Armchaired's question from the other side of the pond.
Where do Yanks find English kit these days?
You have watched all of 'Midsomer Murders' and been inspired. You post on AAAC that you are shortly to move to England ( OK visit) and have just bought a Harris tweed jacket.
You have also checked that you will be actually able to walk in England while wearing Allen Edmonds shoes.
Then what happens?
You mean specifics or in general? There are tons of British details going around these days in most cities. Spread collars and properly fitted suits abound!
No. Armchaired was looking for Ivy outposts in USA. My question is where do Americans expect to find decent English clothes being worn in the UK?
Disappointment stories is what I am after.
^ Very true. The Sloane Ranger is extinct too. The Yanks would be shocked to see that Barbours are actually worn by the festival girls rather than the daughters of the aristocracy.
<sigh>
Film , TV and shops may not be a problem but I was thinking more of places where real people are actually walking around in the clothes. We have discounted London.
I had to work in Oxford for a few weeks a while back. The job only took a few hours so I had the rest of the day to have a good look round. I am not sure it is a candidate for well-dressed enclave. For a start, I went out the infamous Cowley Road of Asian grooming gang fame, through the Blackbird Leys joyriders estate to the company on the old Morris site.
Even hanging around the centre, Ashmolean museum, colleges and pubs there was no great evidence of classic clothes - just the occasional don looking donnish.
Cheltenham is smartest when that big racing thing they do is on. The Irish come to town and the standard of dress rockets !
Montpellier in Harrogate is nice. Soft Tweeds and old shoes on men and women of a certain (wonderful) kind.
Oxford and Bath have a lot of visitors which dilute the frequency of seeing the nicely dressed. They are there, but swamped in the crowds.
As for London...
http://www.filmnoirbuff.com/article/london-life-westend-style-part-one
http://www.filmnoirbuff.com/article/london-life-westend-style-part-two
/\ Rather dated now. If not a dead world.
Best -
Oh - And this: http://forums.filmnoirbuff.com/viewtopic.php?id=1511
I think that we have to admit the sad truth which is that there is nowhere in the UK where men remain well dressed apart from a few micro exceptions. The only place where I have recently seen a good standard is at the LME (London Metals Exhange) where they enforce a jacket and tie rule for the men, but that's not representative even of the City, let alone the rest of London, let alone the whole of the country.
I don't agree with the county town stuff. There may be plenty of old gents in tweed jackets but they're all from the Peter Christian catalogue or Highland wool shop and typically worn with those awful pork pie shoes.
/\ To say the unsayable - Isn't that still better than most other people ?
A very sad reality.
Peter Christian moleskin trousers are very good. I don't know about their jackets.
Those are all the brands - You know your stuff !
Burford in West Oxfordshire is nice...
When I was working in Hull, I actually stayed in the market town of Beverley. Lovely.
Give me a place like that over the big city any time.
I should add, I stayed there, because I found Hull rough and uncouth. The abundance of wet t-shirt competitions seemed like a throw back too.