An interview with Bernhard Roetzel

[Costi]

Sort of a printed blog...

[uppercase]

Yes, definitely printed.
I like to hold a book in my hands.

But definitely professionally photographed. With commentary. Along the lines of that GBB post on PS.

There are many publishing/distribution avenues. It need not be a complicated, costly affair.

Perhaps something along the lines of The Sartorialist books.

I really do believe that Alden is one of the most seasoned, experienced, articulate, stylish writers and practitioners I have come across.

He's already produced a lot on the LL along with a few amateurish photos of himself.

It seems everybody is writing a book of some sort about clothes, etc. today.

Why not pull it all together but with a series professionally shot photos? And publish it.

Perhaps some of his friends could join in with him and be photographed …I don't know.

I don't think that it should be looked at as a vanity project.

Just look at all of the clothing blogs on tumblr.

A lot of people follow those blogs and enjoy the photographs.

Although many are just fashion shots of models or old photos of past movie stars. Or worse (the pitiable Pitti stars and tailors/clothing store owners/fashion consultants posing and flogging their wares). Very few photos of real, mature people.

Anyway, the components are already there. Alden just needs to put it together. Just a thought …

[ismailalmurtadza]

I second you uppercase on your suggestion that LL come up with a book by Micheal Alden.

Nik

[davidhuh]

Gentlemen,

I support this idea. Michael has collected quite a unique insight into tailoring, from commissioning "impossible" cloth to getting things made for himself and others.

Cheers, David

[Russell]

Gentlemen,

I support this idea. Michael has collected quite a unique insight into tailoring, from commissioning "impossible" cloth to getting things made for himself and others.

Cheers, David

I'll echo those comments from David as well.

Regards
Russell

[Frans]

Mr. Roetzel has recently given an interview to the blog "Gentleman's Gazette". I think he defends himself quite well against some assumptions made above about him and his book(s)

I went to flea markets. I hunted clothes like other people hunt souvenirs in Spain or Italy. I never ever thought of making this a profession. I am passionate about clothes and especially hand-made clothes. I found that hand-made clothes from days gone by were much more fascinating than what I found in the stores in the 1980’s.

see: https://www.gentlemansgazette.com/gentl ... interview/

[uppercase]

Very interesting.
Thanks!

[alden]

In this interview Mr. Roetzel simply confirms what we have suspected about him previously. He is a person who has a passion, an obsession with clothing. Now if most of us were to put together a list of things a man might be passionate about in life, clothing would not enter the top one hundred. But there you have it, people can become obsessed about the oddest things. And people who have passion for clothing usually believe that “clothes make the man” or some such oddity of thought, that wool sewn together in a certain way possesses some magical, transformational powers.

And sure enough in his latest offering “How To Dress like a Gentleman” Roetzel promises to transform his readers once again. He spent the better part of twenty years trying to be English and now he wants to try to be a Gentleman. If any of you who are reading this is truly interested in style, you might want to stop trying to be anything at all. Read a book entitled “Dress Like Who You Really Are And Beam That Out to the World!” Of course, the book would not sell five copies because it contains no snake oil dripping promises of transformation, and probably no lurid photos of affected dress. It just contains the simple truth: all of you have style, you were born with it and you need to stop trying to be something that you are not and simply be what you truly are! I can assure you, moreover, that the icons of style we most admire were anything but Gentleman, thank goodness, and never for an instant tried to be anything but themselves.

Trying passionately to be something you are not leads in dressing terms to affectation, costuming, what Balzac called “decorating” oneself. And the photos of Roetzel, in addition to his utterances, are simply pieces of conviction. They are almost a clinical study of affected dress. It is not elegant dress. It is not English dress. It is not even the dress of a Gentleman as promised. You could spend a lifetime in White’s on St. James and never see anyone dressed even remotely like that. But if you step outside Whites, you will surely see some misguided German tourist covered in slanted double ticket pockets pretending to be, trying to be, attempting with passion to be…something he is not. Don’t be like him. And don’t buy a book that teaches you to be like him.

Be yourself. You are great!

[fontana1]

I recently met Mr Roetzel, by coincidence, in Jungmann in Vienna. Only a day later did I realize who he was. He was dressed in a POW suit and brown suede shoes, which he wore his clothing with style. We spoke briefly about style in the context of bespoke clothing and the tailors who make it (not just in London but also in Vienna, Prague, Warsaw...). I didn't get the impression that he thinks we can "buy" style, but that a good relationship (over years) with a fine tailor can help a man discover his own style.

[HristoStefanov]

In this interview Mr. Roetzel simply confirms what we have suspected about him previously. He is a person who has a passion, an obsession with clothing. Now if most of us were to put together a list of things a man might be passionate about in life, clothing would not enter the top one hundred. But there you have it, people can become obsessed about the oddest things. And people who have passion for clothing usually believe that “clothes make the man” or some such oddity of thought, that wool sewn together in a certain way possesses some magical, transformational powers.

And sure enough in his latest offering “How To Dress like a Gentleman” Roetzel promises to transform his readers once again. He spent the better part of twenty years trying to be English and now he wants to try to be a Gentleman. If any of you who are reading this is truly interested in style, you might want to stop trying to be anything at all. Read a book entitled “Dress Like Who You Really Are And Beam That Out to the World!” Of course, the book would not sell five copies because it contains no snake oil dripping promises of transformation, and probably no lurid photos of affected dress. It just contains the simple truth: all of you have style, you were born with it and you need to stop trying to be something that you are not and simply be what you truly are! I can assure you, moreover, that the icons of style we most admire were anything but Gentleman, thank goodness, and never for an instant tried to be anything but themselves.

Trying passionately to be something you are not leads in dressing terms to affectation, costuming, what Balzac called “decorating” oneself. And the photos of Roetzel, in addition to his utterances, are simply pieces of conviction. They are almost a clinical study of affected dress. It is not elegant dress. It is not English dress. It is not even the dress of a Gentleman as promised. You could spend a lifetime in White’s on St. James and never see anyone dressed even remotely like that. But if you step outside Whites, you will surely see some misguided German tourist covered in slanted double ticket pockets pretending to be, trying to be, attempting with passion to be…something he is not. Don’t be like him. And don’t buy a book that teaches you to be like him.

Be yourself. You are great!

Good comment, but with 2 remarks.
I am very thankful to Mr. Roetzel and his book because after reading The Gentleman around 2011/2012 I realized that I was wearing misfitting clothes and switched from RTW to bespoke. With my size of 5 feet 7 inches, I have extremely little chance to dress well with RTW clothes in Germany, where sizes are even larger than rest of the World. Clothes in the shops are simply too large and salesmen are lying to you that something fits while in fact it doesn't. And because virtually everybody in Germany dresses with ill-fitting clothes I had never noticed the bad fit of my clothes until I found Mr. Roetzel's book. So Mr. Roetzel really changed my life. Of course it is a pure coincidence that I found Mr. Roetzel's book before finding Internet resources on the topic, but nevertheless, I am thankful for this and I think many people in the world improved their fit and the quality of their dress after reading The Gentleman.
The second remark is regarding the "be yourself" notion. I dislike this idea because very often people misinterpret "be yourself" with "it is fine, to be bad at something" and they use it as an excuse to stop doing anything to improve.
While the opposite is true - one should search for himself through constant change (and improvement), through trials and errors, until one finds himself (if at all possible). In terms of dress this might even mean passing through a costume phase in life when one dresses like a character from the past or like a character from a science fiction movie.

[Luca]

the "be yourself" notion. I dislike this idea because very often people misinterpret "be yourself" with "it is fine, to be bad at something" and they use it as an excuse to stop doing anything to improve. While the opposite is true - one should search for himself through constant change (and improvement), through trials and errors, until one finds himself (if at all possible). In terms of dress this might even mean passing through a costume phase in life when one dresses like a character from the past or like a character from a science fiction movie.

Hristo, your words really resonate with me. Every age has its vanities and its idolatries; one of the most pernicious of ours is the cult of "authenticity". Contrary to that, we humans are neither unchanging pillars of principle nor Rousseauian exemplars at birth. We evolve, we are shaped by our experiences and, hopefully, the direction we give ourselves. We become and in so doing we often benefit from teachers.

Too often, who we are, as individuals or a people is merely a tautological re-statement of what we've been in the past (or even just recently, in our increasingly a-historical age) but one crucial conclusion of enlightenment thinking is the constructive, productive questioning of identity.

Based on what he's written and indeed what he's done before, I would be strongly inclined to think that Mr Alden's reference is to the effort to maintain individuality, in our search for elegance, rather than blindly following rigid schema and temper instruction with instinct.

[HristoStefanov]

Based on what he's written and indeed what he's done before, I would be strongly inclined to think that Mr Alden's reference is to the effort to maintain individuality, in our search for elegance, rather than blindly following rigid schema and temper instruction with instinct.

No doubt. As I said, I dislike the "be yourself" motion because it is very often misinterpreted by people.
It is the high risk of misinterpretation that I don't like.

[uppercase]

Be yourself but that does not mean you can dress like a slob.

[alden]

I have always encouraged people to develop their own style. I have written volumes on the subject and even made a few videos. In order to have your own style, you have to build upon a foundation of trust and confidence in yourself. Its very hard to truly have this level of confidence if you never practice just being yourself, developing and following your own instincts. And I should add that being yourself is not at all restrictive, it is expanding. It does not mean you shut yourself off from learning, improvement or experimentation. To the contrary, if you have the courage, take the very world inside you and make it your own.

Doubt, fear, lack of confidence, insecurity, stress, timidity lead most men to be dissatisfied with who they really are. Unconsciously they are terrified of themselves. And they become bad actors in ludicrous roles in even worse plays. The audience, all of us, see through the thin disguises. But no one feels compelled to call attention to the farce. Don’t be that guy. And don’t buy books or follow blogs that teach you to be like him.

As an example of how you should be, I am reminded of the story about Clark Gable during the filming of “Gone With The Wind.” All of the actors in the film assumed character roles replete with Southern accents and mannerisms. Gable refused to do so. And he reasoned as follows: “People don’t go the the movie theater to see Rhett Butler. They pay their money to see Clark Gable!” Well he was right. And that is a great lesson from one of the true master’s of style.

If you have a big set of them and they clang in your bespoke trousers then just “Be yourself!” You are great!

Cheers

[HristoStefanov]

Great comment, Michael! Thank you!