Great Grandpa Jack – Old World Sprezzatura

Meet Great-Grandpa Jack. Last week I went to visit some family in New Jersey and went digging through old photos and books at my grandparents’ house. I’d somehow never seen this photo before, but I just couldn’t get over how great this guy looked. People spend their whole lives trying to look this good in their clothes, and Great-Grandpa Jack looked like he’d been born in them.

Giacomo Pulvirenti was born in Catania, Sicily, just before the turn of the twentieth century.  His father had been one of Vittorio Emanuele’s guards during unification, which probably didn’t make him too popular around town.  Mount Etna was visible from his bedroom window, and the waterfront wasn’t too far away.  He left for the United States when he was just ten years old, and the terminal “i” somehow got lost from his surname in the journey.  The engraved sword presented to his father by the King would be lost later along with it.  I’m not sure which I miss more.

Jack didn’t come from a particularly wealthy family to begin with, but immigrating didn’t help anything.  He didn’t spend a lot of money on clothes, nor does my grandfather remember hearing his father express a particular love of them.  But you’d never know by looking at him.

That double-four-in-hand tie knot, kept perfectly pronounced by the delicate stick-pin.  The waistcoat with both top and bottom buttons undone.  The rakishly spread collar and beautifully natural shoulders.  And to top it off, it’s all worn with such an air of sprezzatura and confidence.  We talk all the time about timeless, classic style, and here it is.

This photo was taken sometime in the mid 1920s, and Giacomo was living in New York City.  Throw him back onto Madison Avenue or, even better, imagine him at Pitti Uomo like this and you get what timeless really means.

I’ve mentioned before that I certainly didn’t inherit my love of clothes from my family; but here’s to hoping I inherited some of this.