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The Look goes on...

Thin White Duke

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In a rush of blood to the head I ended up acquiring four boating blazers over time. I was working towards my PhD and pictured myself wearing them to lecture on casual Fridays and if anyone thought it weird they could chalk it off to me being the eccentric professor from England (I live in America!).
My career took me in another direction and so they rarely see the light of day. The loudest I have is purple and black broad stripes with white narrow stripes. Make me an offer of you're interested! I also have green and black with a red line and navy with double sky blue stripes.
 

cocostella

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TWD, that looks sharp. The target pin is redundant IMHO, as the outfit screams "I'm a mod!" loudly enough.
1f601.png
 

Thin White Duke

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Cheers mate. My lapel pins are often bit of a bone of contention. I'm rarely seen without a union flag or St. George cross. I doubt I would bother back home cos like you say it's a bit of a statement of the obvious, but here in America it maybe offers a reference point to those who might have a vague idea of our thing!
 

Mr Knightley

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I think FP cloth varies enormously perhaps depending on the range and where the item is made. I have a couple of Italian-made examples, one from 2008 is more akin to a Smedley fabric and the other bought this year is the typical pique cotton. Not as thick as in the 60s but still has a nice handle.

The one that has the thickest feel and best make is a Made in Portugal collaboration with CdG Shirt from 2004. Unusually it has a zip fastening too.

TWD - I share your pain about the Friday Challenges! I once asked on here why we couldn't just celebrate people who are 'well-dressed' and, after a longish silence, someone said well, we are looking for people who dress in a certain style - or words to that effect...
 

cerneabbas

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cerneabbas, it is good to see you posting again! I always enjoy your posts and the last one was especially thought-provoking.

I am not sure if the Look can be said to rely on specific items. If we take the view that is implicit in The Soul Stylists and their concept of the ‘unbroken circle of style’ we can see the Look is more about attitude and principles than it is about certain items or even specific styles. The principles are well documented here and elsewhere and they include a desire always to look cool and sharp, a certain subversiveness and secrecy and the need to move on when the public and the media begin to suss what is happening. Of course, one chapter is entitled ‘The button down types’ …

Moving on to the specifics. Are pleats and turn-ups really part of the Look? I don’t know. In the 1960s the mod and the early skinhead wore his trousers tight, narrow and short. As the decade drew to a close they became a little fuller and higher in the rise so that by 1969 I was asking my tailor to include pleats (single) but no turn-up. Turn-ups for me came with the 1980s Italian-influenced designer styles.

Here are two pictures both taken on holiday in Spain in late summer 1971. My 1970-made pair of mohair trousers have single pleats and that front ticket pocket but my new gabardine pair (made just before I went on hols) have gone back to a flat front and a slight flare, in fact almost a 1965 look!! It would not be until around 1985 that I would wear pleats again.


1970 - mohair with pleats and ticket pocket


1971 - gabardine with **** pockets, flat front, slight flare and lower rise

I believe my own style is now only partly influenced by what we have called the Look here and equally by a 1930s style re-interpreted by Mr Armani and co in the 80s.

Another thing these two pictures confirm is that reluctance to dress down. One by the pool, probably off out somewhere and one on the prom but no posing pouch in sight
biggrin.gif

A good explanation Mr Knightley,I will mull it over for a while and come back to it when I have thought it through.
 

cerneabbas

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Be OK under some knitwear! Is it MiE?

Made in China !..yes it is ok under the cardigan that I bought but I find the regular size better.
I noticed another problem,the FP label is sewn to high up on the collar and shows slightly when the shirt is worn,quite difficult to remove as well due to how they have sewn it in.
The navy FP that I bought earlier in the year leeched dye when I washed in very cool water for the first time,the darker shirts have a built in obsolescence as they fade so much,probably better to avoid black or navy altogether.
 

Mr Knightley

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The Look in Autumn.

http://www.styleforum.net/t/510213/sw-d-pumpkin-spice-challenge-october-18-nov-1

This interesting challenge elsewhere on SF reminded me that the Look I grew up with was a bit season-less. You put on a Crombie or sheepie over your year-round clothes.

So how do we embrace the need to reflect the seasons in our clothing today while still attempting to retain a clean, sharp style?
 

covskin

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This interesting challenge elsewhere on SF reminded me that the Look I grew up with was a bit season-less.  You put on a Crombie or sheepie over your year-round clothes.

So how do we embrace the need to reflect the seasons in our clothing today while still attempting to retain a clean, sharp style?


That whole orange, rust, burnt sienna, blah blah colouring thing seems very alien to me, like a perversion of 'Country'. Is it American or something made up fairly recently? Maybe something transferred in from womens fashion? Looks like a weird camouflage so how about all-white when it snows lol. Just shut up and consume!

A maroon jumper is about my limit. Imagine that over my surviving pink, mauve and grey polo shirts (need to wear these out before I get new ones). Some nice (but limited) clashing yes. Think I want to be the 80s @McDermott
 
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Thin White Duke

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Yeah I think this seasonal clothing thing is a bleed over from women's fashion - remember the remit of all clothes retailers is to get us to spend our money, and declaring certain items passé due to being 'last season' is just one way to keep the retail wheel rolling.

Highs are in the high 80s with lows in the mid sixties here in Florida right now, so I only have to worry about seasonal change when I leave the state, which is absolutely fine with me. Many of the SF elite love the autumn so they can break out layers, scarfs, gloves, overcoats etc. but that's not for me. Knitwear under a suit reminds me of nerdy Cyril Figgis off 'Archer'. I think a large part of 'The Look' was the aspiration to dress like you lived on the French or Italian riviera wearing lightweight bright coloured clobber as a way to stick your fingers up at the austere post-war black and white conservatism. Moving to a hot and sunny climate allows me to play out that fantasy. I have a lot of stuff (white linen suit, pincord jacket, loud chinos etc) that I wouldn't dream of wearing if I came back to live in the cold wet north east.
 

cerneabbas

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In a rush of blood to the head I ended up acquiring four boating blazers over time. I was working towards my PhD and pictured myself wearing them to lecture on casual Fridays and if anyone thought it weird they could chalk it off to me being the eccentric professor from England (I live in America!).
My career took me in another direction and so they rarely see the light of day. The loudest I have is purple and black broad stripes with white narrow stripes. Make me an offer of you're interested! I also have green and black with a red line and navy with double sky blue stripes.

This is to big a coincidence for me not to comment on.
I have seen many academics in the past 10 years doing the eccentric professor thing,usually a waxed moustache and straw boater,or Edwardian type clothes with spats etc etc.
Last week I walked past a new one with a Panama hat,some facial fungus and a cane with a silver (coloured )knob,and I wondered how much thought these characters must put into their not very original ( when you have seen a few dozen) 'eccentric' outfits.
Surely a true eccentric doesn't need to put so much thought into their dress or behaviour they just ARE eccentric,I was wondering if there is an online shop called 'Eccentric professors are us' where they can buy their gimmicky clothes and tache wax.
Then days later you put this post up showing how contrived the whole thing is,thanks for proving what I have long thought.
 
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Thin White Duke

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Errr ... You're welcome ... I think!

I assure you no facial fungus was ever contemplated. It's more a situation like you know a loud boating jacket is a huge statement piece, so you have to wonder where you can 'get away' with it where it has a chance to be in context. Of course you could argue that if you have the balls to buy a loud jacket then you should have the balls to wear it wherever you want and bollocks to the world, but a component of style is context and when I have four loud jackets in the cupboard and not a great deal of context in which they are situationally appropriate, slightly eccentric professor sounded good enough to me. Since my career took me away from academia, I was the best dressed geezer at the restaurant on Friday!:D
 

cerneabbas

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That whole orange, rust, burnt sienna, blah blah colouring thing seems very alien to me, like a perversion of 'Country'. Is it American or something made up fairly recently? Maybe something transferred in from womens fashion? Looks like a weird camouflage so how about all-white when it snows lol. Just shut up and consume!

A maroon jumper is about my limit. Imagine that over my surviving pink, mauve and grey polo shirts (need to wear these out before I get new ones). Some nice (but limited) clashing yes. Think I want to be the 80s @McDermott
I remembered this post today when we went to Bath and had a look in the Orvis shop.
The GF picked up the October catalogue and it is full of clothes in those 'autumn' ( or fall for our American contingent) colours.
Some cotton / merino mix BD shirts in muted checks,and a couple of corduroy BDs amongst other items.

I also wonder whether this is originally an American thing ? you also mention camouflage,could it be that hunters wore different colour clothes to blend in as the leaves changed colour ?..nothing to do with 'the Look' but still interesting.

I tried on the Orvis Harrington,good quality but I wasn't quite sure,the GF liked it but I want something a bit slimmer cut ( the medium was to tight) and at £149 I think that I may look at a navy Baracutta instead.
 

cerneabbas

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I had a conversation online a while back with PressureDrop from the Mod to Suedehead thread we have known each other since the 70s but only occasionally see each other at football now.
Anyway in the conversation he asked the question if skinheads had never existed in the 60s/70s and only came about now what would they wear ?,he suggested Timberland boots and contemporary clothing as the clothes worn back in the day were bang up to date then...

Thin White Dukes picture wearing boating blazer and FP etc made me think about the conversation again,to be honest I didn't think that much of the late 70s mod revival,it seemed a contradiction to me,the word Mod and revival just don't work...its like fat free lard or healthy cigarettes.

Last weekend I was out running and I noticed a lot of scooter riders,maybe there was a meet up or a party I don't know but the blokes were all in their 50s / 60s wearing Mod type clothes and riding Vespas and Lambrettas...but something didn't look right to me...thinking about it later I realised that the riders were to big for the scooters,I guess 'back in the day' teenagers didn't go above 11 stone on average ? these blokes were 14 or 15 stone probably and they dwarfed the scooters.

Anyway adding all this together I am thinking that if a new 'Mod' movement happened now it wouldn't be any sort of 'revival' it would be modern,maybe they would ride those big scooters or the ones with a roof ?.
Would they take anything from the past ? suits yes but 3 button suits are maybe to archaic now ?,there are certainly better alternatives for coats whilst riding your scooter than the fish tail parka now.

Again nothing to do with 'the Look' really apart from how things move on or might move on.
 

covskin

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I think context was all. Post-war greyness, conformity, a mass working class - easy to stick out against such a background with a bit of colour and a few details. Together with the general post-war optimism that seemed to be around it was a very different place. So my answer is nothing, if modern mods and skinheads could exist then we would see them.
 

cerneabbas

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I think context was all. Post-war greyness, conformity, a mass working class - easy to stick out against such a background with a bit of colour and a few details. Together with the general post-war optimism that seemed to be around it was a very different place. So my answer is nothing, if modern mods and skinheads could exist then we would see them.

I think that you are probably right,they were of their time,thats why the Mod revival and the present day reenactors didn't / don't work IMO.
Just like the 'Casuals' that I see at football now seem wrong,either 40 / 50 year old blokes wearing similar to the clothes they wore then ( to old) or the younger brigade who wear those clothes ( to late)...IMO.
 

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