This has always been one of my favourite looks. I love a double-breasted blazer, although this is the first I’ve had made with gold buttons. The shirt is blue with a charcoal tattersall pattern. The tie is ancient B-Squared. I’m wearing gabardine charcoal brown trousers by Uomo Homme (with two and a half pleats, but they are very nicely cut and drape beautifully.) Brown plain toe oxfords.
I guess that before I knew who Alan Flusser is, this was the look that had the most dramatic impact on my developing sartorial senses.
Then, of course, there was this guy…
I’ve written about Mr. Merkin before….
And Osbert Lancaster.
All masters of mixing colour, pattern and texture. All very well dressed. They also have one more thing in common: call it “flash” for lack of a better term. Done right, this look is very sophisticated. Edward, Duke of Windsor, could (and often did!) mix five patterns into his daily dress.
But I’m changing a bit in my tastes. I’m becoming more catholic, I guess. Maybe it’s the change in the weather (they’ll be a change in me… as the song goes.) Or maybe it is my advancing years. Maybe I’m being too careful with my “public image” in a small town and not playing enough. Maybe it’s the state of the economy that makes me want to dress more soberly, but in very well-made clothing.
Because here’s where I want to go.
I’m off to work on my tan. That and the simple suit and tie combinations may be as close as a man can get.
That has to be one of the best shots of Cary Grant ever! What makes it so successful (besides Grant) is that unidentified shape on the right which keeps your eye in the foreground.
I get more conservative as I get older too. Honestly, I have a grave fear of looking inappropriate because I cringe everytime I see someone who has been wearing the same look since around age 25. Awful. Unless, of course, they had superb taste at 25! Also, do you think it’s the Zeitgest? They’ve found people dress soberly during tough times.
i should send you one of my osbert books.
I love the double breasted jacket with gold buttons. Don’t eat anything….ever. Cheers, Homer.
Homer, For the record, it’s the camera angle…. 5’8″, 166 lbs., w 35″. Like Jessica Rabbit said: “I’m just drawn that way.” But thanks! Have fun in the fishbowl of D.C. this election year. I imagine it’s all anyone talks about.
ELW, yes! It seems like a casual snapshot. Somehow, I doubt it.
LuLou, it may be. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Fairfax, just post a picture! You’re sweet to think of me.
Certainly your flair for the art of dressing and an appreciation for haberdashery appeals to me in a “hollywood” sort of way. An old hollywood way. One of my fondest memories is of my father-in-law dressed in his wedding, morning suit
at our wedding – still looking as dapper as ever. Good style never goes out of fashion~
Although Flusser dressed Douglas…the look is thug – like. I got lotza dough rey me and all my taste is in my mouth. You look much better in an old Brooks tie and a sharp DB blazer. And I bet it cost a lot less than Flusser. I think the signet ring and ID bracelet scream Prole in the Douglas pics.
Second to anything with Cary Grant in it, the best men’s styles and looks can be seen in any of the Jeeves and Wooster episodes. Hugh Laurie (House) as Bertie Wooster. Perfect. The homes and scenery in all episodes is also a lesson in elegance. Not a McMansion in the bunch–
Hello Tintin, thanks. I like the way that Flusser mixes colour and pattern and the cut of the clothes. Although it’s “out” a good London cut is flattering and comfortable. It really brings meaning to the word “lounge” in lounge suit.
Hello Paula, They are wonderful, and many of the looks are adaptable to today. However, it’s easy to slip into costume. Something I have to fight against constantly. I wouldn’t carry my walking stick around here, for example. It’s a bit too anachronistic. Well, that and it conceals a weapon… .