What are you wearing today??

[Bamaboots]

For jury duty this morning.

Stetson No. 1 quality, RLPL 3 button corduroy sport coat, RRL twill western shirt with marble snaps, Wrangler 936 Cowboy Cut jeans and Bob Wilson boots. Belt and accessories all handmade by various artists.

 

[GHT]

They're both great. It would be fun to take them both to a weekend event, wear them across two days in sequence. Keeping an overall colour-theme for the event, but switching it up each day.

You are ahead of me Edward. Switching blazer jackets is something that I had in mind for Twinwood later this year. The hat and trousers go well with both blazers. The shoes, shirt and tie not so, but who would remember? "Wasn't that blazer green yesterday?"

 

[Edward]

Currently teaching in Beijing, so the warmer weather clothes are starting to appear.... These are from the last week or so...

Trousers are Kay Canvas repro US Army WW2 Summer Issue Chinos.

These are another pair of the same trouser that I threw in the washing machine with a Dylon dyepod. ('Emerald Green' being the designation - they also have a 'forest green' which is a military-style, olive green.) No idea why they look so low slung in this photo - they do sit nicely on my natural waist just like the un-dyed pair!

I have a third pair at home, waiting to be dyed black. This experiment being successful, my next move may be to have a similar go with a pair of WPG's KD Service Dress trousers. So far they've been great - nice and wide in the leg, practical for everyday wear.

And this last one is from this morning, beginning of week 2 of this block of teaching - EU data protection law. Change of campus, change of hotel, change of class. In the Holiday Inn nearer in town, which is a bonus. The hotel over at ShaHe is lovely, very new, very flash, but it's also well out of the middle of town, and still an area with nothing in the way of shops / restaurants, so it has its limits. As more of a business hotel with no tourist clientele (and, as of yet, no international business trade, though that is likely to change), there's very little English spoken, so it feels like a return to c.2006 - or like living in a Douglas Coupland novel. Perfectly pleasant as long as one accepts the limitations this brings. A slightly cooler day today for Beijing at this time of year (it's 14 Celsius out there. Positively balmy for me, but the locals are out in their cooler weather gear still.

 

[GHT]

Currently teaching in Beijing, so the warmer weather clothes are starting to appear.... These are from the last week or so...

View attachment 510937

Trousers are Kay Canvas repro US Army WW2 Summer Issue Chinos.

View attachment 510941

These are another pair of the same trouser that I threw in the washing machine with a Dylon dyepod. ('Emerald Green' being the designation - they also have a 'forest green' which is a military-style, olive green.) No idea why they look so low slung in this photo - they do sit nicely on my natural waist just like the un-dyed pair!

I have a third pair at home, waiting to be dyed black. This experiment being successful, my next move may be to have a similar go with a pair of WPG's KD Service Dress trousers. So far they've been great - nice and wide in the leg, practical for everyday wear.

View attachment 510942

And this last one is from this morning, beginning of week 2 of this block of teaching - EU data protection law. Change of campus, change of hotel, change of class. In the Holiday Inn nearer in town, which is a bonus. The hotel over at ShaHe is lovely, very new, very flash, but it's also well out of the middle of town, and still an area with nothing in the way of shops / restaurants, so it has its limits. As more of a business hotel with no tourist clientele (and, as of yet, no international business trade, though that is likely to change), there's very little English spoken, so it feels like a return to c.2006 - or like living in a Douglas Coupland novel. Perfectly pleasant as long as one accepts the limitations this brings. A slightly cooler day today for Beijing at this time of year (it's 14 Celsius out there. Positively balmy for me, but the locals are out in their cooler weather gear still.

Looking good Edward, as for teaching EU data protection law, such a heavy subject might not command 100% attention when the lecturer is so impeccably attired. Got to love those baggies and are those shoes in pics one and three, Gibsons? Fab-u-lous!


This blazer was one of those lucky finds. It didn't quite fit, but my wife did a bit of her wand waving, however, it was obviously an expensive, made to measure jacket and will only ever fit perfectly someone of similar dimensions of the original owner.

So..........there's a replacement in the pipeline:

My tailor is going to do something similar to Simon SJC's period suit.
The box pleat pockets will be replaced by a pattern matched patch
pocket, it will be single breasted and the lapels will be the wide peak style.
The fabric is as above.

 

[Cuvier]

Looking good Edward, as for teaching EU data protection law, such a heavy subject might not command 100% attention when the lecturer is so impeccably attired. Got to love those baggies and are those shoes in pics one and three, Gibsons? Fab-u-lous!

View attachment 511057
This blazer was one of those lucky finds. It didn't quite fit, but my wife did a bit of her wand waving, however, it was obviously an expensive, made to measure jacket and will only ever fit perfectly someone of similar dimensions of the original owner.

So..........there's a replacement in the pipeline:
View attachment 511059
My tailor is going to do something similar to Simon SJC's period suit.
The box pleat pockets will be replaced by a pattern matched patch
pocket, it will be single breasted and the lapels will be the wide peak style.
The fabric is as above.

GHT I greatly look forward to seeing your suits. You've got a great look.

 

[GHT]

GHT I greatly look forward to seeing your suits. You've got a great look.

You're a true gentleman, good Sir, thank you for the generous compliment. It helps having a very talented lady who is gifted with sewing skills, she also has a flare for style, design and colour match/colour coordination. Something tells me you will like the blazer design when it's finished and I can post it.

 

[Cuvier]

You're a true gentleman, good Sir, thank you for the generous compliment. It helps having a very talented lady who is gifted with sewing skills, she also has a flare for style, design and colour match/colour coordination. Something tells me you will like the blazer design when it's finished and I can post it.

Most likely. I wish someone could teach me to sew like that. I have a hard time finding anything I like but I can't figure out how to sew to make my own. Which is hilarious considering my job for over a decade was building fixing and repairing things as a contractor.

 

[Edward]

Looking good Edward, as for teaching EU data protection law, such a heavy subject might not command 100% attention when the lecturer is so impeccably attired. Got to love those baggies and are those shoes in pics one and three, Gibsons? Fab-u-lous!

Thank-you, high praise indeed considering the source! The shoes are actually penny loafers; Terry Smith is the label; I bought them from Morellos. Very impressed with the quality, I'd buy more in other colours if they only updated the website. These are every bit as good as any of my other (markedly more expensive) pairs, good fit too. Alas, Morellos don't seem to update their website much - I suppose like a lot of these sort of suppliers they do most of their business at weekenders.

View attachment 511057
This blazer was one of those lucky finds. It didn't quite fit, but my wife did a bit of her wand waving, however, it was obviously an expensive, made to measure jacket and will only ever fit perfectly someone of similar dimensions of the original owner.

So..........there's a replacement in the pipeline:
View attachment 511059
My tailor is going to do something similar to Simon SJC's period suit.
The box pleat pockets will be replaced by a pattern matched patch
pocket, it will be single breasted and the lapels will be the wide peak style.
The fabric is as above.

I look forward to seeing the finished article, it sounds great.

Most likely. I wish someone could teach me to sew like that. I have a hard time finding anything I like but I can't figure out how to sew to make my own. Which is hilarious considering my job for over a decade was building fixing and repairing things as a contractor.

I think everyone has a particular medium that meshes with their skillset just so... I remember when I interviewed Ken at Aero a few years ago, he wasn't best complimentary of his own earliest efforts in clothes making, but when he started with leather, he just had a flair for it...

 

[Cuvier]

I think everyone has a particular medium that meshes with their skillset just so... I remember when I interviewed Ken at Aero a few years ago, he wasn't best complimentary of his own earliest efforts in clothes making, but when he started with leather, he just had a flair for it...

That's true. I'm good with wood great with stone. And while I can make solid leather goods they're not decorative, very utilitarian. I don't have an artistic flair but I'm good with colors, framing, and layouts. With sewing I have a hard time with machines. I have one but I can't use it. I break threads and needles. I jam the lower bobbin thing. I can hand sew to an extent but I lack the time needed to complete large projects so I have to limit myself to patches and repairs. I have patterns for a few things I want but I hesitate to start as I can't run that machine. I need to find a sewing class.

 

[GHT]

Most likely. I wish someone could teach me to sew like that.

My wife's talent is probably due to the fact that she took an interest in sewing when she was a child. Her aunt encouraged her and showed her the basics. A child's brain is like a sponge absorbing knowledge without thinking of it as a lesson. At our previous address our neighbours were a British and Dutch couple whose business had taken them to reside in first, Germany and then France. Their four small children all spoke Dutch, French, German and English fluently, children are amazing.

This blazer was a great find, and at a knock down price. I like it so much that I have tried to find a similar fabric for my tailor to create a replacement. The problem is it's about one size too small, not quite enough fabric for Tina to make a suitable alteration, so I just do as the vendor suggested and wear it with the front open.

You can clearly see my wife's sewing skills, how I love the baggy trousers that she makes for me. High waisted with pleated detail, they fit like a glove and draw many a compliment. They are a perfect accessory to my blazer.

 

[GHT]

The hat is one of the bespoke hats that I have made, The shirt came from Darcy: https://www.darcyclothing.com/ The tie, who knows, I have a draw, fall of ties.
The blazer came from Samuel Windsor. https://www.samuel-windsor.co.uk/ The original
proprietors retired and closed the company down. It's up and running again so my
guess is that some deal has been done. There's a rather nice pair of spectators
on the new Samuel Windsor website that have taken my eye.

Not bad for fifty pounds. My own shoes above came from former Lounger SimonC, now trading as Cathcart Heritage. https://www.cathcartheritage.com/ My trousers were made by my talented wife, Tina. My new blue blazer keeps calling me from inside it's dust cover, but it can wait.

 

[Cuvier]

https://www.samuel-windsor.co.uk/ The original
proprietors retired and closed the company down. It's up and running again so my
guess is that some deal has been done. There's a rather nice pair of spectators
on the new Samuel Windsor website that have taken my eye.


View attachment 511975
Not bad for fifty pounds.

It's a shame that Samuel Windsor doesn't ship internationally. I rather like their shoes.

 

[GHT]

It's a shame that Samuel Windsor doesn't ship internationally. I rather like their shoes.

You might try making personal contact, shipping from the UK isn't difficult. You might have seen one or two of the Aloha shirts that my wife has made for me. She found, online, quite by chance, a small business in Honolulu that sold the bright coloured fabrics so synonymous with Hawaiian shirts. She gave the lady a phone call, I no not the telephone conversation, but we had packages of fabric delivered by Royal Mail and I have a wardrobe full of beautiful shirts.

Remember with shoes, American size is a half size bigger than UK size. So if for example you would buy a size nine in Texas, a UK size eight and a half would be about the same. It was because of that difference that I found out my metric size and use that.

The current US Dollar, UK Pound exchange rate is very much in favour of the US, so those shoes, excluding shipping, would cost just $62:47. Well worth looking into.

 

[Edward]

View attachment 511974
The hat is one of the bespoke hats that I have made, The shirt came from Darcy: https://www.darcyclothing.com/ The tie, who knows, I have a draw, fall of ties.
The blazer came from Samuel Windsor. https://www.samuel-windsor.co.uk/ The original
proprietors retired and closed the company down. It's up and running again so my
guess is that some deal has been done. There's a rather nice pair of spectators
on the new Samuel Windsor website that have taken my eye.


View attachment 511975
Not bad for fifty pounds. My own shoes above came from former Lounger SimonC, now trading as Cathcart Heritage. https://www.cathcartheritage.com/ My trousers were made by my talented wife, Tina. My new blue blazer keeps calling me from inside it's dust cover, but it can wait.

I've had a few pairs of Samuel Windsor shoes over the years. They have their distinct detractors, but I always found them very decent for the money, if you go in with realistic expectations. They won't make financial sense to resole like a pair of Trickers or high end Grensons, but some years ago I had a pair which I wore, hard, at least five days a week for eighteen months without any trouble before they started to be a little past their best. For shoes you might not want or need to wear with any great regularity, they are ideal. (The basket weave penny loafers have a certain appeal for me.) For something I'd want to wear with great regularity now I think I'd go up a notch to the Charles Tyrwhitt line of shoes, but those are more than double the price of SWs. I've had maybe half a dozen pairs of SWs over time. The quality varied somewhat, from the truly outstanding for the money to the acceptable for the money. The better ones reminded me of Clarks, which I always found to be very good. When I decided to experiment with a pair of brown suede brogues, they were perfect. These are a shoe I enjoy, but don't wear with any great regularity, so the SWs are really the sweet spot.

My experience, of course, is all with the original company; I can't comment with any experience of the new owners. I can't imagine much has changed, though, given from the buyer end the business model looks to be the same.

Those SW boating blazers were a joy. I bought one back in 2018, and always intended to pick up the other colours. Alas, when the closing down sale rolled around I missed then in my size, so lost out. I do keep hoping they reintroduce them, but it seems the people who have bought the brand intend at least for now to concentrate on the shoes.

 

[GHT]

Those SW boating blazers were a joy. I bought one back in 2018, and always intended to pick up the other colours. Alas, when the closing down sale rolled around I missed then in my size, so lost out. I do keep hoping they reintroduce them, but it seems the people who have bought the brand intend at least for now to concentrate on the shoes.

They are excellent value and as you say, a real joy. In my working life it was all formal dark suits, mostly navy or the darker hues of grey. Usually with a feint pin stripe. Nowadays, although I still work I am no longer the head honcho, but I have stood in a few times when needs must. Samuel Windsor blazers get worn with regularity, the brighter ones when the sun is out and the two navy ones to brighten a cloudy day. Sometimes I wonder if Samuel Windsor knew how complimentary and therefore, how popular their blazers are, the new owners might consider relaunching them. We shall have to watch this space.

 

[MisplacedHillbilly]

Most working days.....

 

[Edward]

Stripes appear to be a theme this week.

Meeting a hero last night - Glen Matlock, who wrote songs that changed my life:

And the Third Chap Flaneur, Sunday 14th, featuring a new blazer that rather gives off a 'Where's Wally?' vibe in group shots:

 

[Edward]

(The new umbrella also has red spines inside, but it worked its magic on the weather, the brandishing of it scaring away all but bright sunshine.)

 

[GHT]

Stripes appear to be a theme this week.

Meeting a hero last night - Glen Matlock, who wrote songs that changed my life:

View attachment 518003

And the Third Chap Flaneur, Sunday 14th, featuring a new blazer that rather gives off a 'Where's Wally?' vibe in group shots:

View attachment 518005
View attachment 518006 View attachment 518007

You look impeccable in the fine red blazer Edward, had I known of The Flâneur I might have just had time to get to London. I do have a penchant for the striped sports blazer. Having spent a working life in somewhat conservative suits, my backside polishing the squab of the leather seat that sat behind a desk and no longer being the head honcho, I can indulge what some describe as, loud, personally I prefer flamboyant, striped, sports blazers, of which, I have one or two.

 

[FOXTROT LAMONT]

(The new umbrella also has red spines inside, but it worked its magic on the weather, the brandishing of it scaring away all but bright sunshine.)

Outstanding style and tone. Saw the pipe. Found my college bulldog curved briar months ago but yet to renew acquaintance with a regular blend now Frog Morton is gone.