I actually do this quite a bit when wearing generically-sized shirts, which are always too long for me in the sleeve.
I never thought I was looking cool like Cary--I'm always mildly embarrassed by/uncomfortable with the effect, feeling I suppose like a lady wearing a pencil eraser on the back of an earring.
I have a strange fondness for the sight of a perfectly puckered cotton cuff falling briefly but vividly from the sleeve of some tweed or corduroy or flannel jacket.
I find the rolled cuff an irksome compromise
I begin too many sentences with the personal pronoun.
Last edited by Brownshoe (2009-02-08 19:40:37)
PS
I always assumed Grant rolled his cuffs for the same reason I do: The sleeves are too long.
At this point in the movie, that's not his shirt. The feds have provided him with a fresh set of clothes, which did not fit as well as his custom gear from the earlier scenes.
http://godscopybook.blogs.com/gpb/images/anthony_perkins2_1.jpg
I can see the roll with a jacket. For a while I was paranoid about shirt shrinkage and had bought my shirts in 34 when I shirt have ordered 33. This was fine when I was buying cheaper shirts but proved problematic when I moved on to the better quality stuff. The point being that I have seen the overly long sleeve poke its ugly elongated head out of a jacket sleeve and it is not a beast I like, so I can agree there.
Russell Street's photo illustrates the challenge I see. Mr. Perkins looks great, but if I did that tomorrow, I would spend a lot of time answering questions about why my shirt looked like that. Our questionable gentleman has previously posted about the guts to wear stuff w/o caring about the thoughts of others and a failure to meet that standard might explain it too, I guess.
Last edited by Decline & Fall (2009-02-09 08:27:47)
So I dug through archives today to find my copy of Flusser and was convinced gremlins had been there, given my difficulty in finding said text. I did find a great photo book that I didn't know I owned called Birth of the Cool (http://www.amazon.com/Birth-Cool-1957-1969-Martin-Harrison/dp/0670888184/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234193295&sr=1-5). Definitely a happy surprise that I will have to have a sit down with. A brief flip through found some great Rolling Stones and Twiggy pics.
However, with further digging I did find my Flusser. I do not have the energy to scan the pic of Astaire (see page 140 of Dressing the Man) but I can quote the text:
"The debate b/w stiff, separate collars and soft attached ones had lost much of its steam by the time button-down connoisseur Fred Astaire appeared in this next picture. America's own master of stage, screen and soft style liked his Brooks button-downs with just about everything: DB suits, dressy wedding ties, cardigan sweaters. He even pinned the collar down just to show it who was boss. Perhaps it takes one jaunty performer to appreciate another, as Astaire's folded-back shirt cuff plays the perfect foil to his collar's unpredictable roll. Like the dancer's gait, his clothes always appeared in perpetual motion.
I quoted at length b/c I think it's a beautiful paragraph capably illustrating how good clothes writing can be.
Last edited by Decline & Fall (2009-02-09 08:36:04)