A tale of two cities
Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 7:15 am
I was recently in Seoul and Tokyo. It was interesting to observe the gentlemen going about their business and the way they dressed:
In Seoul, striped suits were the order of the day. Almost all men wore a suit with some kind of stripe - pin, chalk, cable, texture. I hardly saw any plain cloth. Black shoes were worn by 99% of thee men. And they tended to be simple loafers. Hardly anybody wore DBs, the ration of SB to DB was close to 99 to 1.
In Tokyo, the standard man's uniform suit was navy blue, black shoes, and plain white shirt. Ties were often sober blue, black or sometimes maroon. No pocket handkerchief wass in sight. And shoes were almost uniformly black. Ratio of DB to SB was more balanced...with nearly 40% DB. Amongst the young men, all wore SB, and amongst the older gentlemen and senior folks who conveyed more gravatas, DB was very common.
Nobody seem to button their coat here - almost all prefering to leave all unbuttoned whether they be wearing SB or DB. I found an interesting feature in the DB, which I have not seen elsewhere. From the left inside of the coat, starting about just below the left armpit, appears a ribbon made from suit lining material, and extends and ends in a button loop, which is used to attach to an inside button below the right flap of the DB, just below the button where it is normally buttoned. This allows the coat to be completely unbuttoned, but yet, thecoat does not swing open to reveal the owner's belly. I wished they would button their coats.
Shoes were also inevitably black.
I went to the Shinjuku store of Isetan - a major department store in Japan...the main store occupies the entire city block - perhaps almost as large as Harrods in London...and behind the main store, there is an entire block for just men's clothing. This men's block was about 1/3 the size of the main store. At the basementt was the most amazing of shoe stores. Almost all brands were present - Italian, British, and of course Japanese. The only gaping brand missing was JL Paris. The special room for EG carried almost all models of RTW EGs, and appeared larger than the Burlington Arkade store. Bespoke services were available from several manufactures.
The suits section comprise of an entire floor of high end RTW like Kiton, Brioni and the like, and almost an entire floor devoted to bespoke makers. Many Savile Row houses are present, including 4 inhouse tailors. One of them was very interesting in that the coats he made had Napolitan like sleeves. The others were strongly inspired by SR houses, but with some character. Staff at the store were impecabbly dressed, almost all sporting a nice pocket handkerchief, beautiful tie, and many brown shoes. Stripes andd textured suits were the orderr of the day in the store.
In Seoul, striped suits were the order of the day. Almost all men wore a suit with some kind of stripe - pin, chalk, cable, texture. I hardly saw any plain cloth. Black shoes were worn by 99% of thee men. And they tended to be simple loafers. Hardly anybody wore DBs, the ration of SB to DB was close to 99 to 1.
In Tokyo, the standard man's uniform suit was navy blue, black shoes, and plain white shirt. Ties were often sober blue, black or sometimes maroon. No pocket handkerchief wass in sight. And shoes were almost uniformly black. Ratio of DB to SB was more balanced...with nearly 40% DB. Amongst the young men, all wore SB, and amongst the older gentlemen and senior folks who conveyed more gravatas, DB was very common.
Nobody seem to button their coat here - almost all prefering to leave all unbuttoned whether they be wearing SB or DB. I found an interesting feature in the DB, which I have not seen elsewhere. From the left inside of the coat, starting about just below the left armpit, appears a ribbon made from suit lining material, and extends and ends in a button loop, which is used to attach to an inside button below the right flap of the DB, just below the button where it is normally buttoned. This allows the coat to be completely unbuttoned, but yet, thecoat does not swing open to reveal the owner's belly. I wished they would button their coats.
Shoes were also inevitably black.
I went to the Shinjuku store of Isetan - a major department store in Japan...the main store occupies the entire city block - perhaps almost as large as Harrods in London...and behind the main store, there is an entire block for just men's clothing. This men's block was about 1/3 the size of the main store. At the basementt was the most amazing of shoe stores. Almost all brands were present - Italian, British, and of course Japanese. The only gaping brand missing was JL Paris. The special room for EG carried almost all models of RTW EGs, and appeared larger than the Burlington Arkade store. Bespoke services were available from several manufactures.
The suits section comprise of an entire floor of high end RTW like Kiton, Brioni and the like, and almost an entire floor devoted to bespoke makers. Many Savile Row houses are present, including 4 inhouse tailors. One of them was very interesting in that the coats he made had Napolitan like sleeves. The others were strongly inspired by SR houses, but with some character. Staff at the store were impecabbly dressed, almost all sporting a nice pocket handkerchief, beautiful tie, and many brown shoes. Stripes andd textured suits were the orderr of the day in the store.
