The London Lounge

Stanley Cohen was a gentleman of grace and wit, a generous spirit and caring man. He did his profession proud, and will be missed.

Dear Michael,

My great good thanks for your imprimatur of "True Style". Praise from you is praise from Caesar indeed.

Bruce

What a poignantly wonderful story. The sort of thing one would hope to find in the front pages of The New Yorker. Thank you so much for sharing this. And I too hope that the gentleman in question is merely on holiday.

Dear Members, I wanted to comment on this project, not because Ms. Vasilopoulos is a friend, but because her dedicated work on this documentary is so worthwhile. This project is indeed the stuff of History, and beautifully presented at that. And since it's a subject is so close to our hearts, may I ...

The world appears to be divided between structured shoulder aficionados and soft shouldered ones. Compared with that, the divisions between believers and infidels, male and female, and conservatives and radicals seem rather superficial. But do we not have here a perfect example of the tail wagging t...

I won't bore you in talking about the genesis of this poem, but I was thinking about impermanence. The subject matter here is the architectural landscape, but I think it may apply to changing fashions as well. The Air Takes No Impressions No matter how near the surface Or the clearness, The air take...

In New York, the great interpreter of the Anderson-Sheppard style is Mr. Cheo. I'd been an Anderson fan for years, and then discovered that Cheo, in my estimation, does an even better job of it. Stylistically pure in the school of drape and soft construction, and exceptional workmanship.

What a clear perspective on a difficult subject. I only wish the interview had been longer. To my mind, the music metaphor works well, and I often think of stylish dressers in terms of jazz (and jazz musicians are often wonderfully dressed): you begin with the known melody, and then go off on your o...

I'm interested to know who wrote the following limerick:

There once was this old gent from Leeds,
Whose beagle pissed on his tweeds.
"And if that's not enough,"
He said with a huff,
"It used them for sexual needs!"

A Dozen Aesthetic Maxims for the Young by G. Bruce Boyer I wrote these maxims (after La Rochefoucauld) not to educate (presumptuous), but to provoke (laudable). 1. An Aesthetic Theory: A counterfeiter can fool many, but few can fool the counterfeiter. 2. It seems impossible that aesthetic judgments ...

I'd written this little poem on my 65th birthday, taking the hint of an image from both John Updike and R. L. Stevenson. Of course, as the rime is so pedestrian and the rhythm limps along like a three-legged mule, I take full blame for the whole of it. The Clotheshorse Unseated, My Birthday, 2006 He...

Michael, you have certainly missed your calling. The panache, the style, the finese, the sheer wit and slightly brash elegance. The "Tribute" is so delightful I'm adding it to my list of "Best-Dressed Films".

For anyone interested in Highland dress Hugh Trevor-Roper's book "The Invention of Scotland: Myth and History" (Yale University Press, 2008) is vital. Trevor-Roper establishes rather conclusively that there is nothing ancient about Highland dress. The kilt was invented by "an English Quaker from Lan...

Gentlemen of The Lounge, my great good thanks for enquiring about my "Black Tie" book. I crave your indulgence and patience in an attempt to clear up the mystery as much as I am able. I had heard just a few months ago from the publisher that, while the book was ready for well over a year (I had corr...

Dear Mr. Alden, Just a shoddy excuse of a note to say how much I enjoyed your commentary today. It is refreshingly straight to the point, with iridescent wit. You've put your finger nicely on what I find a disturbing point: so many sartorial bloggers make dressing a blood sport. They seem to want th...