The London Lounge

The other day I purchased a new haberdashery book for my library. It's entitled "One Hundred Years of Menswear", by Cally Blackman. Overall it's a good book with a lot of photos but would have enjoyed a larger section devoted to tailored clothing.

Anyways, getting to the point at hand, on page 84 there is a nice photo Cary Grant in a sweater and trouser ensemble. Near the photo it states how Cary Grant had a passion for clothes and later in his career tried his hand at running a menswear boutique.

I knew after he left the movies Cary became quite the businessman working for Faberge and did a speaking tour about his life, but in readings of him over time I don't recall him with a shop of any kind.

Hmmm... A haberdashery with Cary Grant involved, sounds like that would have been my kind of shop, expect for the button down collared shirts with doubles cuffs that he worn in some of his movies in the 40s.

Also in the book on page 216, there's another photo of Cary in the North by Northwest dust crop scene in which the book states that he had six identical suits made by Kilgour French & Stanbury made for that role he played.

Here on the LL we've had a few post on this subject and one of the post has a blurred photo of the label of the suit and appears to be a Quintino label. The mystery goes on I guess.

Best Regards,

Cufflink79

Cufflink79:

Six suits for North by Northwest is incorrect. It was actually sixteen. Although it seems like an aweful lot of identical suits to have on hand during principal photography, it really isn't--at least not in a
picture that entailed lots of action. With scenes requiring take after take, a fight, a dust-up or hanging onto a cliff's edge for dear life can destroy a suit in a hurry, hence a whole rack of them being kept on hand for the leading man. Not all of the suits are really identical. For example, when Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint are seated opposite each other in the dining car, the downstage (closest to the camera) sleeve of Grant's suit jacket is cut longer than usual so it will drape gracefully in the three-quarter front shot of him. By the same token, if a scene entails a fight with a heavy during which a sleeve is ripped at the sleevehead, that suit is made to breakaway just so. It's all part of the magic of making movies in the heyday of Hollywood. Pity that close attention to detail is given shortshrift in the movies cranked out today.

JMB

16 suits for North by Northwest huh, maybe half the suits were Kilgour and the other half was Quintino.

Best Regards,

Cufflink79