Hardy Amies,
ABC of Men's Fashion (oorspronkelijk uit 1964)
Dit boekje is waarschijnlijk wel bekend onder de forumleden. Het is informatief, goed geschreven en soms ook erg grappig.
Over de auteur:
Hardy AmiesHardy Amies is a fashion house at №14 Savile Row set up by English dressmaker Sir Edwin Hardy Amies (17 July 1909 - 5 March 2003) in 1946. Amies retired in May 2001, selling to a publicly-quoted company, Luxury Brands Group, which had an annual turnover of £544,000 in 2006. Ian Garlant became Design Director.
Amies was awarded a Royal Warrant by Queen Elizabeth II as her official dressmaker in 1955 which he continued to be until 1990. He was knighted in 1989. Amies also designed costumes for films, including 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Amies had been educated at Brentwood School, Essex, and was a Lieutenant Colonel in the intelligence service during the Second World War.Ik heb er een paar dingen uitgehaald die mij opvielen en die wellicht aardig zijn om te lezen.
Motto: 'A man should look as if he had bought his clothes with intelligence, put them on with care and then forgotten all about them.'
AccessoriesIn principle your accessories, such as ties and shoes, should be more expensive than your basic suit which, in this way, can achieve some reflected glory from them.
Art of Dressing[...] But to achieve the nonchalance which is absolutely necessary for a man, one article at least must not match. For instance, you can wear a dark blue suit and tie with a pale blue shirt and navy blue socks, but you must then have a patterned silk handkerchief say in dark red or a paisley design of green and brown; or you could stick to a blue handkerchief and have dark red socks.
Balance[...] It [coat, jacket] should sit easily on the shoulders, hang evenly at the front and back, look as though it belongs to you without fitting too closely. [...]
BeachwearThe natural desire to relax is often the cause of the abandonment of all standards of taste. [...]
BespokeFrom 'to bespeak' i.e. to order or command. Generally speaking, this means 'made-to-measure' as distinct from 'ready-to-wear' clothes. [...] There is a fair amount of controversy over the strict application of the word to tailoring. A Savile Row tailor, for instance, will maintain that true bespoke tailoring can only mean clothes that are made not only to measure, but to a customer's exact requirements as discussed personally between himself and his tailor.
Be that as it may, the important implication of bespoke tailoring is that a garment should be made-to-measure, which is the only way to get a true fit and therefore a good suit.
BrogueA form of decorative punching of the upper leather of shoes. Really only used on the sort of footgear Americans and our continental friends think of as being typically British.
BrownIt used to be said that no gentleman should wear brown in London. The increasing popularity of the colour over the past years has been, presumably, proportionate to the increase in the disappearance of the gentleman.
It is a colour in which there is a great difference between the good and the bad. Bad browns have a red cast; good browns have a green. Happily good browns, although dark, look cool, soothing and expensive as distinct from bad browns which look hot and cheap.
BuckleFor fastening a belt. Always hold the buckle in your left hand. On shoes a buckle will grace the feet of a courtier, but no other.
Colour[...] It is obvious that tweed with its more hairy surface can have quite bright colours in it as they appear less violent as the long hairs reflect less light. [...]
Correct Dress[...] We want to feel relaxed on holiday, but this does not mean that we can walk around other people's cities as if they were our own seaside resorts. [...]
DeerstalkerAn entirely functional cap designed to keep your ears warm and your neck dry while stalking deer. Sherlock Holmes wore one. You need not.
Dinner Jacket/Suit[...] I myself have had a degree of pleasure in designing coloured dinner jackets (worn naturally with black trousers), but I am not sure if I have really done the fashion scene any real service in so doing. [...]
Dogtooth CheckA small zig-zaggy broken check, most effective in plain, contrasting colours such as black and white.
Double-BreastedNature had made all men (and perhaps, more fortunately, all women) double-breasted [...].
GauntletA glove with a long wrist, to keep the wind from going up your sleeve when driving. When you stop driving, leave them in the car.
HandkerchiefNote the name: for it signifies something that is to be handled. This brings us to the principle that the arrangement of the handkerchief in the breast pocket must be done in such a way that it gives the appearance of being there for use and not decoration, although this latter function is important. Any use of a second handkerchief other than that of display is a gesture inelegant in the extreme. [...]
Two pitfalls:
1. A handkerchief made in the same silk as the tie. This is carrying matching too far.
2. A black handkerchief worn with a white jacket; the effect is funereal. [...]
Holidays[...] It is downright rude to the French to wear holiday clothes in Paris. [...]
All short sleeves look ghastly. If you feel hot, then roll up your sleeves but never above the elbow.
Shirts worn without jacket or pullover need ironing. Most chambermaids know this and will help, if you are womenless.
Sandals are hell, except on the beach where you want to take them off: or on a boat. And worn with socks are super-hell. [...]
Houndstooth CheckA medium-sized, zig-zaggy or broken check seen so often and so effectively in tweed patterns.
IroningSee Drip-dry, Pressing, and a good woman
Wordt vervolgd. Ik kan halverwege het boekje al wel zeggen dat het de aanschaf (iets minder dan 20e) waard is. Het boek is opgezet als naslagwerk (alfabetisch), maar vermakelijk genoeg om eerst helemaal door te nemen.
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Vervolg, wederom een persoonlijke selectie:Normal FigureThere is no such animal. You may be 'stock' size so far as chest and leg measurement are concerned, but it is 99 per cent certain that you will have some idiosyncrasy of figure that makes you not abnormal but simply individual.
OperaIt is too banal to say again that you went to opera before the War to be seen rather than to hear the music. But it is certain that you dressed up for it. [...] True there are usually two gentlemen in opera cloaks and tailcoats of rather bizarre cut, and, I suspect, toupets. But they have at least made an effort.
[...]
On first nights you wear a dinner-jacket; on other nights a dark suit. Nothing else will do.
[...]
Correct dressing at the opera is a compliment to the management and the artistes. It is another form of applause.
Oxford BagsOxford Bags were the fashion of 1925, when the width of the trouser reached its ultimate. They had 26-inch wide bottoms that came right to the end of the shoe, and front trouser pleats had to be invented to cope with all the cloth that was needed. 'Bags' was a true description.
PantsWe mean the things we wear under what the Americans call pants. [...]
Pattern[...] If you can imagine yourself as a picture presented to the world, you will perhaps agree that there is enough pattern (and colour) in your face without introducing any more into your costume. Many women and nearly all men forget how complicated a piece of design is a face.
Pleats[...] Men with large tummies ought perhaps to have pleats to avoid any strain to the cloth. But they would be more 'with it' if they took a pleat in their tummies.
PocketsGod gave us no towns; nor did He give us pockets.
[...]
PressingEverybody knows that trousers have to be kept well pressed and nearly everybody knows how to do it. If you haven't been in the Services then get a wife and train her.
PriceThere are two great factors which determine the price of a man's suit: the cost of the manufacture and the cost of the cloth. [...]
PurpleI can see no use for this handsome, not unmasculine colour except for ties, socks and handkerchiefs. If you know how to wear them you don't need my help. If you don't, don't.
QualityQuality in clothes is not only a matter of good looks, but also in most cases one of long life. You cannot substitute economy for quality, because they are synonymous. If you always pay a bit more than you can afford, you will be better off in the long run. So far as judgment is concerned, in men's wear you can usually with confidence go by price.
Ready-to-Wear[...] Ready-to-wear works often in sports jackets which are loosely cut; or in trousers which can be a shade tight. A suit is more tricky. It is O.K. for Americans who are frightened of clothes that fit, and don't really like the feel of them.
SandalI said under
Holidays that they were hell and so they are – for walking. They are, however, ideal for loafing in the garden, on a terrace or on a boat; anywhere, in fact, where there are no stones, sand or dirt.
[...]
Sandals should be impractical.
Scarf[...] The beauties of some silk tempt one to buy scarves as presents, but the gratitude of the recipient can wane. Scarf wearers are born, not made.
The young can wear long woollen scarves with great effect. A short woollen scarf is as nasty as a small whisky.
Shoe[...] Intelligent British shoemakers have easily digested these [Italian] trends and by using the superior quality leathers at their disposal, modern techniques of manufacture, new and tough materials for soles, and a native feeling for restrained design, have produced shoes that are sought all over the world.
[...]
However the shoe is, I fear, fighting a losing battle against the boot. The latter, it has been noted, tend to have higher heels, and these look unhappy on a shoe.
It should be noted that the surfaces of materials in a man's costume – wool in his suit and overcoat and the cotton of his shirt – are predominantly matt, the silk of his tie and the leather of his shoe or boot are welcome light-reflecting contrasts. This is just one reason why well-polished shoes are essential.
[...]
I personally, prefer black shoes with a brown suit. [...]
Shoe TreeVan Gogh painted a beautiful picture of an old, shapeless pair of boots; and I don't think any more models are required. He made his boots look wistful and neglected; and so appear to me all shoes and boots without trees. In a well-kept shoe cupboard you should not be able to see the wood for the trees.
Skating[...] The traditional skating costume was therefore a well-cut jacket, in dark cloth, and often of the Norfolk jacket type.
[...]
They [many people] should, however, never forget that there is no good skating without elegance: and that a neat elegant costume can be of tremendous help to them. [...]
There is, however, this one great thing between ski-clothes and skating clothes. In ski-clothes the boot must be worn outside the trousers. The high-laced skating boot looks unattractive worn this way.
[...]
You will then cut a good figure even if you can't cut good figures.
SlacksSlacks should not be.
SmokingIt can be stated quite firmly that smoking is unfashionable. This does not mean that many people do not smoke, or that the warnings of the medical profession stop the habitual smoker (I have just lit another cigarette.) [...]
Smoking JacketAs old fashioned as a smoking room. Yet the idea is charming and very sensible. You bathe and change your clothes after the day's work. You wash your cares away and put on something loose. A sweater is no compliment to your wife; a dinner jacket itself is too formal. So you try a smoking jacket. This is usually in velvet, a stiff material, which often creaks when you move. It is not as comfortable as wool; and the jacket, with silk facings, weighs a ton.
Why not a blazer?
Better still to have dinner in bed.
Socks[...]
8. The colour of your socks should match the colour of your suit or trousers. If the cloth contains a mixture of colours you may find a sock with the same mixture of colours if you seek wool. Otherwise choose the darkest predominating colour.
[...]
11. It is permissible to wear socks of entirely different colour from the rest of the costume, provided the rest of the costume is of one series of colours. The matching of socks to the tie I find affected.
[...]
13. An added excitement can come in sock design and marketing if stretch trousers are worn inside the boot, as I think they will be on certain occasions. When worn in such a way, socks become underwear and then we shall be able to have them as bright as pyjamas.
Stripes[...]
Furthermore, 'pin' stripes, which are really a series of dots, look very 'set' when compared with 'chalk' stripes, the outlines of which are blurred and thus blended with the background. [...]
Style[...] The second definition [
Oxford Dictionary] is as follows: 'a person's characteristic bearing, demeanour or manner especially as conducing to beauty or striking appearance'.
I do not think any man aims at beauty or striking appearance, but he can certainly aim at style which is something more than being stylish. It means a harmonious and individual interpretation of current fashions, and even sometimes a demonstration of a wish not to abandon an old style too quickly, if at all. An older man can achieve style in this way. To attain style in dress, you must look perfectly happy and relaxed in your clothes which must appear part of you rather than a wardrobe you have just donned.
Suit[...]
Deprive a man of his pockets an he will need a handbag.
SuspendersWhat Americans call garters. Or is it the other way round?
Tee-shirt[...] Rarely seen in colours other than white.
Tennis[...] For tennis there is no question of suggestions: all white is imperative.
[...] Tennis is a game of drama. Why soil the purity of the scene with mean touches of colours.
[...] Tennis is a game of quick thinking, neat movement and precise playing. If you are a genius you can achieve all these wearing a dressing gown. If you are not you will be helped by dress that falls little short of immaculate.
TheatreTheatre is, of course, much less important than opera. The same rules apply but need be enforced less stringently; except for plays by Shakespeare, Congreve, Sheridan, Wilde, Shaw, Wesker and Pinter.
Tie ClipOne of those little extra pieces of jewellery most men like to be given but that not all men like to wear.
[...] On reflection, too, such a clip is really rather 'prissy'.
Travelling[...] A tweed overcoat, once considered ideal for travel, is not very useful. Business is mostly conducted in towns, where a tweed looks out of place. Better a plain dark cloth, avoiding anything too urban-looking like a waisted overcoat with a velvet collar. [...]
Trousers[...] The width of the bottoms should be ordained by the size of your thighs. If these are large, too narrow bottoms will make you look like a top. But you need never go wider than 17 inches. Men with legs considered normal and certainly those with thin, should order trousers of a style with narrow thighs. A lack of attention to this has ruined the look of many pair of trouser which otherwise had correct width at the bottoms. [...]
UmbrellaNow only carried when it rains, except with morning dress.
UnderwearShould be as brief as wit and as clean as fun.
Walking-stickAn excellent and elegant accessory when you've broken your leg.
White[...] The remarks made about the white dinner jacket are also applicable to the white suit. There is certainly nothing smarter than this, but it is difficult in a white suit to have the air of nonchalance which I think real good dressing requires. [...]
YellowThe colour of canaries and cowards. [...]
Young ManToday a boy becomes a young man at fourteen: and remains one at forty.
[...]
In the 19th century the young man openly copied the clothes of his elders. In the twenties he grew a moustache in an attempt to look mature as quickly as possible. Today, from the cut and length down of his hair down to his narrow trousers and boots he wants to look as young as he can: and starts at twenty-five to feel the first pangs of depression at being middle-aged.
[...]
In fashion today there are no old men; only the young and the dead.
Zip fastenersZip fasteners make a great contribution to the comfort and appearance of trouser fronts by doing away with buttons which are inconvenient and bulky. Few people know how they work, and many are still therefore suspicious of them.
[...]
Perhaps this simple explanation will help remove much of the superstition that surrounds this excellent invention. But you still have to be careful.
Conclusie: kopen, al was het maar om dit laatste stukje over de rits nog eens rustig op papier na te lezen.
