When I started writing copy, I worked with a direct mail fundraiser who, with great fanfare one day, presented me with “the only catalogue he’d ever want to write for.”
I can see why. I don’t see many of J. Peterman’s short stories come across the threshold these days, some blame the Seinfeld curse, but the website is almost as entertaining. (I’m a paper and ink kind of guy at heart, despite my electronic musings here at Easy and Elegant Life.) The copy is transporting, entertaining, and creates a deep need to travel in really great looking clothing. I’ve a few pieces, as does Mrs. E. . I wish she had a pair of the Glamour Pants depicted above.
Very Kate Hepburn. Very Dietrich. It’s that Hollywood waistband. Bogart was a fan of the style. James Dean, too. Lots of the stars of the silver screen wore them until they fell out of favour sometime in the 1950’s. We sold a pair called the “Gatsby” model at Britches a long time ago (actually it was at The Great Outdoors). Oxxford does a sort of half waisted version– there is no waistband at the back of the trouser creating a very clean line — of which I am very fond . One wore the Hollywood waist with a skinny belt or with braces. These days sporting the dropped loop, no waistband trouser can look a little zoot suit, a little too costume-y. Unless you’re a woman.
Mrs. E. used to wear them in the 1980’s when she had a couple of her grandfather’s late-1940’s Savile Row suits cut down to fit her. I wish I’d known her then… .
Wear them with a silk blouse or a cropped jacket and a pair of those funky open-toed, high-heeled, half-boot things that are all the rage. Wear them with a t and braces as was the fashion in the 80’s at your own risk.
Peterman has them on sale. Click the photo.
Such a stark difference between the low riding women’s trousers proliferating today, and the glamorous drape reminiscent of yesteryear. I’m normally not a fan of baggy, as it can veer into dumpy on the wrong silhouette, but this decidedly flattering.