Image credit: George Charles Beresford / Public domain The clothing world loves a well-dressed author. Fashion magazines and online forums delight in glossy shots of writerly raiments, whether it be Fran Lebowitz’s cowboy boots and blazers, Joan Didion’s long dresses and dark glasses, Tom Wolf’s crisp white suits, or Jack Kerouac’s Beat-up workwear. Heck, this […]
Image credit: Tullio Saba / Public domain High-necked knits — variously called turtlenecks, roll necks, polo necks or even skivvies depending on where you are in the world— have found a place in the fashions of just about every decade of the last century. While the style can be traced back to mediaeval Europe when […]
Image credit: angrylambie / CC BY 2.0 Lots of rock stars have made suits their signature look. The names of Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, Bryan Ferry, and Charlie Watts immediately spring to mind. This rakish brand of rocker always cuts an interesting figure, in large part for being inherently incongruous. Behold: the free-spirited muso covered […]
Image credit: J. Malcolm Greany / Public domain In all of the years I’ve been interested in clothing, when seeking out wardrobe inspiration outside of social media and the blogosphere, I have typically turned to the filmmakers, authors, musicians, and fine artists I admire for some styling stimulus. For whatever reason — despite relying on […]
Image credit: Tullio Saba / Public domain Every couple of months someone writes an article about the demise of the suit and tie as office wear. Coverage of this particular topic is nearly prolific enough at this point to constitute its own subgenre of menswear writing. But what seems to get much less attention is […]
Image credit: Shamim Nakhaei on Unsplash I have kind of an odd confession to make: Despite plying my trade as a menswear writer, until very recently, I didn’t own a suit. Or, not one that actually fit me, anyhow. For ages, the only suit I had was one that my parents got me in my […]
Image credit: Allan Warren / CC BY-SA 3.0 In matters of style, there appear to be two distinct branches of the British Royal Family. On the one side are the renowned clotheshorses, those revered style icons whose sartorial influence reverberates through the generations. In this stream are the likes of Princess Diana, Prince Charles, and […]
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 I would venture that there is no surer way to signal that you mean business style-wise than draping a superfluous length of fabric around your neck. Pick your poison. A kerchief, cravat, or ascot will do. As will anything from a rarefied stock tie down to the […]
Image credit: Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash Like many watch spotters, probably the first nylon watch strap I ever saw was on the wrist of Sean Connery’s James Bond in Goldfinger. In the opening scene of the film, we catch two glimpses of Bond’s Rolex Submariner, which he wears on a black, green, and burgundy striped […]
The world of clothing can sometimes be a fairly self-serious place. It’s tough making the case for the importance of putting on a nice outfit when a glance at news headlines on any given day can leave such lowly concerns feeling pretty frivolous. Maybe that’s why fashion shoots and look books are often so smolderingly […]