Whilst scanning the internet, its blogs and forums I came across this snappy dresser on the The Sartorialists blog (http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com). It got me thinking that far too often people only associate tailors with suits and mainly those are for work. Tailors, although get our bread and butter from other people working their 9 to 5 we do tailor other items; formal casual or otherwise.

We dont just make suits

What I like best about this jacket is the fact that it is a twist on the “original” denim jacket that has long gone out of fashion for men and made it relevant again. The little details of the pocket square and flower only add to a dressing  up of the usually casual fabric making this outfit perfect for most occasions….work excluded!

With a small homage to my past life as a banker we at Cad & The Dandy are running a competition to find London’s best dressed banker. Nominations officially are open on the 1st of the September although early nominations are allowed by emailing info@cadandthedandy.co.uk.

What we need:

A photo

Name & Job Title

And why you feel they or you should be entered.

Jackie Collins in the Seventies

 Best-selling novelist, Jackie Collins is someone whose features have remained spookily the same over the years.  Jackie likes to attribute her lack of ageing to her famous Collins genes as her face has hardly changed one whit over the passage of time. 

 Jackie’s clothes style also hasn’t changed over the decades as she continues to sport her signature look.  The bouffant shoulder-length hair, the dangling earrings and matching pendant, the v-necked top to show off that cleavage are all ever-present, topped off by a fitted jacket.

 In fact, it could still be 1975 according to La Collins because Jackie still remains completely fossilised in time, oblivious to any style changes.

Jackie Collins and Raquel Welch

However Jackie’s essential look is part of her glamorous persona (coupled with the problem of competing with her elder and more sophisticated sister, Joan).  If she attended a book signing session looking like a bag-lady then her numerous fans would be in for a hefty shock.

 Which causes an interesting conundrum for figures in the spotlight – how far do you have to dress to live up to public expectations?    If you do not, you disappoint your fans.  If you do, however you run the danger of fossilising your looks, pickled in aspic to remain always the same.  And that has happened to Jackie.

Which takes me to actor Peter Wyngarde.  In the 1970s, Peter Wyngarde struck TV gold, playing the part of Jason King in the television series Department S. 

Peter Wyngarde as Jason King

Jason King was famous for his wardrobe, a wardrobe that epitomised the best and the worst of Seventies taste (depending on your view-point) with eye-popping kipper ties and  3-piece suits that sported lapels so wide they could fly you to Madagascar and back.

Alas, playing the cool Mr King was the high-spot of Mr Wyngarde’s television career and he crashed rapidly out of the public view when the series ended.

However earlier this year, a national newspaper berated Mr Wyngarde for being spotted in the street, looking scruffy and unkempt so unlike his uber flamboyant screen character.

Mr Wyngarde replied in writing, pointing out he had played a wide range of parts in his theatrical career so why on earth was he expected to look and wear clothes like Jesus and Genghis Khan, merely because he had acted those roles?

Peter Wyngarde, pictured in the street.

He had a valid point – did the general public really expect him to appear in his 3-piece suits of yester-year.  Why would he look exactly the same as three decades ago? And since he is now relatively anonymous, he has the luxury of dressing exactly how he likes and not to please his public.

Nevertheless, if you are a rock star then it is perfectly acceptable to fossilise your looks.  Francis Rossi, lead singer with Status Quo has worn his rock star uniform of waistcoat, shirt and jeans for 35 years alongside his trade-mark ponytail.  The ponytail got the chop last year as Rossi decided to update his look.

Rossi admitted rather sheepishly it had to go as thinning hair no longer meant a viable ponytail.

“In the past year my hair has got so thin….a few weeks ago it dawned on me that I looked ridiculous so I decided to forget about clinging to my youth”.

Well done Mr Rossi.  It takes a great deal of courage to ditch a fossilised look that no longer rocks.  Far better to remain a national treasure than an ancient ruin.

By Lindsey Nicholls

 Harem  pants, Ugg boots and leggings…. These are just a few of the fashion items that men hate women to wear according to a recent survey.  Casting my mind around, I have come up with the male equivalent of sartorial no-no’s that women hate to see.  However I have to confess that some females are equally guilty in partaking of the below!

 1)    Football shirts

 All over England, men of all shapes and sizes suddenly feel the need to don sweaty pieces of white and red polyester that costs the earth as the World Cup finally kicks off.

This is done in an effort to “support the lads” ie the England football team.  This seems rather strange – after all did men feel compelled to wear pale blue shirts with enormous flamenco sleeves to support Torvill and Dean’s Bolero routine in the Winter Olympics?  Or sport a pair of giant bottle-top glasses as Eddie the Eagle skied down the slopes in Calgary? 

 And I have yet to spy any male in a full set of cricket flannels when it’s England v Australia in the Ashes.

 The sad truth is even England footballers don’t look that great in kit.  That’s why Fabio Capello made sure the whole squad looked smart as paint in their made to measure, Marks and Spencer suits.  Fabio knows three piece suits look better than three lions any day.

 2)    Track suit bottoms

 They are always grey, inevitably spattered with white paint or bits of pizza with a few lager stains.  Their owners can be detected lumbering down the high street, resembling an elephant’s bottom.  There’s only thing that looks worse than a bloke in trackie suit bottoms – and that’s a woman.

 3)    Surfing Shorts

 Why is it men who wear restrained and tasteful colours all the year round suddenly feel compelled to run amok with colour, like toddlers in a Crayola factory?  Suddenly garish surf board shorts sprout along the beaches, decorated with huge hibiscus prints worn by men who normally deem stripy underpants sartorially risky.  The beach boy look is best left to others.  Stick to something in one colour or a tasteful print – your holiday photos will thank you for it. 

 4)    Cargo trousers

 These are now on the way out, thankfully, having peaked in popularity a few years ago.  There’s a whole myriad of things to hate.  The range of vile colours that resemble a muddied paint box – sludge brown, cabbage green or battleship grey which eternally depress the soul.

 Then there are the saggy pockets on the legs that encourage the wearer to fill with possessions thus appearing to have a rampant  fungus like growth up their legs.  If you want to resemble a beast of burden get a man-bag instead.  You won’t look any less ridiculous.

 5)    Shorts

 There is something very appealing about a man wearing a crisp, well-pressed pair of shorts in summer.

 However, most shorts never appear to have seen an iron for their limited summer life.  Made of cheap cotton, they have more wrinkles than a tortoise and fade dramatically after the first wash.

 To look best in shorts try on a few pairs to ensure that the proportions suit you otherwise you could end up looking like an over-sized scout.  Try and go for better quality fabric so the image is Out of Africa rather than out of Matalan.

 6)    Feet

 There’s no hiding your feet in summer sandals.  However, if your prehensile talons look less human and more suited to an iguana than a basic pedicure will set you off on the right foot.  Clip those nails properly and pinch an emery board (not a wood file!) to file down those snaggly ends.  Rub away hard skin with a pumice stone and you’ll soon have fairy feet. 

 However if you feel your feet are beyond redemption then please protect them from public view.  Take a tip from Princess Diana who hated her feet so much she never wore sandals.  Try canvas deck shoes or loafers (without socks) for a casual and summery look and no-one will be any the wiser as to what horrors lurk beneath.

By Lindsey Nicholls

Monday, 14th June 2010

Two things of late got me thinking about the history of our shop and court, the first was one of our oldest customers telling me he was a fourth generation (and perhaps fifth, his son just made an appointment) to patronise our premises over the many  years a tailor has been on our site. He regaled us with tales of his grandfather having all his military kit made here “when he was feeling more flush”. He himself bought his first dinner jacket at number 4 Castle Court in 1942, only to buy another a few months later after leaving and losing it after a “particularly fun night out on the razzle”.

The other was a chance meeting with a local historian who was beginning his research into the area of Birchin lane, where our court is. Its an area of the city that was relatively unscathed by the great fire of 1666 and in fact our court marks the boundary where the fire stopped. Like all good research it began in the local watering hole…. or one of them.

He began telling me that whilst reading some Shakespeare (as you do)  he stumbled upon a reference to our dear old Birchin Lane.

‘Thou sayest thou has twenty pound; go into Birchin Lane; put thyself into clothes;’

And so began his work, spurred on by our own interest and we in turn commissioned him to produce for us all in Castle Court a history of our location and premises.

No sooner had work begun when many more books opened to reveal words, poems and histories of tailoring..

‘No sooner in London will we be,

But the bakers for you, the brewers for me,

Birchin Lane will suit us,

The costermongers fruit us’

1600, Thomas Heywood

I will be soon putting on our blog a more thorough history and but in the meantime it is nice to know that we are the ‘last’ surviving tailor in London’s original Savile Row an area known since medieval times as the place to go and buy bespoke.

It is also rather fitting that next week we are in addition to our shop in Castle Court opening a new workshop on Birchin lane, where our city customers can (if they ask nicely) watch the suits being cut, constructed and finished.

 And they’re at the end of your feet.  Take a good look – they’re your shoes.  And if you’re a bloke, you can bet your boots they’ll be bloody boring.

 They’ll be dark, drab and deadly dull with perhaps a pattern of punched holes and the odd forlorn tassel to enliven the tedium.  If you’re a bit on the wild side, you may have a pair of Birkenstock sandals or some canvas deck shoes secreted at the back of your wardrobe for those British “summer days”.

 So why is there an explosion of women’s shoes in every shape and form whilst men’s shoes remain so woefully lacking in imagination?

 It wasn’t always like this.  Back in the seventeenth century, the height of fashion for men was to wear enormous matching pom-poms on their shoes at court.  Not only were these highly decorative, they were also practical as they could be detached for outdoor wear.

Even my brother as a child, had a pair of Clark’s shoes which boasted a cunningly concealed compass in the sole and had an array of animal tracks on the sole.

 So why did men’s shoes become boring?  The Industrial Revolution meant men’s clothes became increasingly utilitarian whilst female attire continued merrily on its froufrou way.

 Another reason was that shoes in the middle-range price bracket have become commodities and are sold as such.  Gone are the days when they came lovingly nestled in tissue paper and cradled in a cardboard box to be placed reverently upon the feet by a prostrate shop assistant.  Shoes can now be thrown away the instant the owner becomes bored with them – in short, shoes and their owner are no longer in a long-term relationship.

Hudson Shoes

 So what can be done to get men’s shoes back on a more interesting track?  Men need to start demanding shoes that show a little more imagination and have a stamp of individuality on their soles.  They should learn to love their shoes and not slander them with nasty names such as winkle-pickers or brothel-creepers.

 Secondly, shoe makers need to start investing more time and money in slightly more adventurous designs.  One company, Hudson Shoes, has taken this onboard and is forging ahead with a rafter of stylish shoes and boots.  Their shoes sport some neat details that lift them above the ordinary dross and they’re reasonably priced.

So brothers-in-arms, rise and deliver yourselves from the tyranny of boring shoes and men everywhere can all put their best foot forward.

By Lindsey Nicholls

Hudson do some funky shoes

Pocket squares, handkerchiefs, hanks, flourishes; call them what you will, their return is assured. When Burton and Next start selling them, you know that you can wear one in a dark London sidestreet pub without being laughed (or thrown) off the premises.

I have worn them for years, influenced by the artistry of grand old stars of the silver screen like Clark Gable and Fred Astaire who were rarely photographed without one. They are generally quite useless as few gentlemen would hand a prized silk square to a tearful lady obscured by mascara, although they can be used as a secondary lens wipe. Although not functional, they are aesthetically brilliant. When you begin to wear them, they look and feel odd. You will find yourself fiddling with them, straightening them, puffing them, overtly conscious of their presence in your top suit pocket; this period is awkward and slightly inelegant but it is simply one of the uncomfortable ‘initiations’ men are required to bear.

After becoming accustomed to this decoration, your pockets (and those of others), will look naked without it. You will graduate from the freshman plain white to sophomoric patterns like polka dots and unusual colours like burnt orange leading you to pursue, continually, the extraordinary; unusual checks and paisley are clear signs of a pocket square veteran.

Seasonal Combinations

The really pocket-conscious gentleman will not only cleverly match or tastefully contrast to the rest of his ensemble but will also dress his pocket according to the season. A dark plum silk worn with a birdseye navy suit is a classic autumn/winter combination, whereas a light pink silk worn with a khaki cotton suit is distinctly summertime.

Pastel colours are perfect for wearing with lighter suits as they do not ‘interrupt’ the suit too vividly. For the same reason, deeper tones are preferred with darker suits. If wearing a darker jacket in summertime, perhaps with an odd pair of linen trousers, it might be an idea to match a lighter square to the trousers or the shirt.

The material issue

Everyone thinks of silk when they think of pocket squares, despite the fact that most of the hanks stuffed in pockets of old were plain white cotton. Silk is certainly a beautiful fabric; perfect for stuffing and lustrous. However, considering the plethora of silk ties and ‘suits of a certain sheen’, adding another shiny bauble to an ensemble is often excessive. A lovely cotton or linen square, stuffed or folded into the top pocket, is the perfect foil; the importance of texture difference is one of the most underrated considerations of a gentleman’s attire.

By Winston Chesterfield

Last week we were invited by Reuters news agency to appear on a new luxury and lifestyle TV format they are putting together ahead of the official launch of “Reuters Insider”.

Having specifically built a studio in a glass box at Canary Wharf for the occasion it seemed only proper we attend and get involved.

The insider knowledge here was where to get your suits made (clearly us) thanks for the Plug! With a follow up of our in house “style” guru Ian Meiers. He professes to know more than Trinny and Susanne put together.

Have tailor will travel - Ian critiques the raiment of the average commuter

In the studio - mid plug!

  Conjoined clothing – the art of dressing like your partner is everywhere this spring.  Nowhere has it been seen more clearly in the run up of the General Election with both the Camerons and the Browns going head to head (and hip to hip) in the aim to create a winning look.  (The Cleggs opted out – the fiercesome Mrs Clegg does not even do ironing let alone matching clothing.)

The message behind conjoined clothing is about putting on a united front and presenting yourselves as a team to the world – it’s the X and Y Factor.  It’s a tricky thing – get it wrong and you are more likely to look gruesome twosome rather than winning twinning so what’s the best way to go about it?

Remember Howard and Hilda from the TV series, Ever Decreasing Circles and those Noel Edmond’s Eighties jumpers?  It was a running gag that Howard and Hilda not only borrowed each other’s words but also each other’s wardrobe.

 In a similar vein, David and Victoria Beckham once sported his and hers biker suits that made them both look like a walking advert for Land of Leather.

 To get the look right, opt for a more formal and classic look.  Make sure the colours suit both of you.  Gordon and Sarah Brown nail it spot-on here.  Both opt to wear linen-look in a chocolate brown.  Sarah’s neat and elegant dress with its wide lapels echoes her husband’s jacket and the cardigan (although a tad mumsy) of lilac-grey softens the look and matches Gordon’s tie perfectly.  The necklace of quartz beads adds the right finishing touch and complements the blue of the ex-Prime Minister’s shirt.

 The Camerons, on the same trail, also hit the right note.  Samantha Cameron’s empire-line dress in dark wool works alongside David’s dark business suit and white shirt.  The message is of uniformity and brisk business is clearly on the agenda.  Only Sam’s pendant necklace and peep-toe shoes hint at a touch of individuality.

Now that the election is over we will probably see the end of this look.  Both sets of partners can return to their individual wardrobes with a collective sigh of relief.  Which is a bit of a shame since it certainly brings a new meaning to putting on your party dress…