4943_Gentleman_001-011_G.qxd4943_Gentleman_001-011_D_4C 22.10.200807.11.2008 14:2116:27 UhrUhr SeiteSeite 33 (Text Auszug) Bernhard Roetzel GENTLEMAN A Timeless Guide to Fashion Photography Günter Beer 4943_Gentleman_001-011_G.qxd4943_Gentleman_001-011_D_4C 22.10.200807.11.2008 14:2116:27 UhrUhr SeiteSeite 1010 (Text Auszug) THE GENTLEMAN’S VISITING CARD One thing should be clear: clothes do not make a man a good gradually find acceptance in the international style gentleman; and, by the same token, a real gentleman is canon of London, Milan, and New York. Jeans are a good always a gentleman, even without his clothes. However, it example. Although it took a while, these blue cotton trousers would be a mistake to conclude from this that our appear- eventually established themselves, and are now familiar and ance is not important. Clothes are the visiting card of a per- accepted leisurewear items almost everywhere. Or there is sonality, and should therefore be chosen to match it. the Husky jacket, which was invented at the beginning of the This book is an attempt to provide a comprehensive 1960s but only became well known around the world in the description of the proper style of attire for a gentleman. By 1980s. Or Diego Della Valle’s Tod’s shoes, which have only this we mean a dress code that has its roots in England, and been on the market since 1979. Combining pieces of that is accepted around the world today as classic style. clothing and accessories of the most varied origins to assem- Anyone who dresses as described in this book can be sure ble a harmonic, interesting whole demands a thorough that he will look well-dressed, whether he is in London, Paris, knowledge of the history of the individual garments. Natu- Brussels, Düsseldorf, Rome, Milan, New York, or Tokyo. rally, this knowledge may also lead to the quite conscious Dressing like a gentleman means mixing tailored gar- creation of new and unusual combinations, which may ments and mass products, exclusiveness and modest practi- occasionally even be the products of intuition and chance. cality. A pair of Levi’s jeans with a tailored, made-to- measure But someone who does not wish to rely on these imponder- tweed jacket is just as acceptable a weekend outfit as good- ables should learn about the individual components of his value boat shoes from Sperry with chinos by Polo Ralph wardrobe. Only by doing so will he eventually understand Lauren and a blazer from Gieves and Hawkes. Dressing like how to wear them properly. a gentleman is therefore not to be equated with a stubborn Of course, it is not by chance that English clothes and conservatism. Innovations which prove their worth and look English style are discussed so much in this book. London 10 INTRODUCTION 4943_Gentleman_048-069_G.qxd4943_Gentleman_048-069_4C 22.10.2008 07.11.2008 14:54 16:36 Uhr Uhr Seite Seite 51 51 (Text Auszug) GOOD SHIRTS AT A GLANCE A good shirt has removable col- The origins of the split yoke lie in Unfortunately, patterns are only The more stitches a seam has, lar bones where required by the traditional shirtmaking. As peo- matched exactly on very good the more durable it will be, with shape of the collar. This is partic- ple generally have shoulders of ready-to-wear shirts, though this about 20 stitches per inch (8 ularly the case with turndown different heights, a split yoke is always done on custom-made per cm) on a good shirt. Seams, and cutaway collars, but collar can be used to adjust the fit of a shirts. For example, stripes or even parallel double seams, are bones would be out of place in shirt precisely to the customer’s checks should match exactly always sewn with a single nee- the soft collar of a button-down stature. On ready-to-wear shirts where the shoulder joins the dle. The advantages of this are shirt. Most collar bones are the split yoke is just a detail sleeve. Raised (or “French”) that the seams are more precise, made of plastic, but some gen- which suggests more expensive seams are used on those parts and the material in between tlemen’s outfitters offer brass col- work; it is a costly detail, of the shirt that are subject to them does not go wavy after lar bones as well. Whatever though, because every addi- particularly hard wear. For a washing. On less high-quality they are made of, they give the tional seam is a not inconsider- raised seam the two pieces of shirts a machine with two nee- collar the right curve and pre- able cost factor when shirts are material are sewn together, dles is used for double seams. vent the collar tips turning up. produced in large numbers. turned over, and sewn again. This can sew a parallel seam in This can be particularly impor- Such details may be unimpor- This procedure is expensive, but half the time. Material is used tant when the shirt is worn with tant for many, and an unneces- ensures that the seam will be generously when good shirts are a necktie. sary expense. durable. made, so that they do not slip out of the pants at the back or sides. The back is usually cut somewhat longer than the front to ensure it fits well even when the wearer bends over. The length is right if the front and back parts can be brought together in the crotch. Shorter shirts are best avoided, to save embarrassment. Traditional buttons made of A gusset, a triangular piece of On good shirts the cloth of the mother-of-pearl are obligatory material, is usually added for sleeve is pleated several times features of a good shirt. Mother- reinforcement in the corner where it meets the cuff. In addi- of-pearl buttons are so hard that between the breast and the tion there is often a small button they will break the needle of a back. You will find this detail on above the cuff that prevents the sewing machine. The button fac- all good shirts. However, there is sleeve opening up to reveal the ing used to be an additional only one manufacturer that uses arm in an unflattering way. It piece of material sewn onto the this little detail as a marketing can also be unbuttoned to make shirt, but today it is made by tool. The gussets on shirts from rolling the sleeve up easier. On folding over the material at the Thomas Pink are always pink. very good shirts this buttonhole edge of the shirt. A placket front This is intended to remind the is horizontal, and not vertical. facing is more stable, but can owner of the shirt of the maker On the very best shirts it is hand also look a little rustic, so more every time he wears it, and sewn, of course, just like all the refined shirts tend to have a sin- would not work for Turnbull & other buttonholes. gle button facing. Asser or T. M. Lewin. THE SHIRT 51 4943_Gentleman_070-087_G.qxd4943_Gentleman_070-087_4C 22.10.2008 07.11.2008 15:02 16:38 Uhr Uhr Seite Seite 72 72 (Text Auszug) FROM NECKCLOTH TO ORNAMENTAL NECKWEAR Many works discussing the origins of the necktie mention continuing until he was satisfied. It could take a long time – Trajan’s Column in Rome as the earliest recorded evidence and his stocks of linen cravats, like his laundry bills, were enor- for the predecessor of this item of ornamental neckwear. mous. The modern necktie does not call for this kind of thing. However, the cloth worn by Roman legionaries around their The immediate forerunners of today’s necktie were the necks at the beginning of the second century AD bears only first school and club ties. In 1880 the members of Exeter Col- a very distant resemblance to today’s lege, Oxford, tied the bands of their straw necktie, being just a piece of fabric wrapped hats around their necks with a simple knot, around the throat. The real predecessors of thus inventing the first club tie. On 25 June of the necktie are the neckcloths or cravats that the same year they ordered neckties in the were part of men’s clothing from the middle appropriate colors from their tailor, setting an of the seventeenth century. Even the most entirely new fashion that was enthusiastically expensive handmade necktie of our time is copied by other English clubs, schools, and cheap compared to the lace cravat worn by colleges. The precursor of the patterned King Charles II of England in the year 1660. necktie was the “Macclesfield tie,” so called It cost 20 pounds 12 shillings – and that at after the town in northwest England where a time when a couple of pounds sterling was raw silk from India and China was woven. a good annual salary. Around the year 1900 Macclesfield was The first real prototype of the modern necktie is to be producing an unprecedented variety of neckties for members found in eighteenth-century America. It was called the “ban- of the expanding middle class, who wanted to announce to danna” and was a large patterned cloth wrapped several the world, through their neckwear, that they had succeeded times around the neck and tied with a bow. Bandannas were in life. popularized by the American boxer James Belcher. In early The modern necktie has existed in its present form since nineteenth-century England an entirely new mode was intro- 1924, although neckties that look quite modern are featured duced by George Brian Brummell.