Excuse me, sir...

[arkirshner]

Dear Alan,

Glad you are enjoying this thread! As a London Lounge member, I'm sure you also have plenty of similar stories that make you smile every time they come back to your mind. Thanks for posting here.

Kind regards,
f

Were that it were so. It has been said that the most prized attribute in the US is to be sincere, while the most prized attribute in the UK is to be clever. Whether or not this is fully so I do not know but it is true that over here cleverness is in short supply and my experiences are rather banal.

[Frederic Leighton]

It has been said that the most prized attribute in the US is to be sincere, while the most prized attribute in the UK is to be clever.

Dear Alan,

You made me wonder what's the most prized attribute in the country I was born.
Probably attractiveness. I'm afraid Italian doesn't have a word for "sincerity"

Kind regards,
f

[hectorm]

. It has been said that the most prized attribute in the US is to be sincere, while the most prized attribute in the UK is to be clever.

Let´s not flatter ourselves. Unfortunately, as verified in the day to day functioning of the US society for the last century and a half, the most prized attribute in a man is: to be able to make money. Above beauty, above courage, above pure scientific genius, above abnegation, above being just.

[Concordia]

. It has been said that the most prized attribute in the US is to be sincere, while the most prized attribute in the UK is to be clever.

Let´s not flatter ourselves. Unfortunately, as verified in the day to day functioning of the US society for the last century and a half, the most prized attribute in a man is: to be able to make money. Above beauty, above courage, above pure scientific genius, above abnegation, above being just.

And to achieve it, you show sincerity. As Sam Goldwyn said, if you can fake that, you've got everything.

[Luca]

Bizarre one this weekend, on the Grand Union Canal...

A man wearing "jazzy" track bottoms, slogan tee-shirt, track zip top, designer sneakers and one of those 'rapper' caps approached ME in a very friendly manner and said: "Ah! Just like my look! Freestyle!".

Bear in mind that I was wearing a corduroy sports jacket, blue shirt, ascot, dark denims and mid-brown brogues...

I was speechless... what similarity did he perceive??

[hectorm]

Do not dig much into it. He recognized a fellow with style and that´s what he thinks of himself. He was praising you in his own way.

[Frederic Leighton]

Excuse me, I must say you do look absolutely smart! I congratulate you.

- a kind old lady, coming closer and whispering in my ear just before getting off the train at Highbury & Islington station.

Last year I had a very old pair of brogues I wanted to get rid of. Every time I was wearing them and telling myself that this would be the last time, someone would make a compliment during the day about my "beautiful shoes". This happened at least three times, stretching the life of those shoes for at least another year. Eventually I managed to detach from the compliments and bin the brogues. The same happens with suits - today I was wearing my worst suit, the one I keep for days that are likely to be miserably wet, the one I could wear two days in a row not caring about excessive wear... But one day I will manage to get rid of it!

[couch]

Dear Federico, this merely confirms that it is not the garments that make a well-dressed man, but how they are worn. Well done--as always.

[Frederic Leighton]

Dear Couch, you are too kind - you didn't mention that congratulating a stranger she might just have been doing her daily good deed ...I'm looking forward to taking delivery of a new suit in Light Grey Mistral - that's when the old workhorse suit I was wearing the other day will have to move out of my wardrobe after years of trustworthy service. No [more] wardrobe extensions!

[Screaminmarlon]

Hi Federico,
please post pics of your soon to be delivered Light Gray Mistral as soon as you can!
Saluti
M.

[Frederic Leighton]

Hi Federico, please post pics of your soon to be delivered Light Gray Mistral as soon as you can!

Hi, Screaminmarlon.

I will, although this will take few more weeks since the suit is part of a larger order (RAF Mistral also part of it). I'm trying to have everything ready before Christmas; another fitting is scheduled for Friday.

Have you got more Mistral in the works too? ...looking forward to your photos I still have to post those of Molloy's grey tweed, promised ages ago! I'm enjoying it very much in this weather! How about you - did you eventually have tweed trousers made?

Regards,
f

[C.Lee]

Compliments can also be unsaid. The smiles and genial acknowledgements one receives throughout the day are as generous as any verbal exchange.

Flowers and great trees have a calm, quiet, confident, and uplifting way about them, and their admirers, however passing, seem to take up these qualities too. You may find you have the same effect on the persons and people you come by.

On a recent visit to Tender Buttons in New York, several customers asked me for my opinion on their button selection, and despite differences in taste, style, what have you, we all had a good time - that is the best compliment of all.


Regards.

[Screaminmarlon]

Hi Federico, please post pics of your soon to be delivered Light Gray Mistral as soon as you can!

Hi, Screaminmarlon.

I will, although this will take few more weeks since the suit is part of a larger order (RAF Mistral also part of it). I'm trying to have everything ready before Christmas; another fitting is scheduled for Friday.

Have you got more Mistral in the works too? ...looking forward to your photos I still have to post those of Molloy's grey tweed, promised ages ago! I'm enjoying it very much in this weather! How about you - did you eventually have tweed trousers made?

Regards,
f

Dear Federico
RAF Mistral is next on my list, a great shade for either a DB or a SB, I'm leaning toward DB.
We need a bit of real Autumn here in Italy, to wear those Donegal trousers: we still have a weather that's too warm and too much rain. (and this is a really bad year for olives in Tuscany).
My photos are comically bad, but I can't help it to post them from time to time
Saluti
M.

[Frederic Leighton]

Lovely description, C.Lee. I'm sure I would have been one of those asking your advice

RAF Mistral is next on my list, a great shade for either a DB or a SB, I'm leaning toward DB.

Screaminmarlon, sometimes it looks like we are following parallel paths I thought the same and secured enough RAF Mistral for a SB and a DB. SB will come first.

We need a bit of real Autumn here in Italy, to wear those Donegal trousers: we still have a weather that's too warm and too much rain. (and this is a really bad year for olives in Tuscany).

You can do like here in London - this morning I got off the tube at Bond Street and watched the sky in total amazement as snow was falling on my face creating a surreal, joyful atmosphere in Oxford Street and the surrounding streets. When some of it fell on my glasses, I took the glasses off for an inspection - soap foam, blasted into the sky to persuade people that it's time to think about Christmas presents.

My photos are comically bad, but I can't help it to post them from time to time.

Looking forward to some of those - always inspiring!

[Man at C&A]

Yesterday evening in The Old Ship, Richmond....

"you must be a UKIP supporter because you dress like Nigel Farage"