man watching

the sartorialist, of course. who else?

Clearly I'm having a bit of a thing with menswear at the moment. Not just wearing it, but also taking inspiration from it. It started after a girl at work handed the Esquire guide to style to me for perusal and I was struck. Nothing like this really exists for women - not if you think about it. This guide is a no-nonsense exploration of all the quintessential things for men. How to tie a tie, exploring different suits and fabrics (when is seersucker right? what should you wear to black tie themed events?) exposing the meanings of different handkerchief folds... It's fabulous. Women don't get such a serious how-to, not when it comes to fashion. We have to deal with jokey guides that thrust endless amounts of LBDs onto us. I would much prefer a style guide that explores shirt lengths, rolled sleeves or no, different jean cuts, how to wear shoes in, how to tie a scarf, how to pack a bag etc etc. Wouldn't that be something? 

So it started there. Then lin posted this quote from Josh Charles - my teenage crush circa Dead Poets society and, later, S.W.A.T (don't judge) - where he talked about feeling comfortable in clothes as the ultimate. Are we the same person? Then Mr Porter kept thrusting beautiful editorials with attractive men into my inbox, and I was struck by how amazing - and yet how simple - they all looked in chinos, sweaters and desert boots. Their Journal tab is incredible, and, need I say, begs the question why Net a Porter doesn't do something just like it. I know they have the magazine, but it's not as good as the Mr Porter journal, with its different themed features. "The Classic", where favourites like the Cable Knit sweater or the Burberry Trench Coat are explored throughout history, or my favourite, "The Knack", where all those tricky things about, well, being a man, are broken down. How to be a good dinner guest? Consider it done. These are life skills, and I'm not going to apologise for swotting up on those articles with reckless abandon. The NAP mag is great, but it's got nothing on the Mr Porter journal. 

So what is it, exactly, about menswear that is so inspiring? It must be, because there are women like Elle UK's Donna Wallace who dress completely head to ankle (not shoes, though) in items from the boys department. For me personally it's been about quality. I think, like Christina Brinkley pointed out, menswear is often about the highest quality materials, the best fit and the most comfort. Womenswear often sells poor quality things that don't fit well for exorbitant prices. Comfort is often the lowest on a long list of priorities. Also, menswear is about creating a point of interest in small details. Details such as the sliver of ankle between a too-cuffed pair of jeans and the top of a pair of boots. A tiny bit of grey marle tee shirt hanging out over a belt. Simple colour combinations in interesting textures. Excellent, excellent layering. Sometimes I think womenswear focusses on the big reveal when actually the tiny, almost insignificant touches are the most magical. Long time readers of this blog will know I feel strongly about that. It is truly a skill, but it's one that stylish men have in spades. Who else could make an outfit with a single square of fabric, folded neatly and tucked into a pocket? 

Menswear has given us countless wardrobe innovations. Shirts. Slacks. Hats. Suits. Sportswear. Brogues. Parkas. Vests. It's hard to contemplate the modern woman's wardrobe without it - mine included. But something I'm going to be doing more of is dissecting the menswear looks on the Sartorialist, rather than merely paying attention to the attractive of the men featured (woops, my bad). Likewise to Mr Porter. There's something very inspirational, yet under the radar that's going on at both of these sites. I'm still not quire sure what it is. I don't think I'm going to start shopping only in the menswear departments (unless it means only shopping at acne for the rest of my life, because the acne mens department is better than the womens hands down any day). But little things like showing a sliver of shirt underneath a cardigan, or cuffing my pants too high? They just might be my point of difference.

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suit up!

garance dore

I had fished it out of his closet - a starchy white shirt with crisp cuffs and drop shoulders, a pair of black trousers with a pleat front and deep pockets that I had to cuff three times, and a dark jacket (of course, it's not a suit without a jacket!) with glossy lapels and hard shoulder pads that I quickly cut off. I didn't have anything to wear that night, no dress to wear to the fancy party that my friends had fake tanned and blow dried and wriggled into sparkly dresses for. No dress at all really, I'm much more of a skirt kind of gal. So I did what any self-respecting Annie Hall fanatic would do and went straight to my dad's wardrobe. To be fair this wasn't my first foray into menswear. I had been pairing his stripey shirts (sleeves rolled up, natch) with leggings and tennis shoes for months - I was going through a little bit of an 80s-influenced American Apparel phase. But this was to be the first time I had taken a whole outfit; pants, shirt, jacket and all. The shoes would be taken care of at my end. There's nothing sexier than a suit with heels, right? But as for the rest of it? Well, thanks dad.

What an entrance. I've never been so comfortable or content at a party - never before or since. There's something about a suit that makes you relax a bit, it's all about the stance - hands thrust deep into pockets, jacket hanging off your shoulders like a cape, sitting with one ankle rested on the other knee. People came up to me - people who've never really had a nice thing to say to me - and said I looked great. I felt great! I had twisted my hair up into a messy chignon, slicked a bit of gloss on (hey! gloss was hot back then) and tried to emulate some of the greats of cross-dressing. Bianca Jagger in YSL at Studio 54. Diane Keaton in a three piece suit in Manhattan. A slick-haired Helmut Newton muse smoking on a Parisian street. I think I was less knowing, more naive, but oh, it felt good to play a part, even for just one night. It was the start of a long-term love affair with menswear that continues even to this day, and culminates in that suit now residing firmly in my own wardrobe and not my father's (sorry dad! but you did say yes). But at the time it wasn't about subverting traditions of dress or making a statement, it was born - as all good things in my life are - of a need to be comfortable, and a lack of anything else clean. From such beginnings do these things grow.

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