Archive for October, 2009
British Military Ties: Part II
1. “The minesweeping arm of the Royal Navy”
2. The Royal Armored Corps, includes the Royal Tank Regiment
3. 8th Army tie- “the famous desert army which fought through North Africa to Siscily and Italy”
4. Royal Air Force volunteer reserve
5. Combined Operations, or ‘Combined Ops’. One of the most prestigious British ties to own due to military achievement.
6. Royal Air Force
Fact and Image Credit (Including quotes): Heraldry & Regalia of War, Beekman House, 1973
Entrenched
According to Flusser, the trench coat was created by Burberry at the request of the British government. The water repellent fabric helped keep WWI soldiers dry while they fought in the trenches. This pattern of coat was said to have been dubbed “trench coat” by soldiers on the front lines. According to Aquascutum, they had developed the trench coat design design for the Crimean War- beating Burberry by a number of years. According to Hoyle- it’s better to stay out of the trenches for this one.
Image credit: www.barbour.com
Fact credit: Dressing The Man, Alan Flusser, p. 302; Wikipedia
River Tweed
Image Credit: bleudepaname.com via inventorymagazine.com
A British merchant was looking over a letter about “tweels”. The merchant mistook the name “tweel” for “Tweed”, as in the River Tweed that runs through the Scottish Textile district. The merchant advertised the goods as Tweeds, and the name stuck.
Fact Credit: Windsor Revisited by HRH The Duke of Windsor via Wikipedia
Q & A with Roxana of Nerd Boyfriend
Hoyle interviews Roxana, the mastermind behind blog Nerd Boyfriend.
Hoyle: Do have a boyfriend and is he nerdy?
Roxana: He does fit into some of more flattering definitions of nerdy. He also goes by the name lonelysandwich, so there’s that.
Hoyle: Do you start with the photograph? How does that process work?
Roxana: I do start with the photograph, then I go through the inventory of my 200+ list of online stores and men’s lines to try to find possible matches.
Hoyle: How did you get interested in menswear?
Roxana: I guess it would have to be Jim Henson. His style reflects his humility and enthusiasm for his craft. Turtlenecks, cords, tweed, oxfords, genius. He made me realize that I admire the fashion sense of my heroes as much as their talent.
Hoyle: How would you describe your personal style?
Roxana: Thrift store optimistic.
Hoyle: Where do you find most of your inspiration?
Roxana: I have to give credit to men’s fashion blogs; selectism, a continuous lean, hyrcollective and kempt, the moment, mensrag. They keep me up to date and I really just match things up.
*Editor’s note: video courtesy of Roxana’s boyfriend Adam of Put this On and You Look Nice Today
The Duke’s Fair Isle bail out
The Fair Isle design is named after a small Scottish Island- located near ‘Shetland’ island. Fair Isle sweaters are usually colorful, patterned, and were first made by farmers. In 1922, The Duke of Windsor heard a particular group of Fair Isle farmers were in financial trouble, so he wore one of their sweaters out and about. As planned, Fair Isle sweater sales boosted, and the Fair Isle design became a classic.
Adam Christopher’s post on Fair Isle and other seaside knits here
Chloe Sevigny’s take on Fair Isle here
Fact Credit: Dressing The Man, Alan Flusser, p. 286-287
Image Credit: Burberry sweater featured on prestige-mag.com
Canadian Tuxedo, eh?
Image Credit: Amongst Friends via freshnessmag.com
Canadian Tuxedo. Definition= Denim on Denim. A denim jacket with a pair of jeans.
Fact credit: Urbandictionary.com
Suit Yourself
Image Credit: paulsmith.co.uk/
The suit was born in the mid 19th century- an outfit comprised of coat, pants and perhaps a vest made from the same cloth. The word suit is derived from the French word “suivre” meaning “to follow” – the pieces of the suit are said to follow each other, as they are made from the same material.
According to Antongiavanni, the first suits were called “lounge suits” because the baggy, soft material was thought to be appropriate only for lounging.
Fact credit: The Suit, Nicholas Antongiavanni, p 74.
Tom Ford – the man, the brand, the movie
Image Credit: A Single Man movie still from gymclassmagazine.com
The Man, Tom Ford: Studied architecture at Parsons. CFDA Menswear designer of the year 2008
The Brand, Tom Ford: Menswear. Beauty. Eyewear.
The Movie, Directed by Tom Ford: Tom Ford’s debut as a director in: A Single Man
Original Geek Attire
Image Credit: Microsoft X Common
The term ‘geek’ references smart guys more interested in graphs than girls. According Webster’s Dictionary,’geek’ is derived from the German word ‘geck’ meaning ‘fool’. The original term geek described circus performers.
According to Hoyle, the term ‘geek’ may have originated from engineering students who carried around an Engineering Formulas reference book written by “Geick”.
The small reference book slipped conviently into one’s front shirt pocket- such that the author’s name “Geik” stuck out above the shirt pocket like a name tag.
Fact Credit: Author’s engineer father who carried Geik’s reference book in his shirt pocket along with a few good pens; merriam-webster.com
Cotton and Commerce
After the American civil war, England and France resumed buying inexpensive American cotton exports- abandoning the pricey and high quality Egyptian cotton. This caused Egypt extreme economic hardship that lead to Egypt’s 1876 bankruptcy. Egypt’s fragile economic state enabled England to Annex Egypt six years later.
The U.S. and Africa are currently the largest exporters of raw cotton. The cotton industry took a hit in the sixties with the advent of polyester, but still remains a billion dollar industry.
Fact Credit: Wikipedia
Image Credit: Gitman Brothers shirt from openingceremony.us