I've just spent a happy hour down the village pub with my brother (a business meeting, doncha know).
He Dresses in Classic English style on the whole whilst I like that American look...
Some observations:
Classic American is a 'softer' style in terms of both construction and also the fabrics used on the whole. My Bro. wore a hard Cheviot Tweed jacket and Tattersall check shirt with a cut away collar, twills & chukkas. He sat against the window and the outline of him against the sun was pin sharp. I looked down and my Blazer and cords (J. Press & LL Bean respectively) - both had a surface layer of 'fuzz' (the nap of the material) about them. Ditto the cuff of my Brooks Oxford shirt. All my brother's clothes had a very smooth finish. This isn't the first time I've noticed this about him. When we wear business suits his always looks smoother and 'harder' than mine too.
Both the American soft collar and the English stiffer collar are there to frame the face, but both do so in very different ways. The English collar has more formality & authority in some way - The roped shoulders of his jacket also seemed to have the same effect when compared to my slopey natural ones. My slightly-more-formal-than-his clothes had more of a casual air whilst his casual country clothes looked very much more formal than mine. Mine were all organic curves whilst his were all man-made straight (-ish) lines.
Anyone else with any other observations on this subject? The above is only a snapshot full of generalisations, but the differences between the two styles really do stand out when you see them next to each other for all that they belong to the same sartorial family tree.
Thanks -
J.
Fuzz? No. Tweed also has that(moreso than a blazer)and viyella shirts are definitely not a hard finish.
Old teachers were always crumpled into their tweeds and brogues.
The sharpness must reflect the wearer's persona rather than the material IMO.
This is why I sometimes like to go full-throttle Americana. A mood thing to be sure. No mistaking it. But - a few years ago - out in Stetson cap, Viyella shirt, Grenfell coat, Paul Stuart cords, it was almost 'English'. In the dark anyway.
JFMs old threads are often worth reviving.
I wore my new Grenfell shooting coat out last weekend. Just a brisk walk in a local park. But I dressed it down with faded 501s and Nicholas Deakin suede boots.
A tip of the hat to the absent Unseen Scene - you were right all along about Grenfell. My suspicions were unfounded. I can only assume that the sellers were let down by their Ebay photographs. A cursory glance showed the cloth as purple, whereas it's actually something a shade darker than fawn. Contrasting cord collar. It would be fatal, though, to wear it with a check shirt, moleskins and heavy shoes. Way too English Classic.
What happened to Unseen Scene? Did he get the hump at the lack of a site update? Shame because he is a guy with his 'finger on the pulse' when it comes to Ivy bargains.
He did what a lot of posters do - vanished.
I'm still here. I read the forum regularly.
I'm busy in other areas right now and taking a less active interest in buying clothes. Like many of us as we get into our 50s and beyond, I still wear Ivy mixed with classic British wear but have less need for new clothes and a slightly more relaxed approach now. I'm perhaps not as orthodox on Ivy as some here, so stay quiet unless something to add.
Best wishes all
Last edited by An Unseen Scene (2022-01-27 07:20:59)
Good that you are still here AUS. I also mix and match clothes and don't consider myself an Orthodox Ivy member but I'm starting to get inspired again by the guys on here. I have got wardrobes full of the clothes and I have started digging out the best stuff and wearing it again.
Looking at JFM's original post made me think of how tailors can help exaggerate certain elements of fit to create a more nipped in British silhouette.
When I used to get custom suits from Ralph Lauren most customers would want the in house tailors to bring in the blades even further to create a more nipped in waist. You would still have a great soft shoulder but it felt more like Anderson and Sheppard than J Press
Trousers would also have an exact break.The final look was immediately identifiable as British. Similar in style to an officers uniform. This tailored look lends itself to shirts with a neat collar. Subsequently, you need to wear a tie as these type of spread collar shirts can look really scruffy when worn open without a tie.
Over There, of course... Is it still all the 'go', as with Sherman and one or two others in 'The Bonfire Of The Vanities'? That was a long while ago.
An 'English' look (rarely seen around here nowadays): some kind of jacket that buttons up... a check shirt... jeans (worn too tight)... shoes from Jones The Bootmaker... He was wearing Jack Wills until two or three years ago... Now contemplating growing a beard and prefers spending his money on malt whisky... Will probably take up golf fairly soon (if he hasn't already done so)... Often carries a furled umbrella, which he sometimes twirls... Fancies himself - and his floppy hair-do - something rotten...
That's the closest I now see (or want to see) to a Sloane Ranger: the kind of turd my elder daughter is friendly with.