Williams boots are a must.

So, it should come as no surprise that prior to my recent trip to Italy I drew up a list of items. For reasons that escape me, when I think of Italy I think leather, cashmere and fine gauge wool all.

And in the next instalment I share what I bought, where I bought it and why.

The Youth of Today

“Youth” said Lord Henry Wotton, the chilling cynic of the gothic novel ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ “is the one thing worth having.” For a long time, I agreed. However, considering the current state of the economy, the cost of a university education and the dearth of job opportunities, I am rather relieved that I, in my late twenties, am no longer part of this nation’s unfortunate youth. For those that are; struggling to make their way in an overcrowded, expensive and often uninspiring world; working in menial jobs for which they are absurdly overqualified, I have a great deal of compassion. I myself didn’t have an easy route into anything. I know how it feels to be ignored, rejected, underpaid and overworked; many others do too. As the youth struggle to keep up with the shadow of their ideal, it is difficult for the fortunate and the happily settled to understand the pressures that are faced and the strict budgets on which many exist.

I was contacted by a young reader of my blog who was gratified to see that someone was championing the use of sartorial components from the high street rather than tailors or designers “which, let’s be honest, cater to a financially privileged few.” After all, though it may be that Savile Row aficionados are correct; that you can find no better cut of suit in the world, that it is worth saving a considerable sum to purchase such a suit, no matter how hard the ambitious young might work, no matter how diligently they save, necessary expenses block the Yellow Brick Road to Henry Poole et al, and even rule out many of the less expensive City tailors. I wrote to the young reader and asked him his budget. His response provoked considerable shock; he had expected to spend no more than £100 which, bearing in mind his expectations and aesthetic discernment, was a hopeless sum of money.

However, I viewed his case sympathetically. I saw a little of myself in this ambitious and optimistic 19 year old, with dreams of management and responsibility. The suit was to be worn to several interviews for unpaid internships, it needed to fit and he was adamant that the trousers should be the correct length. “The suit” he considered “would give me confidence and make them confident about me.” His attitude was exactly the right one; his suit needed to look like it cost more than it did and he was sure, since he was of the opinion that I had managed to do so with ensembles of my own, adding a few accessories would ‘upgrade’ the look. The most important thing, at least as far as his father was concerned, was that he was not to buy any “funny polyester” suit; it needed to be made of wool.

With such parameters, I would normally have responded that unless a vintage suit was purchased – undesirable to this young gentleman – the ask was impossible for such a low sum of money. However, I decided to pay a visit to three retailers that I knew had previously offered well-cut, wool or wool-rich suits for excellent value; Zara, H&M and Uniqlo. First off the list, as I expected, was Zara; the suit jackets alone cost £119 which, though good value, was well over budget. Next, with low expectations, I visited H&M; the Swedish store had been rather thin on suits recently and I did not expect to find anything made of wool. I actually found a wonderful light grey flannel two-piece for £115; the jacket was £80 and the trousers £35. The material was beautifully soft though, unfortunately, it was not ‘all wool’ as had been requested; 20% of the fabric was polyamide. Marking that as an outside option, I rested all my hopes on the last stop; Uniqlo.

Having bought a few flannel jackets there recently, I was well aware that the store offered great value but was still considerably impressed that a 98% Tasmanian Wool suit could be had for £110. Available in houndstooth, navy blue, light and dark grey, the soft flannel material would be the perfect foil for a soft white or blue shirt and a rich, silk pocket square. Though slightly over budget, I couldn’t resist making the recommendation and, feeling the soft wool between my fingers, couldn’t resist giving it a go myself. Slim fit, with a softer shoulder, the ‘suit’ is actually sold as matching jacket and trousers.

For something that costs so little, it is remarkably elegant and is very flattering, though the trousers – all are 34” length – will need adjusting. The material itself is substantial, subtle and timeless, unlike the sheeny-shiny, shoot-peas-through-them suits that so many seem to be fond of. It might not be the Huntsman suit worn by a middle-aged, grinning CEO but for an earnest young man on a budget, this purchase, with a little trouser-tailoring that will cost him another £15, is bound to impress.

Buying a Pair of Shoes for £300: Church’s, Crockett & Jones or Tricker’s?

Picking out a good pair of shoes is something that I’ve wanted to do for a while. That’s not to say that my current crop of dress shoes is terrible – I’ve got a small but solid collection that served me very well for the past few years – but I’ve long fancied a pair of solid, Northampton-made jobbies that both look the part and can stand up to the elements. After long periods of lurking and reading through old StyleForum threads I narrowed down my search to three manufacturers who produce a reasonable range of quality shoes at around the £300 mark: Church’s, Crockett & Jones and Tricker’s.

Church’s
I started by looking at Church’s, whose mid-market collections seem to be, at full price at least, the most expensive of the three, though it’s not hard to find a pair on sale for around £300 from any number of retailers. A common, largely unsubstantiated, view that I came across in my travails is that the quality of Church’s shoes has gone down in recent years, especially since they were bought by Italian fashion giant Prada. This opinion seems more due to the fact that they now have a fairly large, modern(ish) production line, and are therefore not quite as “handmade” as some of the other Northampton-based manufacturers, than for any real decline in standards. From what I can gather, most long-term Church’s wearers continue to be very happy with the quality of their shoes, especially in terms of fit and comfort. A number of people said that they weren’t particularly hard wearing, but as they gave no indication of the model of shoe, nor the kind of activities they were doing while wearing them, I could neither confirm nor deny these claims (and let’s not forget that James Bond wears Church’s!).

Crockett & Jones
Crockett & Jones’s reputation has soared in recent years. The prevailing view seems to be that, in terms of quality of leather, design and value for money, their shoes are hard to beat. Excepting their country range, C&J’s tend to be sleeker than Church’s or Tricker’s, which makes them a good match for Italian-made suits. Their general narrowness may be a concern for the wide-footed (C&J’s standard fitting is E, Church’s is F), but it really depends on the type of last used during construction (a StyleForum search for “’Crockett and Jones’ + lasts” will provide you with all the info you’ll need on the subject). As always, try on a number of pairs before you buy to avoid disappointment.

Unfortunately for consumers, Crockett & Jones’s current surge in popularity and relatively small production capacity has resulted in a backlog of orders. This might be bad for those wishing to get their hands on a pair ASAP, but it is a plus in other ways: they don’t have the kind of massive financial backing that will allow them to increase production without sacrificing quality and, thankfully for us, have decided that the latter is more important.

Tricker’s
Finally we have Tricker’s, who are most famous for their range of hard-wearing, thick-soled country boots and shoes. The boots, especially, come in a dazzling array of limited styles and colours and are immensely popular with the Harajuku kids here in Tokyo. Unfortunately, the general clamour for Tricker’s heavily-brogued boots seems to have blinded many to their two very good dress shoe collections: Jermyn Street and 1829. In terms of quality and value for money these lines are favourably compared to Crockett & Jones’s. Most of their leather-soled shoes have channel stitching, and some even use oak-tanned leather, which is something that you’re unlikely to find on full-price shoes costing £300.

The decision

Image courtesy of Andersons of Durham

In the end I decided on a pair of black Crockett & Jones’s Swanseas with Dainite soles (I plan on doing a lot of walking in these babies, come rain or shine, so rubber soles was a must). As is my terrible luck, the very last pair in my size sold out about a day before I placed my order, and with C&J’s current production backlog it would be at least several months before I could get my hands on a pair. Needing some shoes before autumn and winter hit, I decided not to wait and found a couple of online retailers who had a plentiful stock of Tricker’s Newburys (pictured above) for almost exactly the same price as the Swanseas. I’d already tested out a pair of Tricker’s that used the same last and felt confident enough to buy them “untried”. Hopefully in a few weeks’ time I’ll be able to report back on the fit and quality of these shoes, and on the service of the online retailer who provided them. As for a pair of Crockett & Jones’s, well, maybe next year…