MC General Chat - Page 17

Definitely madras, good pull. Still not sure of I will ever wear madras, but it is certainly a summer fabric.

Also th striped "blazers" that are now virtually extinct. FlyingMonkey has one. Also seersucker, to the extent that's a pattern.

I saw a striped blazer in the wild recently - mind you it was at the Olympic rowing regatta so it wasn't a total surprise.

I suppose all this arises from England having no really hot summer, so no reason for creating patterns specific to fabrics other than wool. Madras is from India I believe? I don't know the history of seersucker, striped blazers, and gingham check, but I'd guess they're not English.

I suppose I am wrong about that one then

The english have a history of wearing jackets in really loud stripes for things like school uniforms, and specifically regattas- actually, that's what the word "blazer" originally referred to before it came to encompass the jackets with metal buttons we know today.

They are not garments to be taken too seriously:


I've actually seen one of those being worn in the wild. A few years ago, the President of my now alma mater showed up in one pretty much randomly. I asked him about it, apparently the rowing team alumni group had ordered a bunch for their reunion and given one to him for kicks. Green and cream with the University seal on it, it was awesome.

^I knew the part about the relation to the word "blazer" but for some reason I thought it was an Ivy thing. Guess I was wrong. Anyway, as you said, not a serious garment. I still think my general theory of there being few real patterns reserved or mostly associated with summer jacketing having something to do with there being little reason to deviate from wool in an English summer. Or perhaps just that all linen/cotton or blends thereof does not take well to patterns, which I understand to be Manton's position, at least in the case of pure linen.

Apparently Prada has lost its goddamn mind:

http://evolutionofagentleman.tumblr.com/post/30179531128/really-prada-via-four-pins

^^^  Agreed, pathetic.
 

Every time I see their ghastly looking shoes at the store, I cringe. Have you seen those Prada dress shoes with the rubber triangle shaped welt, protruding like an ax from the shoe? Woof...

Full out fugly!

There was a time when I loved Prada shoes. They used to look good and be very comfortable, but those days are gone.

The term Blazer is derived from either the striped jackets worn by the crew of the HMS Blazer or the red "Blazer" jackets worn by the Cambridge rowing crews in the early nineteenth century.

Seersucker came to Britain via India. Whether it arrived there from Persia via trade or conquest is beyond my shaky recollection and education.

Gingham (I can only assume) arrived in Britain via the films of Doris Day and the table-cloths of various Italian eateries in Soho

Is there any theoretical base to the current camo trend? Is it some sort of commentary? If anyone can shed some light on this I'd appreciate it.