A Wee-Confession
Forgive me, for I have sinned. Rather, I had sinned and now have seen the light. This week I purchased and wore my first pair of Weejuns. Two of them actually – since I waited so long, one just didn’t seem enough. Truth be told, the Bass outlet had a special two for one, so burgundy and black both got swept up.
My mother assures me I had a few pairs when I was younger, but if so, it is beyond my current memory. First released in 1936, Weejuns were the mainstay footwear of the Ivy Look of the 1960s that I have written about before. And for something that truly has been around for quite a while, they look it. Weejuns seem to me to be that rare but great mix of classic and still cool that always looks a little retro but modern at the same time.
I have been alternating the two pairs for a few days now, trying to break them both in quickly, and already I can’t imagine how I ever wore chinos and OCBDs without them. Casually elegant, comfortable (albeit stiff) from the start, and great with or without socks, they are looking like my go-to shoes for this summer. My drivers haven’t even come out of their box yet, and that my friends is saying something.
Abstract Inspiration
Over the years, there have been many wonderful books on style, thousands of illustrations and photographs of carefully crafted outfits, and luckily more than a handful of truly elegant men who have come before us. These things all serve as inspiration, and allow us to look at something, put our own twist on it (or not in some cases), and then emulate the effect which it impressed us with in the first place.
Collar and Cuffs
While much of women’s fashion seems to be about big statements, new silhouettes, and outlandish experiments, men’s style seems to be mostly in the details. Whether it is crisp white cuffs or a thoughtfully eccentric accessory, it’s the smallest things that make the biggest difference.
A "Pressing" Issue
There are those days when I wake up to find the shirt I want to wear rumpled and the shoes I planned on scuffed, and those are the days I wish for a valet. These days are certainly the exception to the rule though.
A Few Passages – Hardy Amies
Well, it is exam week, and with less than 48 hours to go I am a bit short on time. I thought I would throw up two quotations from Sir Hardy Amies’ entertaining book “The Englishman’s Suit.” The first to me represents the ways in which we can draw upon tradition and reinterpret in interesting ways, and the second serves as a thoughtful reminder of the external impact of dressing ourselves properly.
“It’s all quite simple. When you drop fastenings so low that you can go no further, you move upwards. You look to history to see how far you can go. You think of Edward VII’s Deeside coat. You remember that the single-breasted coat originally fastened up to the neck. You feel that we’ve had enough of the double-breasted coat. You go upwards.”
“The sight of the clothes worn on the streets today provokes fascinating thought. Mercifully, you can say, there is less gentility. No one seems to be attempting to be something grander than they are. Anoraks, trousers and white running shoes abound on both sexes. It is remorsely non-upper class. This does not make for classlessness. It only throws the differences into high relief. It throws up the relation of fashion to manners. It is rude to the citizens of London, Paris and New York to be ill-dressed. It is particularly rude to dress squalidly at the opera, theatre or concert hall. It is rude to your fellow public and rude to the performers.”
