Crazy Italians

[MaximOfSurrey]

Okay, I don't mean crazy in a bad way. I was bumbling along through google when I stumbled across this man's website. Now to me he's a bit of a snob but what struck me was his write-up on Interno 8. What specifically got were the shirts... "some cuffs were cut to Art Deco angles. Another seemed to have a watch sewn into it. (In fact, a circular piece had been cut from the cuff, allowing the watch face to be visible but covering the strap – a conceit first devised by Signor Galasso for the President of the Fiat motor company.)"

Now this 'watch hole' interests me. For me at least it's a bit of a pain to pull back my shirt cuff because it's a litte close fitting. With these however all you'd have to do is pull back the jacket sleeve and presto. Not to mention it'd keep a hot leather/rubber watchband off my wrist in the boiling heat we sometimes get here in the summer.

Plus I think it's a neat innovation that I haven't seen around anywhere else.

Useful or tacky? Discuss.

Article in question.

http://www.bownsbespoke.com/interno8.htm

 

[Sefton]

I like the fact that the sleeve protects my vintage writstwatch,so not for me. Interesting though maybe not crazy...

 

[Roger]

How innovative. I like it.

 

[BellyTank]

Not crazy, just really stupid.

B
T

 

[John K Stetson]

Gianni Agnelli wore his watch over his shirt cuff, and I've seen other Italian males do this too. Perhaps this cuff style is a compromise.

 

[cookie]

Thick wrists

Gianni Agnelli wore his watch over his shirt cuff, and I've seen other Italian males do this too. Perhaps this cuff style is a compromise.

Maybe Agnelli had my problem...

 

[Fletch]

Seems to me an affectation of the industrious north, where so much of "Italian style" comes from. (Gay Talese would probably disagree.)

Ironically, northerners are just about the least Crazy Italians of all.

(Disclaimer: I myself am of partly northern Italian heritage, and I am crazy.)

 

[Feraud]

Bleh! Ugly.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

Bleh! Ugly.

I couldn't have put it better myself!!

 

[Jovan]

As a person who relies on his mobile phone for the time... nope, not for me. It isn't very aesthetically pleasing to begin with.

I've never quite understood the watch over the cuff thing either. Is it really Italian? Because I wouldn't quite class tapered, no break trouser bottoms as being Italian either... those originated back in the '20s. A claim the Sartorialist has a habit of making is that the skinny end of your tie protruding out the bottom of the wide end is an Italian style too. What gives him this idea? It just looks to me as if the poor gent's tie is too long for him.

 

[Edward]

Saw this sort of thing years ago. Interesting curio, but not for me. I'm sure there's folks could make this work as part of their look, it's just not something i've ever cared for. I also like the idea that the shirt cuff provides a level of protection for my watch.

 

[Orgetorix]

Agnelli generally wore barrel cuffs, with his watch over them. This (at least the one on the left) looks like a French-cuff interpretation of that style.

In any case it smacks too much of different for the sake of being different, which is never a good thing when it comes to men's style. And rarely is a good thing when it comes to anything else.

 

[Orgetorix]

What gives him this idea?

Probably the fact that he sees a lot of Italian men doing it, and not a lot of others.

 

[cookie]

Fletch's Italian Connection

Seems to me an affectation of the industrious north, where so much of "Italian style" comes from. (Gay Talese would probably disagree.)

Ironically, northerners are just about the least Crazy Italians of all.

(Disclaimer: I myself am of partly northern Italian heritage, and I am crazy.)

Deal with it by eating less polenta and more tomatoes!

 

[Milu]

The watch over the cuff was an affectation by Agnelli, used as apparently watches, worn normally by him around the wrist, would stop. Others simply copied him. The story that it was huge cocaine intake that caused the problem is probably mistaken.

 

[Jovan]

Probably the fact that he sees a lot of Italian men doing it, and not a lot of others.

Well, in general Italian men are shorter, no?

 

[Orgetorix]

Well, in general Italian men are shorter, no?

Perhaps...but the men he's shown sporting that look, short or not, seem well-dressed enough that it's not likely to be an accident.

 

[NicolettaRose]

very strange.

 

[Jovan]

Indeed... I wouldn't see how that's really stylish. Then again, I break so many other "rules" I shouldn't be talking. -_-

 

[Dinerman]

Not my thing. Seems like it's more trouble than it's worth, and looks funny to boot.