September 19, 2007

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For A Gentleman's Wardrobe, Only The Best Will Do

After reading an article in NY Mag on bespoke tailoring, I came across a site called Bown's Bespoke, where "acclaimed critic Francis Bown" and other gentlemen of his "team" review various tailors who handmake elegant men's clothing to order. I seriously can't stop reading it. The volume of reviews on the site are like an excellently written novel about a man named Francis Bown, except they're too good not to be authentic.

Their sartorial particularity is, to an outsider such as myself, so foreign as to be unendingly intriguing. I read their reviews with the sort of riveted interest with which one might read accounts of the day to day activities of the child Dalai Lama, or the residents of the planet Neptune. It's How The Other Half Lives, but in reverse. As if Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous limited its scope to a particular idiosyncrasy of the gentry: their clothing.

For instance, when admiring himself in a particular Savile Row suit, he says the following:

To examine the exquisite workmanship, I paused for a moment with a cuff unbuttoned. Not something one wishes to do for long… Recently, I was shocked to observe – in the Paris Ritz, of all places – a well-suited young man with two buttons on each cuff left undone (one must suppose, deliberately). This is simply not on. Such vulgar ostentation is very definitely not Savile Row. The point is that the cuff buttons can be undone, not that they are.

For a bespoke suit from Henry Poole & Co., at 15 Savile Row, Mr. Bown says things like this:

Now Mr Ward began to inscribe the stylistic details of my suit. My jacket was be single-breasted, but with peak lapels... Four buttons (of real horn) on each cuff, of course. The house style is to have 2 opening and 2 sham (to facilitate any future alterations), but I like all four to open – so my preference was noted. The trousers with two front pleats, straight side pockets... and buttons for [suspenders] (the front outside, the back inside – to protect the leather of the Royce.

That's Rolls Royce. For when he drives without his jacket, of course. And when speaking about umbrellas, he knows of only one company with the quality he demands.

Finally, two features which will make each umbrella truly yours... First, the length of the stick. This should be cut to your exact requirement before the ferrule is added. And second, the silver band (hallmarked, of course). This is fitted on the lower part of the handle and should on no account be adorned with a maker’s name. It must be plain, so that upon it can be engraved your initials – especially useful to the waiters in those restaurants in which the differentiation of customers’ belongings carries a low priority. (Occasionally the band will be gold-plated, but to my mind this adds an unpleasant touch of vulgarity.)

And when shopping for a watch?

I know as much about the internal workings of the wristwatch as I do about those of the internal combustion engine. And that is not much. But I do love style. That is why I drive a 1963 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III motor car. And it is why I wanted a Patek Philippe wristwatch.

Anyway, I am loving this website. Every review contains at least four or five gems of well-bred snottiness and giddy eccentricity. Oh, and Henry Poole & Co. also makes outfits of court dress, which I would love to wear to an American court some time. As a goof.

Posted at September 19, 2007 12:13 AM | Comments (3)

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