Ouch!

[JMurphy]

Today's NYT: Mr. (Gay) Talese, the son of a tailor, carries himself like a papal guard and, now that his nudist phase is over, is the best-dressed writer in New York. He makes Tom Wolfe look like someone who collects Mark Twain outfits from a thrift shop.

[pemazel]

Today's NYT: Mr. (Gay) Talese, the son of a tailor, carries himself like a papal guard and, now that his nudist phase is over, is the best-dressed writer in New York. He makes Tom Wolfe look like someone who collects Mark Twain outfits from a thrift shop.

Dear Sir,

Photos please (for the ignorant in Europe).

Paul

[ThomasG]

Today's NYT: Mr. (Gay) Talese, the son of a tailor, carries himself like a papal guard and, now that his nudist phase is over, is the best-dressed writer in New York. He makes Tom Wolfe look like someone who collects Mark Twain outfits from a thrift shop.

Dear Sir,

Photos please (for the ignorant in Europe).

Paul

[Cantabrigian]

Here he is in a more Wolfian outfit.

Personally, I don't think he can compete with Tom:

[TVD]

To the poor man's defence, I must say that a DB vest is a rather difficult thing to get right. If it is cut for normal, medium rise trousers, the torso looks too long. If it is cut right, then matching higher rise trousers must be commissioned. Over the years, I have maybe seen a handful of good examples.

[Mark Seitelman]

Mr. Talese wears both classic suitings at times and more flamboyant ones at other times.

E.g., he often wears a plain, but classic and impeccable DB suit. I saw him wear one once at the theater.

On the flamboyant side, he likes vests which have two buttons coupled together in intervals rather than the traditional method of having them spaced apart equally.

He also is given to correspondent shoes of his own design.

The NY Times profile of him in yesterday's Arts and Leisure section shows him in both the classic and flamboyant modes.

In any event, he wrote that his father, a tailor, in a New Jersey beach town, could never abide sloppiness, inelegance, or informality in dress. His father always stood out among his neighbors.

[alden]

I do not recognize a correlation between “classic” and elegant. Classic can be irretrievably inelegant while elegant is almost always classic.

The article refers to “the best dressed” man in town. I am not too sure what “best dressed” means but I suspect that elegant men would not want the appellation. (see Brummel)The term seems to imply some level of competition, a kind of Miss Universe show for men.

The elegant man does compete in matters of dress. In any case, the elegant man will always look “best” no matter how he is “dressed.”

A man can be well dressed, richly dressed, expensively dressed and best dressed and miss the mark of being elegantly dressed.

[AlexanderKabbaz]

Speaking as the proprietor of one of Wolfe's thrift shops ... perhaps the writer was continuing the theme of last month's Times Wolfe "expose" entitled something akin to "Pimp My Ride" ... in which Wolfe spoofed the whole thought with his white-wheeled white Cadillac, white suit and black shirt.

[Incroyable]

Brummel's assertion of being well-dressed and not being noticed was in most part a reaction against the flamboyant "excesses" of the normative fashions of the time. It has the semblance of bitterness.

[TVD]

Ah, well, my attempt at applying "in dubio pro reo" seems to have misfired badly.

Yes, I do agree with most of what is stated above. The DB coat and any waistcoat is a difficult proposition. Best on photographs with hands in pockets. But to put one's hands in one's breeches was considered bad manners once upon a time. However, when worn open, this is the only way to make the DB coat look good. Worn buttoned, the issue is whether upper edge of the vest should show or be completely covered by the coat. The former will reduce shirtspace or necessitate a lower gorge and buttoning point than I like. As a result, my DBs with waistcoat are cut not to show any waistcoat when buttoned. I accept that some members may think this a dubious practice.

Lapels and DB cut for waistcoats to be worn with DB coats are problematic, because of the additional bulk on the chest. I am not sure that these practical reasons are also rules.

As I said above, even underneath an SB coat, a DB waistcoat can only look good if all items are bespoke and cut to match each other. To illustrate, google the net for pictures of last year's wedding of the Prince of Wales. While his dress is impeccable, a textbook example, in fact, his sons look dire. The shape of the waistcoats' lapels, the button stance, the line where vest and trousers meet, none appear elegant or natural. For a DB waistcoat, either you must go the whole way (high rise trousers, fishtail back, braces, rubber band linking waistcoat and trousers at front), or stick with the SB variety.

I have no experience with high stakes riverboat gaming, but bulletproof sounds a good option. During the day, an off white three piece suit in silk may look elegant, and in the evening black tie with a silk fancy waistcoat. It would probably afford one an instant job offer from the owners: as a tourist attraction.

[JLibourel]

I encountere Gay Talese once in the VIP room at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. He was impeccably dressed in a pale gray suit with a Panama hat as I recall. There was certainly nothing louche or flashy about his appearance. He was one of the very few men out of the thousands at the festival that I felt was emphatically better turned out than I...although I was dressed in a more casual manner than Talese.

[Mark Seitelman]

I must add that when I saw Mr. Talese leaving a Tony Bennett performance he was impeccably dressed.

[Huzir]

I can recommed Mr. Talese's novel Unto The Sons (based on his family history) particularly for the excellent episodes set in the Paris tailoring workshops of Cristiani.

May I be so bold as to suggest that we invite him to join our club? His knowledge of tailoring history would be a considerable asset.

[ThomasG]

When the media crowns “the best dressed” one

[alden]

The individual in question has become the poster boy of today's Neapolitan tailoring and so it is no surprise that he would earn a "best dressed" award in Japan.



This example seems to be a summer weight, unlined, low slung 4x1 DB with brown leather buttons and very wide lapels.

Please do not confuse this with the Neapolitan tailoring I have often written about.

Cheers