I love America - Or, rather, I love the best of America.
I love what America symbolised to me growing up as a kid in London. America meant choices and options. America meant possibilities. America meant a bigger world with a greater embrace of style - I'd seen the films...I knew America had style.
America blended formality with casualness - America had Cary Grant! Had Cary 'Carried On' like Cary back in his native Bristol, UK, he would have been floating down the Docks within minutes ! And that's another American freedom I love. Showbiz is allowed !
Today I live in Bristol., By The Harbourside which used to be the Docks and to go into town I have to walk past a certain statue which means a lot to me:
Archie Leach in bronze carrying the script from 'To Catch A Thief.'
It's always lovely to see him....
Archie - We remember all the impossible possibilities you offered us all in terms of style and class. And we love you for that. And we know that if we were ever to say this to your face that you would just raise an eyebrow and say "Oh, come on..." We'd expect nothing less.
To you, Sir.
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11 comments:
Whenever my brother has a difficult situation I always tell him "Be Cary Grant", our secret code for carry yourself with style even if you're paralyzed with fear....it works every time. Just ask Archie Leach.
America meant you didn't have to grow up speaking German.
A sweet and sincere tribute from DJFM - thank you.
"Everyone wants to be Cary Grant — even I want to be Cary Grant," -Cary Grant
-DB
Great piece. I watched 'To Catch A Thief' last night. :)
I thought you were a New Yorker...or do just cross the pond at your leisure?
Jimmy here (DJFM) - Thank you to all for the kind comments. Writing this for John was a real pleasure.
TRVS - I'm a London lad and it was from the American clothing scene in London centred around John Simons that I later explored the US.
Best Wishes -
Jimmy, Thanks for sorting that out with TRVS. Jimmy, aka, Russell Street, and I are kicking around some ideas for the British take on Ivy. It's something I saw a lot of in London around the late '80s and early '90s.
Not so much a Robt Elms, The Way We Wore, kinda thing but a simpler and shorter explanation of Ivy's British origins as well as how American Ivy influences UK Ivy today.
Maybe we could try something like this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGt21q1AjuI
Just chalk it up to yet another dumb blonde moment...Mr. Grant would forgive me. ;)
~M.
Tintin - All good ideas. Always a pleasure working with you. Jimmy/Russell Street.
Yep I'm a fan too. It was that grey suit in North by Northwest that first sparked my interest in stylish dressing. Never met Eve Marie Saint in a transcontinental sleeper though.
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