Smart-casual hell

[whyescalar]

https://www.ft.com/content/ae4c23e6-407 ... f963e998b2

Interesting article in this weekend's FT. Unsure I agree with the writer, as I quite like a blazer w/jeans. Sometimes.

[hectorm]

Calling a sport jacket and jeans combo a "satanic hybrid" is not useful for any critique or analysis on men´s wear. If careful with regards to the occasion and environment, the matching can be done right (outdoors more than the office, daytime more than evening, etc.) For instance, I see a well cut sport jacket as a nice upgrading complement for the pair of jeans you grab for running errands on a Saturday morning.
Also, IMO, many men in jeans and sport jacket look much better dressed than in suits because the image they project is consistent with their true inner self.

[aston]

I am more than happy to wear a bespoke navy SB blazer with a white button down shirt, 501s, and brown suede loafers if I meet my grown up daughters for lunch, or to go to a gallery, or substitute the blazer for a nice tweed, with or without a merino waistcoat to create contrast, and cannot understand why such a combination may be considered unsuitable.

[couch]

Alas, the FT article is behind a paywall. Obviously only subscribers need to worry about the writer's opinions.

[Melcombe]

This is a bit ham-fisted, so apologies.

Getting the entire article into one shot would have compromised resolution beyond legibility. You will need to read down the left of the upper photo and the left of the lower before reading the right of the upper etc. The picture in the paper that separates the 2 blocks is of no consequence.

One might hold suspect the judgment of someone who uses "less" when he plainly means "fewer". (OK, thats enough grammar fascism for a Sunday morning...)





I do like the Weekend FT. Occasionally their style articles are way off-beam, but that's perhaps an indicator of good liberal journalism.

Mr Armstrong's error IMHO is not to distinguish between types of jeans. Narrow, pre-ripped, droopy crotch versions are not comparable with straight cut Levis or RM Williams editions - even if the latter are ably described as "Dad jeans".

Similarly there are blazers and blazers. A DB, 6B peak lapel version in 18oz shrapnel-resistant twill and buttons that could act as radio beacons does not compare with a lightly structured hopsack SB example.

For my part, I shall (when on holiday usually) occasionally wear my blazer with jeans and usually find restaurants are happy to give me a table 'on show' regardless.

[couch]

Thanks, Melcombe, for taking the trouble to post this. It seems Mr. Armstrong's only rationale for dismissing the blazer-and-jeans combination is that the two garments originated in different contexts. That is not an aesthetic argument, despite his blaming Cannes attendees for poor dressing where "aesthetics are at a premium." I can imagine aesthetic objections to a navy blazer worn with jeans of an almost identical unfaded color, as giving the appearance of an unsuccessful match—but that's not his point. I think most of us here would not qualify as philistines, yet as mentioned in the thread many find tweed jackets or blazers of appropriate textures and colors to be perfectly appropriate with jeans. It's been 60 years, for pity's sake, since Andy Warhol's jeans-and-blazer outfits were newsworthy. One applauds Mr. Armstrong's advocacy for suits, but wonders how firm his grasp of the suit's own historical context is. Were Sator still contributing to our conversations, he would doubtless tweak Mr. Armstrong for wearing beachwear to work.

[hectorm]

"...as mentioned in the thread many find tweed jackets or blazers of appropriate textures and colors to be perfectly appropriate with jeans.

BTW, as some of you already know, Savile Row (more Huntsman than Huntsman Richard Anderson, at least) offers bespoke jeans in a splendid 15oz Japanese hand dyed denim. To be worn as a worthy match with their bespoke blazers and tweed jackets precisely.

[Luca]

Agree with the posts above.

The author of the article might perhaps be forgiven for attempting to introduce a note of guidance and objectivity, however hackneyed, into a topic that barely registers with all too many fellows, these days.

Of course, a sneering tone and ill-informed prescriptiveness might backfire; as it did here.

[Melcombe]

Of course, a sneering tone and ill-informed prescriptiveness might backfire; as it did here.

Quite.

And before adopting a sneering tone of ill-informed prescriptiveness, just check you've got your jacket done up in your byline photo too.

[alden]

Did someone say to blazers with jeans?

IMG_1500 by The London Lounge, on Flickr

010 by The London Lounge, on Flickr

[uppercase]

Having gotten back a while ago from the Cannes film festival, I can confirm much in this article.

Don't expect to find Cary Grant striding down the Promenade or the Croisette.
Why would you?

Do you still think that you will find a Neopolitan gentlemen, perfectly dressed in your fantasy spalla camicia coat, strolling the streets of Naples ?
You will not.
And don't expect Cary turning the corner on the Rue d'Antibes.
And in Naples, the only person you will meet dressed in the Neapolitan style is your tailor; and that's only because he's selling you a story. He's a tailor selling you clothes. And you are the mark.
All Bullshit.
You must know this by now.

Nice/Cannes, like Naples, has to be one of the most dismally dressed cities on the planet.
Even during the film festival.
Are you kidding me ?!

And I contribute to the general slobbery. Why not ??
Why perpetuate the charade of an elegant era very long past, totally unreachable today and in which you are the only actor?
It it like mining for Unobtanium.

I wonder why I have succumbed ?

Well, for me, I've got the clothes right now in my closet to channel Cary.
A grey jacket, high waisted trousers, a nice, blousy shirt and …is he wearing an ascot? ..well, I've got one also.

Sorry, but I didn't pack these relics to stroll the croisette. And why would I : to feel stupid??
Have you walked the croisette recently ??!!
And I am not Cary.
And BTW, no one from Hollywood today, is either.
Let's get real folks.


Here's the story:
I pack a very small carry on travel bag.
I only pack blue jeans and khakis. Rolled. A few shirts. Why anything else!!?? No need.

There's a limitation on the place, purpose, time and place, and usefulness of bespoke, particularly on the seashore.
No need for fitted anything here. Certainly not fitted clothes.

The seashore - wherever : French, Italian rivieras, Greece, Formentera, Martha's Vineyard, pataya, bondi, - calls for a totally different sense and sensibility to that of fitted clothes.

Here, freedom and unconstrained style is called for.
And thats exactly where many get lost.

I think this is where Alden's core philosophy is best illustrated : style vs. clothing.
It's not the clothes but the style…the harmony of dressing with the culture/environment.

Many have mastered the fundamentals of a suit, of business wear : the right cloth, the right tie, pocket square, blah blah.

But what happens when we get out of the uniform, bereft of guidance?? Unleashed, on vacation?

I'll tell you what happens when the tried and true regimented uniform is abandoned :
Disaster.

I can't think of a better example than the recent photos of the founder of the magazine The Rake- "the modern voice of classical elegance" - founder - Wei Koh - when he visits various Neapolitan tailors as seen on the Net.

WTF. are you kidding me!?!

I'm too tired to find the links of photos of him on tumblr or instagram to post here now; but the photos of him - wearing his shorts with suspenders ,
with tailored coat, etc are illustrative of the dank and depressing failure when a successfully programmed bespoke brain is confronted with something unfamiliar like …what? …down time.

I leave my EGs home when going to Cannes and bring something pedestrian - how about Vans, baby?; there will be no gents circle photo posing here with these or espadrilles. Thank god.

I leave my tailored shirts at home: irrelevant on the sea, the beach, on holiday, when
T shirt are the righteous thing to wear. Ties? Ascots? What are they?

I found some old Versace and D&G funky shirts from the back of my closet. Yes!! Wore these happy hippy relics with a Caraceni blazer. it was right for me, at that time.

The sea and its villages are a mood, a sensibility of freedom and indulgence, of light and sun, and sensuality … not buckled up, suspendered or trussed. Bespoke conjures to me a totally different and alien sensibility to that.

Jeans? Of course. Jeans and a white shirt. Jeans and a T shirt. Jeans and blazer.
You really don't need anything else on the riviera.
Or anywhere else for that matter …??
Something to consider.

Savile Row and bespoke clothing have their limitations. Bespoke is properly all but forgotten for now - during these hot and sultry days - until the coming Fall and cold months. Louche, casual, fashion, have their place. I have no problem with that at all. Nor with jeans.

[alden]

UC

Delightful ...

Great to see and read you here again.

Cheers

[Luca]

Quite a post, Uppercase...

Perhaps entertain the possibility that one fellow derives happiness from wearing strictly 'normcore' down the promenade and another derives equal happiness from wearing an ascot, a boater and spectators.

Neither is a better human than the other, but the latter, to me, is keeping something I enjoy seeing 'alive'. Like people who use film cameras, or read books on paper. It's unnecessary, of course, perhaps even trivial.
But I would prefer a city full of people like Mr Koh than not. It would be beautiful, and not just because of the clothes, I bet.

When I was a young man, an American friend once said to me that the first time he'd seen me wearing espadrilles he thought I was showing off (sic), because he associated them with Hollywood/Riviera wannabes. But later, he explained, he realised that I wore them because I grew up wearing them and that was 'cool'; it was ‘for real’.

My response to him was that I found espadrilles really comfortable in the summer and they looked nice and they reminded me of my childhood - sure - but the first two reason were good enough for *anyone* to wear them, without deserving reproach.

Maybe one day, in the 2050s, some guy will wear plastic ‘Crocs’ with the same sentiment and for the same reasons. But they'll still be sweaty, polluting and luridly coloured. And if I’m still alive, I will still be wearing espadrilles to the beach. Possibly an ascot, too 

[arch]

[quote][/quote]

Don't expect to find Cary Grant striding down the Promenade or the Croisette.
Why would you?

Do you still think that you will find a Neopolitan gentlemen, perfectly dressed in your fantasy spalla camicia coat, strolling the streets of Naples ?
You will not.
And don't expect Cary turning the corner on the Rue d'Antibes.

I also wonder whether this really existed back then either? Everything seems better with nostalgia. I suspect that the reality is that clothing was probably hot to wear. the majority of people wore duller garments than seen in historic photographs of the 'stars', deodorants were not invented and perfume for men was frowned on.

[aston]

Growing up in the south of France during the 60's, the espadrille was like an outdoor slipper.

Black or dark blue, rope and glue soles, worn till they fell apart, dirt cheap.

Happy memories.