The London Lounge

"Lost Forever"

A few weeks ago in a report on Savile Row, I spoke about a certain double breasted suit crafted of navy blue, 19 ounce worsted in 1942 and left with Anderson &Sheppard to be resized for a gentleman. The suit, in nearly pristine condition, was the property of the gentleman's father. Allow me to tell you the story of my encounter with this remarkable garment.

One day while I was casting an eye through a pile of Shetland tweeds, one more beautiful than the other, a Gentlemen of about sixty years of age entered the storied premises of the Savile Row tailor, Anderson & Sheppard. In his arms, pressed against his chest, was what seemed to be a length of blue cloth or was it a suit of clothes? What an odd way, I thought at the time, to transport a suit for it was neither on a hanger nor in a garment bag, as he made his way slowly towards the massive oak counter and front desk. Hearing the tone and color of his speech, the dignified, soft murmuring revealed the presence of a noble and educated spirit. It was the choppy cadence that betrayed the presence of suffering.

There is nothing infectious about joy. If we see one beaming, chuckling and spry we take them for a simpleton. But sorrow fills the room, permeates and pales. We feel its arm’s grip around the shoulder and try as we may to shake it off, it grips all the more.

Feeling like an uninvited guest in a confessional booth, I made my way slowly to the door and into the light of a brilliant Autumn day. Illuminated as it was, I saw Savile Row as I had never seen it before. I saw the specters of generations of men come from all over the planet to this hallowed street passing through its doors each motivated by a particular and individual passion, vanity and gentle madness. Fashion changes, but the artisans are there as always waiting to effect their special alchemy, the one that turns simple cloth into "the stuff that dreams are made of."

An hour or so later I returned to the tailor’s shop and saw the crumpled suit laying lifeless and still behind the counter. In an instant I understood that the Gentleman who stood moments before clutching the suit to his chest wanted it remade to his measure in order to hold the father symbolically in his arms once again, to relive and restore a passion, a precious vanity, and a charming, gentle madness, lost forever.

Dear Mr. Alden,

This is precisely what is getting lost (or already has been) to a great extent. The idea of having few... very few well made garments that were in ones wardrobe...may that be hand-me-downs or a gentlemen's own...but well made and fitted garments that lasted decades and endured the test of changed times. These days the world seems to be turning to more and more towards “disposable” items of clothing.

In my opinion; one well fitted suit is better than 10 ill fitted ones and the one that is cut and fit properly... is better than 50 that don't. It was probably the later, which this suit belonged to. Hopefully the alterations were to his satisfaction... that sort of a garment is an asset.

Thank you for sharing the story.

sincerely
etutee

Lovely.

Dear Etutee,

I do agree with you. I think you can tell a lot about a man from his library and wardrobe. You can tell a lot from his humidor and wine cellar as well, but that’s a different register of information altogether.

Blaise Pascal asked forgiveness of a friend regarding the length of letter he had written saying that “had he disposed of more time to write the letter, it would have been shorter, more concise.” The same can be said of essential wardrobes and a well thought out one is a masterful display of Elegance in and of itself.

The wardrobe of Biddle as described by Frazier is an excellent example.

Young men would do well to invest wisely in four or five well designed and fit bespoke garments cut from solid cloth from a competent tailor, than ten or twenty ill fitting ones made of flimsy material.

The clothes we receive from our fathers and theirs are imbued necessarily with emotion. The lavender my grandfather used in his closet is still present on his tweed suits. Well, it isn’t really, except in my mind.

Cheers

Another test is our response to a garnment nearing the end of its life: there are those where we relish this as an excuse to replace them; and others, which we first relegate to the "special occasion" list to avoid the inevitable, then ask our tailors for economically unreasonable repairs, and finally continue to wear and cherish well beyond the point of being threadbare, a mere spectre of their former glory.

Indeed, a lovely story.

Yet what a curious title. For may the passion, the vanity, the gentle madness -and what a great expression that is!- not be born anew?

Mark

Young men would do well to invest wisely in four or five well designed and fit bespoke garments cut from solid cloth from a competent tailor, than ten or twenty ill fitting ones made of flimsy material.

As a young man, this is exactly what I am attempting to do. My first bespoke suit was made last year and is a Lesser 13 oz cloth. Given that I will eventually have 4 or 5 suits, is 13 oz cloth hardy enough to survive for a couple decades?[/quote]

I greatly enjpyed the story above and have thought of having one or two of my father's old Stickland suits re-cut for me. Edwin DeBoise at Steed passed on to me a piece of tailoring lore, which if true or not doesn't matter to me. I just like the sentiment.

When discussing the sleeve buttons on a first suit I asked for operational buttons and he replied "I like to put on three working and one sham." I enquired about the practice and was informed that the practice best enables the suit to be recut if it were ever to be used by a son or grandson. He told me that "there's not much that can be done if the sleeve needs to be shortened unless by just a bit, but if the sleeve needs to be lengthened, the sham button and stitching on the top can be removed, the sleeve let out and another button added at the bottom."

So, three real and one sham for me. Please and thankyou.

DDM

Franz

Read this series of posts. They were written nearly fifteen years ago.

My original story was originally much longer and written in Italian. I rewrote it for the LL. And I think it shows the near veneration many of us felt towards English style, Savile Rowl, and its great houses . It might put into focus for you why some of us are concerned today about the future of these institutions.

We do not want them to be Lost Forever.

Read the response of Etutee, the great man who graced our presence and delighted us with his writing and style.
All of the young guys who populate the LL today must take his words to heart and reflect.

Cheers

Thank you for sharing this beautiful story. Much appreciated. I understand.

DD MacDonald wrote: He told me that "there's not much that can be done if the sleeve needs to be shortened unless by just a bit, but if the sleeve needs to be lengthened, the sham button and stitching on the top can be removed, the sleeve let out and another button added at the bottom."

So, three real and one sham for me. Please and thankyou.

DDM

For planning purposes, wouldn't it make more sense, then, to have them all sham buttons? Unless one were to insist on unbuttoning them, no good reason, really.

Noble Savage wrote:

DD MacDonald wrote: He told me that "there's not much that can be done if the sleeve needs to be shortened unless by just a bit, but if the sleeve needs to be lengthened, the sham button and stitching on the top can be removed, the sleeve let out and another button added at the bottom."

So, three real and one sham for me. Please and thankyou.

DDM

For planning purposes, wouldn't it make more sense, then, to have them all sham buttons? Unless one were to insist on unbuttoning them, no good reason, really.

Dear NS,

from a strictly pragmatic perspective, your suggestion makes sense. A discreet gentleman would never show off his sleeve buttons undone anyway. This may be acceptable as instagram folklore perhaps

But tradition wants that the buttonholes are functional, to distinguish the garment from machine made RTW. To allow future adjustments as described above, some gentlemen keep one, others prefer two sham buttons. I usually have two, except on some sports coats where I have only a single functional sleeve button.

Cheers, David

I am a proponent of sham buttons.

Otherwise you cannot shorten the sleeves when they are inevitably made too long.

No need for all that needless hand stitching on a button hole, as nice and traditional as it may be, anymore.

Working button holes have presented more than a few problems in the past.

I now only ask for sham buttons and on sports coats, no more than one.

On a suit...well, don’t have need for suits anymore. But if I did, I would ask for only sham buttons. My existing suits do have working button holes. But I am suspicious. Who are they really working for....? You just never know today.

And sham is not a bad word. I prefer- “practical”. And what do we need buttons on the cuff for anyway. Right? Has anyone here operated recently with their surgeons cuffs?

If one studies formal garments of the past, having non-functional elements seems to underline a garment’s elevated, non-utilitarian nature by having buttons placed beyond the reach of pocket flaps, front buttons which don't button, button holes of an entirely, and obviously sham nature[1]. And thus, having non-functioning buttonholes may be said to elevate a coat's formality.

1. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/159214 (see also +Additional Images)