Posts by General Koskov

It's also called a reefer jacket (furling the sails is 'reefing'), but the reefer is usually used as another name for the modern naval equivalent of the frock coat (i.e. 'monkey jacket'). The monkey jacket/reefer is of course based on...

Sleeve garters are little bands (elastic? perhaps metal sometimes) intended to keep one's sleeves out of their wet ink while they write. Needless to say they are useless today, unless you are working with some other grease or...

I think that a fancy barrel cuff is just as appropriate as a double-cuff. Except with black-tie, of course. If one has two or three double-stacked MOP buttons, and a nice design to the cuff itself, surely this is as nice as some...

I always go by the saying (which isn't really a 'saying,' I just made it up now) that: if you know The Rules* and respect them then you can break them if you want to--and I mean want, not out of some phony foppish rebelliousness. *I.e....

For everyone's information, the cummerbund is derived from the Hindi word kamarband which is the sash worn around the waist on some Indian garments. This is what original cummerbunds were: a long band of silk that is wrapped around the...

I realise that a suit coat and a 'dress' (hated word.) shirt have very little in common besides covering the same body parts, but I have to enquire as to why a shirt needs a yoke while most coats do not. I assume it is because the...

I saw the neckband-with-stud (i.e. no collar attached) sported by Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer in 'The Man Who Would be King.' This suggests, assuming the filmmakers got 1880s fashion right, that an acceptable alternative to an...

Apparently raw silk (noil) is one of the strongest fabrics, comparable with wool in certain weaves such as herringbone. Kind of nice knowing a silk suit is functional as well as luxurious. PS. Does anyone know the best silk mills?...

Thanks for the information. It's good to know that leather soles can be worn dinghy sailing. Ever since hearing about Sperry's 'siped' soles, I've been wary to wear a leather sole in a boat. I wonder, though, if I'd be able to get the...

Just remember that a khaki suit is supposed to keep one cool (not necessarily, but usually) so wearing black shoes defeats this purpose. (Especially if they have steel toes to conduct the heat right to one's toes.) I'd say light brown....