Why is green such a no-no?

"The brute covers himself, the rich man and the fop adorn themselves, the elegant man dresses!"

-Honore de Balzac

storeynicholas

Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:52 pm

RWS wrote:Perhaps designers begin with a computer program which employs "Pantone" or a similar coloring system.
Please have a go for us!!
NJS
RWS
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Fri Nov 21, 2008 4:06 pm

Ha! I can type on a computer, but as for more proficiency . . . .

I do agree that the cloth envisioned is quite appealling, particularly as a flannel (though I'm not sure I'd greatly mind seeing it as a tweed instead).
Costi
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Fri Nov 21, 2008 5:24 pm

storeynicholas wrote:
Costi wrote:
couch wrote:The above digression is what happens when you entertain the thought of green suits in town. That's the real reason for the prohibition.
:) :D I like the idea!
But it is so pleasantly diverting that, maybe, green suits should become the new navy blue - the next thing might be a 16 oz smokey, dark, olive green flannel with a smudged primrose yellow chalkstripe for the Cloth Club. :P
NJS
This goes to prove that it all depends on the execution, not just the idea :)

I have a cloth at home waiting in the pile for the right moment of inspiration - it is a dark grey and dark brown melange. More of a mottled effect than a true flannel. A widely spaced, very subtle self-stripe breaks the monotony of the surface. The brown gives life to the cloth in sunlight, while indoors it looks dark grey with a warm tone that would be hard to define as "brown".
If anything this imaginary cloth should be a subtle melange of grey and olive, that no computer program of which I know can render. A solid colour cannot produce the effect couch describes: the cloth would look grey in dim or artificial light and only reveal its olive hues in bright daylight.
A flannel could also be easily worn as a non-business grey suit with a twist. After all, the LL is a green(ish) place if we just take a look at the screen in front of us...
couch
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Sat Nov 22, 2008 5:35 am

Costi wrote:If anything this imaginary cloth should be a subtle melange of grey and olive, that no computer program of which I know can render. A solid colour cannot produce the effect couch describes: the cloth would look grey in dim or artificial light and only reveal its olive hues in bright daylight.
Yes, this is just the problem. I've worked a fair bit with Pantone chips (and at one time with colorimeters to record spectral information) and this sort of reference is not very good at approximating anything like a melange effect, or one where a hue only emerges perceptibly under specific intensities of illumination. I suspect five minutes with one of the weavers at Lovat Mill or one of the other Scottish producers alden has used would get us much closer. I've tried to imagine something between the effect of a really rich Oxford gray flannel and a high-quality loden Hubertus. I'd imagine blending the fibers into yarns and then testing finishes on woven cloth would take a few samples and a lot of experience. But I'll keep my eye open for anything remotely similar. Maybe Dr. Teplitz will run across such an oddity on his upcoming Tip Top trip. If so I hope he'll obtain a sample!
marcelo
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Fri Nov 28, 2008 3:50 pm

I do not think that green is such a no-no. And the Duke of Windsor either.

This is a hunting Lord of the Isles Highland dress, probably by William Andreson & Sons. Lord of the Isles was one of the titles the Duke of Windsor had as Prince of Wales. Notice that the shoes which complete this attire have been the object of some discussion in a different thread, to wit: http://thelondonlounge.net/gl/forum/vie ... 7&start=75

Image


And here a double-breasted Prince of Wales checked lounge suit (1963-64), by James & James Ltda, previously trained by Frederick Scholte.

Image
NCW
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Fri Nov 28, 2008 7:17 pm

I think, in its unusual setting, the strong green works well in the first photo, but I hope I am not alone in considering the second suit vilely unwearable.

Other shades of tweed work well, with more of a brown/grey mix, or with russet or blue overchecks, etc. Dark green cords are nice, and I am wearing a green tie today (with yellow birds' eyes).

I have nothing against green, but it can be a delicate colour, and it would be easy to go too far.
yachtie
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Fri Nov 28, 2008 8:50 pm

No green for business is as dead as Hardy Aimes. It just has to be the right green:

Image

A little wrinkled after work...
JDelage
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Fri Nov 28, 2008 9:15 pm

Marcelo,

Thanks for sharing this. The first outfit looks gorgeous. Not too easy to wear for a 37-year old plebe in Paris, but no doubt this is my fault, not the outfits. (The second outfil looks like a set of db pj's to me, I'm afraid...)
storeynicholas

Fri Nov 28, 2008 9:41 pm

yachtie wrote:No green for business is as dead as Hardy Aimes. It just has to be the right green:

Image

A little wrinkled after work...
I think that this is very nearly exactly what I had in mind, earlier in the thread - do you think that it might be any use as a cream or even (maybe) a rusty chalk-stripe?
NJS
yachtie
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Fri Nov 28, 2008 9:52 pm

storeynicholas wrote:
yachtie wrote:No green for business is as dead as Hardy Aimes. It just has to be the right green:

.
I think that this is very nearly exactly what I had in mind, earlier in the thread - do you think that it might be any use as a cream or even (maybe) a rusty chalk-stripe?
NJS
If they made such a cloth, I'd buy it. I do have a dark green SB with a blue pinstripe that also looks quite nice.
storeynicholas

Fri Nov 28, 2008 11:53 pm

yachtie wrote:
storeynicholas wrote:
yachtie wrote:No green for business is as dead as Hardy Aimes. It just has to be the right green:

.
I think that this is very nearly exactly what I had in mind, earlier in the thread - do you think that it might be any use as a cream or even (maybe) a rusty chalk-stripe?
NJS
If they made such a cloth, I'd buy it. I do have a dark green SB with a blue pinstripe that also looks quite nice.
My daugter has auburn hair and green eyes and instinctively seems to gravitate to dusty greens and grays and rust colours - and it works very well: Maybe the greenish-tinged gray with a rusty chalk-stripe or windowpane would (as she might put it) rock as an interesting variant on just gray? The donkey-gray, mentioned in the cloth club thread might also be adaptable in this way - but, maybe the creamy stripe there? Just idle rambling :shock:
NJS
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