However, I always wanted to do 2 or 3 more posts in particular with one of them dealing in great detail about what was considered a good RTW shoe construction in 1930s. It was called the Art of Shoemaking or something if I remember... I think it would have been a great read for most members who have no access to such rare text and should have dispelled many of the commonly known “myths”. Unfortunately I never found enough time to complete that massive footwear post I was trying to write.
I think I can confidently say that 4 years ago when we started this series at the old London Lounge forum, there was not an iota of this wonderful information available online anywhere… at least not in English. So over the years this series accumulated a variety of threads each addressing different aspect of menswear. One of the key concepts behind starting this series (& to some extent even this forum LL) was that in our world we are bombarded everyday by extremities of fashion in menswear whether for good or for bad they certainly effect the average man a lot more than we usually think.
Few people have the time and money to research how a specific fashion piece is divorced from the elegance of correct proportions and more importantly what is correct fit? People have been used to the whims of men’s designers so much for past few decades that now there does not exist a “median” understanding of menswear so to speak. What I mean by this is that people no longer know, what are the correct proportions and how should a jacket or a suit really fit? So it is with that purpose this series was started to give people an idea what are considered some of the classical proportions and how these clothes were are to be worn in the correct manner. The idea is (or was that) once you know what is considered a “median” so to speak… you will know how far you want to deviate from that line but if you don’t know that, it will be very hard to tell how far you have came in terms of varying proportions and fit.
So all that said, the main purpose of this post for me is to collect specific feedback from you (the readers) as to how useful you found the series in general and specifically? What were some aspects that you were able to learn from and how were you able to use it in our times? Were there combinations presented in the series (shirts, ties, various odd elements) that you found useful and could have not discovered elsewhere or was there something you learnt from the fit, proportions and over all styling of jackets and trousers?
On the contrary if you were unable to use this series (for whatever reason) please share your thoughts as to why you found it difficult to follow. What could’ve or can make this series even better?
I know some of the major criticisms were that I often dwelled too much on suggesting various styles and combinations, which may seemed to stem from my own imagination rather than the actual illustrations. The other one was that I often described illustrations outside of the context in which they were presented.
Well, I am or always have been aware of these two suggestions and would like to explain something (if this above applies to you). The reason why I often went into tangents and digressed (although I don’t think it was digressions but still…) was because I have been fortunate to own 95% of these illustrations and AA / Esky text at one point or another. It was because I have had so much exposure to this subject that I felt necessary to point out various things that pertained to that particular illustration that was being discussed or a certain element in it. Often when going through illustration selection for a post, I would select 4 or 5 near identical illustrations where the main article was the same but used in a different context / setting. So at that point it would have been rather excessive to put all 4 or 5 almost identical illustrations out there just because there was a line or two that was different in its explanation. Thereby I picked the best possible one and then while explaining it in the post went on and further discussed various settings in which this was observed or could be used.
As I mentioned above I still want to do a few more of these posts but when…. That I cannot guarantee! So in the meantime please take part in this thread and provide feedback if these posts effected you in anyway and how?
I look forward to hearing from you gents
Regards
etutee
