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#1 2009-04-29 09:39:29
- Gibson Gardens
- Ivy Author
- Posts: 873
Spotted
this morning on a very sunny Highbury Fields Jonathan Miller dressed in fantastically accurate Ivy League garb. Blue OCBD, repp tie, olive tweed Ivy jacket, olive cords, boat shoes. Shabby US academic chic but he wore it so well - kind of sharp, the balance was right, it was obvious this man clearly cares about his threads. Interesting too I though that sartorially he aligns himself with the American tradition and shows no interest in 'proper' British dress. As a Jewish man and a polymath who evades obvious categorisation maybe his outsider status is best expressed by this form of dress. As we know the British traditionally reject intellectualism as indulgent and worthless. In the US or France surely Miller would be feted more than he is in this largely philistine nation?
GG
#3 2009-04-29 10:05:03
- Gibson Gardens
- Ivy Author
- Posts: 873
Re: Spotted
I glanced at him and took all this in in about 3 seconds so I lack the precise response to your questions. Let's just say he STOOD OUT. He looked American. He looked like a Harvard prof when he is actually a Hampstead Jewish intellectual. I find this interesting and it also such a refreshing change to find a public figure in this country who clearly loves clothes - again, how very un-British.
GG
#5 2009-04-29 10:24:32
- chetmiles
- Member
- Posts: 1099
Re: Spotted
You don't post too often, GG, but when you do it's always refreshing and takes us far from the dubious Spirit of '69 into territory that is far more worthy of exploration.
The great Miller:
"I'm not actually a Jew, you know. Just Jew-ish".
#6 2009-04-29 10:39:27
- Decline & Fall
- Ivyist At Large
- Posts: 850
Re: Spotted
That is a really interesting question Prof. Kelp. As I have said before, I originally became interested in all of this (a) to find a style I could grow up in and (b) from a general passion for the 1950s/60s. I think there is a certain timelessness to a lot of the fashions from that time period that just isn't true of the 1940s or the 1970s for example.
It's really going on these forums that has made me much more obsessed w/ the actual brands and what not. My original attraction to say Brooks Brothers was that they made the type of shirt I wanted, not because they were the O.G. ivy provider. I'm probably at that stage now where I care more about the brands / exact details matter more though I'm not so extreme that I wouldn't include something that wasn't pantheon but had the look. I would blame reading and talking about this stuff almost daily. It makes it hard not to become obsessed w/ the details.
"I like bars just after they open in the evening. When the air inside is still cool and clean and everything is shiny. The first quiet drink of the evening in a quiet bar-that's wonderful."
— Raymond Chandler
#8 2009-04-29 11:11:16
- Natural Sole Brother
- Ivy, naturally.
- Posts: 782
Re: Spotted
I'd bet each item of Miller's clothing would have been the 'correct' one with all details present. He would definitely have to be included in (if not top) the pantheon of UK Ivy style.
Pictures of JM, Alan Bennett, and Pete & Dud back from their first Footlights stint in NYC offer a fascinating glimpse of the first flowering of UK Ivy.
Last edited by Natural Sole Brother (2009-04-29 11:12:10)
#11 2010-07-18 12:57:15
- Rip Rig & Panic
- Member
- Posts: 4697
Re: Spotted
I wanted to offer this back as a good, clear example of how cerebral the forum can be. Very little Gibson Gardens says is glib or facile; he doesn't come into this often enough IMO. I distinctly remember wanting to read something by Miller, and carry his name in my head whilst bookshop browsing. The image Dr. Miller presented to this member must have been sufficient unto itself: the modernist mind satisfied by a few seconds of gazing upon something worthwhile. Rare enough in England, no?
#12 2010-08-14 07:13:02
- Rip Rig & Panic
- Member
- Posts: 4697
Re: Spotted
Just found that posting over on The Wardrobe. Very good it is too. The Bill's chocolate brown cords I have are about as Brit anti-fashion as you could want. Just twin 'em up with a cashmere v-neck and cordos. Tattersall by Viyella or Tyrwhitt. Autumn-is-a-comin'-in-intellectal. Reminds me of the late Anthony Burgess, too.