The London Lounge

Philippe Noiret was a master of mixing genres of dress. In that he was ahead of his time, and a precursor to our more casual yet elegant modes of dress, especially for senior eleganti who may not wear suits as much as they used to.

Learning how to mix genres well will improve your dress.


717439415_small by The London Lounge, on Flickr

“Having said all that, and not wanting to be tied to heavily to rules and prescriptions, there are those among us who play particularly well against type, and wear what the hell they want. Confidence and courage are the names of that game, and not undertaken lightly. But the results are usually what distinguish the real pros from both the pedants and the dilettantes.”

Above a snippet from a G.Bruce Boyer article to get the ball rolling here, because, really, mixed dressing is a rarefied art, perhaps best left to the “real pros”.

Confidence, courage and creativity.

Cigar, anyone?

Although in these more casual clothes one may suspect an ideological sort of social agenda beyond ‘comfort’. Like the ‘simple’ clothes Count Leo Tolstoy used to wear ‘on the farm’.

alden wrote: Specially for senior eleganti who may not wear suits as much as they used to. Learning how to mix genres well will improve your dress.

The "mixed genre dressing" I regularly see on the streets is usually a poor result of combining otherwise good items. Men seem lost when taking out of their comfort zone. Instead of projecting elegance and nonchalance, the mixed dressers show off their shortcomings. See, IMO an unsatisfactory example, below.

I believe that the chosen few who really pull it off, do it on the shoulders of their inner substance, be it stylish or -many times- deranged.
As one of those seniors who no longer wears suits and ties more than once or twice week, I would advice to start very slowly, maybe a single item at a time. You'll have to find your own. For me, things that have worked the best are very timid efforts like a hoody with a tweed jacket, a washed denim work shirt with a flannel suit, or a quilted down vest as the waistcoat of a 3 pc. suit.