EVELYN WAUGH NEWSLETTER and STUDIES Vol. 39, No. 3 Winter 2009
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EVELYN WAUGH NEWSLETTER AND STUD EVELYN WAUGH NEWSLETTER AND STUDIES Vol. 39, No. 3 Winter 2009 Evelyn Waugh’s Outfit by Yoshiharu Usui Evelyn Waugh had keen interest in clothes. He was a customer of Anderson & Sheppard on Savile Row. Unfortunately, Evelyn Waugh’s Address Card is missing, but that of his elder brother, Capt. Alec Waugh, still exists (Figs. 1a & 1b). file:////uol.le.ac.uk/...c144/My%20Documents/Evelyn%20Waugh/Evelyn%20Waugh%20Studies/Newsletters/Newsletters/Newsletter_39.3.htm[04/12/2013 14:45:08] EVELYN WAUGH NEWSLETTER AND STUD Figs. 1a & 1b: Capt. Alec Waugh's Address Card at Anderson & Sheppard, Savile Row, London. On the card, there are a lot of addresses, which shows that Alec moved frequently, and one can trace his moves. Recommendations included Evelyn Waugh, Richard Connell, A. D. Peters, A. A. Waugh, Auberon Waugh, and C. A. G. Keeling, Alec's son-in-law Christopher, who married Veronica Waugh. Evelyn Waugh’s reference was Alec Waugh. In those days, one needed a reference when ordering suits, because there were no credit cards. Normally fathers introduce their sons to tailors. Perhaps relations between Evelyn and his father Arthur precluded such an introduction. Evelyn Waugh first came to A & S on 5 October 1926. In his diaries, he wrote that he "ordered a suit that is to cost 15 guineas" (267). The A & S Price List of January 1925 includes a "Lounge Suit of White Imperial" for £10, a lounge suit of "Drill" for £9.10, and a lounge suit "Lined Silk Althrough" for £17.17. That was a big investment, because Waugh was earning only £120 per year as a schoolmaster. He had ordered a suit at Hall Bros. in Oxford in February (Diaries 247), so he was changing to a London tailor. In Brideshead Revisited (1945), Jasper advises Charles to "go to a London tailor; you get better cut and longer credit" (26). On 7 October 1926, Waugh wrote that he was "a little disappointed" in the A & S suit, since it made him look "distressingly 'dapper.'" On 23 October, however, he thought it was "going to be good" (Diaries 267). On 4 November, he tried the suit on again (Diaries 269), and on 21 November, he wore his "new suit from Anderson & Sheppard and for the first time did not feel the worst- dressed person in every room" (Diaries 271). A & S is famous for its “limp look” of softly tailored jackets (Sherwood 32). Evelyn might have liked their soft construction. Evelyn’s Measure Book is still available (Fig. 2). file:////uol.le.ac.uk/...c144/My%20Documents/Evelyn%20Waugh/Evelyn%20Waugh%20Studies/Newsletters/Newsletters/Newsletter_39.3.htm[04/12/2013 14:45:08] EVELYN WAUGH NEWSLETTER AND STUD Fig. 2: Evelyn Waugh's measurements at Anderson & Sheppard, Savile Row, London. A & S believe that Waugh signed his name (Rowland). His first "Country Address" was Aston Clinton House, near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, where he taught school. As of 10 March 1930, his Country Address changed to Pool Place in Sussex, a house that belonged to Bryan and Diana Guinness. Waugh's original "Town Address" seems to have been 25 Adam Street, Portman Square, W1. On 26 April 1928, it changed to 17A Canonbury Square, where he briefly lived with She-Evelyn. His parents' address, 145 North End Road in Hampstead, was used after 4 October 1929. When ordering one’s first suit at a firm, the cutter measures the client. A & S take twenty- seven measurements for the jacket and seven for the trousers. After they measure, they make a paper pattern, the basis for any kind of coat: lounge suit, tweed suit, dinner suit, or overcoat, whether they are single breasted or double breasted. They change the paper pattern if the customer’s figure changes, but the very first measurement is kept. According to it, Waugh’s measurement from the neck to the ground was 58 inches. Judging from the paper pattern, A & S estimate Waugh's height to have been 5 feet, 10 inches. His height is usually given as 5' 7", but A & S rely on a measurement called "The Gentlemen's Height," a "more elegant way of taking a record of height than asking the customer or taking a measurement from his head to the floor" (Rowland). Waugh's waist was 30 inches, his hips 40 inches, his knees 21 inches, and his ankles 17-1/2 inches. The cutter said he had a slim waist and large hips. I saw the silhouette based on the measurements. With ample space around the thighs, the silhouette was very narrow from the knee to the ankles. It seemed to be designed for writing. A & S say that Waugh preferred bold tweeds, window-paned and checked. In the 1950s, his checks became bolder and bolder. He even ordered an overcoat with the same cloth used by the Household Cavalry. Christopher Sykes says that "Evelyn made tailoring history" by ordering a suit in this cloth. It had a "light reddish-brown background" with "a bright red check about three inches square." The suit "surpassed the wildest extravagances of an old-fashioned music- hall comedian," and it had a "weird touch of obscenity," as a "bright red line from the checks ran down the fly buttons." Waugh "enjoyed the farce … especially as it increased the sourness of his critics" (Sykes 397). A & S also had a lot of famous people as clients, such as Fred Astaire, Noel Coward, Laurence Olivier, and Charlie Chaplin (Sherwood 32). Evelyn Waugh liked movies, and that might have been one reason he chose A & S. Now a two-piece suit is priced from £2,750. Anderson & Sheppard can be visited through their web site, http://www.anderson- sheppard.co.uk. file:////uol.le.ac.uk/...c144/My%20Documents/Evelyn%20Waugh/Evelyn%20Waugh%20Studies/Newsletters/Newsletters/Newsletter_39.3.htm[04/12/2013 14:45:08] EVELYN WAUGH NEWSLETTER AND STUD In his diaries, Waugh mentions having fittings in Albemarle Street in 1955 (725). There have been no tailors on the street, but there used to be two famous firms on Dover Street. They were Kilgour, French & Stanbury and Ted Watson’s. The former firm had a lot of film stars as clients, such as Cary Grant. It moved to Savile Row and still exists, but its management has changed and their name has changed to Kilgour. They no longer have any old records. Ted Watson used to be a valet of Lord Mountbatten and turned into a successful tailor. His company had a lot of upper-class clients. Albemarle Street and Dover Street are back to back. A famous hotel, Brown’s, has entrances facing both streets. Because of the firms' locations, there is a strong possibility that Waugh was one of their clients. Unfortunately, there is no way to confirm it so far. Waugh continued to be interested in tailoring. In 1957, he advised his son Auberon in Florence to "return in time to have a gentleman's suit of clothes made for your interview with the colonel of the regiment." Auberon was going into the army, and Evelyn thought other graduates of Downside School were "most improperly dressed." As Auberon prepared for Oxford in 1959, Evelyn promised to "settle [his] current tailors' bills." In 1961, Auberon visited his tailors, presumably Anderson & Sheppard, and they showed him "a very handsome blue and brown suit of clothes they were making for [Evelyn]." The tailor said, "I do hope Mr Waugh is not colour-blind, because it seemed to me that as he left the shop he thought he had been trying on a black and white one. I did not know whether I ought to tell him." Auberon thought the suit was "extremely beautiful." Evelyn explained that the suit was "a symptom of rejuvescence … that may well be an embarrassment to my adoring family" (Alexander Waugh). Waugh seems to have gone to Turnbull & Asser for shirts. Alec did too, so Evelyn seems to have followed his brother to the same tailor and shirt-maker. In 1926, Alec enrolled as a special constable to fight the General Strike; to Evelyn, Alec's action showed "the same rigid orthodoxy which sends him to Jermyn Street for his shirts and Paris for his fornication" (Diaries 252). Turnbull & Asser are still in Jermyn Street. In July 1947, Evelyn went there for a stiff evening shirt after his butler had forgotten to pack one for a London ball (Diaries 683). Unfortunately, Turnbull & Asser do not preserve old records. Evelyn Waugh was a customer of the hatters James Lock & Co. on St. James’s Street. He was also a member of the St. James’s Club and White’s Club. Lock & Co. is very close to both clubs. The ledger says that he ordered a Coke Hat on16 July 1947 (Fig. 3). Fig. 3: Evelyn Waugh's order for a Coke Hat at James Lock & Co. on 16 July 1947. Sykes recalls wearing a grey bowler to White's one day after the Second World War. Waugh saw the hat and wanted Sykes to give it to him. Sykes refused and suggested that Waugh order one like it at Lock & Co. According to Sykes, Waugh went to the shop on the same day. Sykes notes that Waugh wore the hat "frequently from then on, not only in summer, for which such hats are designed, but at all seasons" (397). In his autobiography, Waugh's son Auberon remembers that his father was "very proud" of a "grey bowler hat" that he called his "drab Coke" (64).