Hahaha

"The thong and the short of it..."

I like monograms. I have a sense they aren’t appreciated here - maybe in the UK…?  I had two shirts made at Kamakura and had them monogram the cuffs. I’d do it again if and when I have anything made up. It felt like a fun way to make the shirts special after spending an arm and a leg. In high school, when I went to a place called The Lodge to buy poly-cotton button down shirts, I also had them monogram the chest pocket. My roommates in college the next year didn’t stop making fun of me. They later told me they thought I was rich. If only they could have seen me taking the bus to the mall to have them made. I’d never get a pocket monogram again.

Last edited by Jdemy (2021-12-08 11:12:46)

Not to flog an old stereotype, but I wondered if the American perception of ‘English understatement and restraint’ was a factor in not liking monograms??

It's such a personal issue.

Does a monogram denote consideration in ones clothes or is it naff ? (I know the preppy handbook mentioned monograms.)

In the UK Ivy clothes are more about being subtle than flash. The colour palette is slightly subdued. The clothes are only recognised as having any connotations by the few. The drivers are things that we associate with being American. IE) there are loads of loafers out there but UK made loafers don't typically feature beef rolls and pie-crust hand stitching.

So I guess monograms fall outside of what I would typically want from a shirt. Wouldn't be on my checklist.

^ Should read 'one another'.

Monogram shirts are wrong (for me) on so many levels. But each to their own.

I don't think a shirt is 'ruined'; possibly 'spoiled' a little by an embellishment that may not seem necessary to the majority.  But, there is a 'tyranny of the majority', is there not?  I rather liked my Brooks shirt with its monogram: gave it a sense of history and ownership.  I also own shirts in which the former owners' names are sewn in on tapes.  I like that, too.

Gently...  but tolerance of any kind of logo or tag or overdone part of a metal zipper is exceptionally limited among the UK Ivy fraternity.  Ralph Lauren is preferred minus the pony, Fred Perry the laurel wreath.  Nothing much to be done about that stupid crocodile, I suppose, but tags on Grenfell jackets or Paraboot are often removed with a sharp knife.  There is some slightly naff stitching on the rear of some khakis I bought from a nice couple in Indiana I could well do without.  Oh, heavens, I was forgetting, an exception to this rule is the little red tag on a pair of 501s.  The patches on denim don't really count. 
English dressing can be very, very precise even if the wearer is as likely to be 'clocked' by another member of the tribe as he is to be rung up for a hot date by a teenage nympho.

If only.