Oliver Reed: How To Wear DB Blazer

Here's a man who owned the look.

Brooks Brothers Italy - What's Not True?

Pasta fagioli in Northern Italy is so thick a spoon can stand in it.  In Southern Italy, it's much more soupy. Along the same lines, Italian menswear can mean the closed vent, glossy, grey double breasted, grey shoed fella, you see standing outside Boyds in Philadelphia. Or, it can mean the side vented, navy flannel, Anglo look that Italians do better than the English.  Regardless of your preferred aesthetic, you can always count on texture taking a higher profile than anything English or American

Only the French make as big a deal about cloth and it's critical participation in communicating "oomph" --  If that's a word.  The British suit of armor, a 6/4 db in dark grey or navy wool, depends on cut and balance with the occasional  flash of a bright Bemberg lining. It's a soldiery look that can be as tight as their umbrellas.

The French and Italians use texture as if to say, "Come touch me."  It's all about contrast through nubby jackets, smooth flannel trousers and cashmere scarves. Masses of layers: sweaters, shirts, chest hair and even wrists decorated with rows of multi-colored beads or, in France, Noir Desire tattoos.

I'm shown a rack of Italian looking apparel and am told it's a new line called, "Italy." And why not, I think.  It makes all the sense in the world.  Huge retailer that BB is, what with pipelines to vendors in Italy, it's a no brainer.  Then I see the 'Made in Thailand' tag and I remember my favorite line from the 1965 film, Mickey One, where Warren Beatty asks, "What's not true?" 

I just assume if a line is called, 'Italy' it's made in Italy.  I look to see if it's all made in Thailand but nothing else on the rack is tagged.  To be fair, it happens a lot during Fashion Week. Sometimes vendors are changed, styles dropped, goods replaced... Nothing is written in stone.  Which makes, "What's not true?" much more difficult than it sounds -- Especially when you're talking to Mickey Two.

Check back here tomorrow for what Brooks Brother's is calling their Global Citizen line, 

"Urbane and cosmopolitan, the global citizen  feels perfectly at home wherever he goes. It is the blending of seemingly opposite ideas..." 

I call it, "First Class Coach" and I mean that in a good way.  

Billy Reid & the Tallahatchie Bridge

Water Rat lined coat - What do I know


Better you than me -- That's what I know

20 years ago, I was having dinner at Bistro 110 in Chicago with an ex-college roommate who's a screenwriter and film producer. He asked what I thought of his recent film, a sequel to a movie four years earlier. I slathered baked garlic on my bread and told him I wasn't sure why he did it. He looked visibly hurt and said, "I personally made over one million dollars on that film." I replied, "What the fuck do I know."

I look at Billy Reid and feel much the same as I did all those years ago. "What the fuck do I know." Today, as it was then, not so much as a question but as a statement. Reid's press release makes much of how recent travels to London and Europe inspired this collection for F/W 2012. You can take the boy outta the South but it's hard to take the South outta the boy... as they say.


A shoe with everything on it

The expression, 'Less is more' tends to thrive best north of the Mason Dixon Line. Of course, I'm General Izing but then, I'm an Army man. The South has always like the idea of 'everything on it.' Not that I advocate the minimal black trouser/turtleneck dude living with three pieces of Danish furniture in a Mies van der Rohe apartment. There is a middle ground.





It's just not here. The Blue Velvet suit ($2,195) threw me back to Charlotte, NC where drug store developed pictures of velvet clad prom boys in ruffled shirts with sideburns extending from their ear lobe to the corners of their mouths, sat proudly on stereo consoles all over Mecklenburg County. I'll never tell you what to wear, but if this is the look you're after, you can find it at Goodwill for considerably less.


I liked the Tweed suit ($2,295) with peak lapels. Not an entirely smart choice if last Winter is any indication of the global warming to come but damned good looking. Refreshingly center vented with a Daks waistband and the tweed is butter soft.




Camel hair sport coats ($TBD) are everywhere in the South. I'm not sure why I've never owned one. They're great looking with all matter of trouser: grey flannel, tartan, jean, cords...just stay away from khakis.

This one's incredibly well made but has peak lapels and side vents. This is exactly what an insurance agent from Charleston would come up with on Savile Row while visiting London for the first time. I'm guessing he would wear it in June with a Vineyard Vines tie.



The "Big Raincoat" ($795) or Duster, a la J Peterman, is a reminder that some men can pull stuff off that others can't. It's a great look if you're tall. Not so much if you're living in a world of boobs and belt buckles like some men I know (and am).




Billy's belts offer width over the narrow straps and Tiffany buckles so loved by the South (and me). Everybody is doing cheap versions these days: J Crew, Tommy H, Rugby... the usual suspects. The Reid buckle is distressed and that's silly. Made in Italy, it's got some heft and so, while never with a suit, it would show well with a sport coat. Monogram it with something witty like, "DRINK?" and you'll be miles ahead of the LOSER, Andy Spade.


Not very funny are two double breasted suits of such tire screeching anachronism that they belong in a Bobbie Gentry song. There's long been speculation over what Billy Joe and his girlfriend threw off the Tallahatchie Bridge. Whatever it was, I wish Billy Joe was wearing one of these suits when he jumped.




A grey wool DB called the Anderson ($1,695) comes with peak lapels and balanced button holes. As it should. The fabric is reflective of the price and I can live with that. Problems start with a patch breast pocket and end with a center vent. Things start getting weird with a jacket that buttons right to left.




Next is a cashmere grey DB ($3,295) that has peak lapels but the right lapel is missing a button hole. This is common in countries like Germany -- where apparel design is like watching someone hammer nails with a Stradivarius. The patch pocket stays and like the Anderson, throws off the stream lined DB aesthetic that is so London. The center vent remains but at least it buttons left to right.

I'm guessing that these two d-b's are cut for tall skinny guys with no ass. Hard to tell. If so, it's a look that the youth should enjoy. In the mean time, I'm looking for 1970s Soviet magazines that featured suits like these -- almost exclusively worn by mustached civil engineers in Estonia.


My bang-the-table favorite is this Engineer ($?) boot. I was told the leather has been through some sort of wash. It reminds me of my father's elephant skin wallet he bought in Vietnam. There's a crinkle finish that looks like an elephant butt with cracks that give it character. Simple. Soulful. Worn easily by anyone. Only problem is...no one knows how much it is or if it's even being made. The one thing I really like...but then, what the fuck do I know.

Update on the boot: Received following from Billy Reid's p.r. firm, "You can credit the boot as price upon request because it's not being produced. However, if someone was interested in purchasing it, they could contact the New York store at 212-598-9355 to inquire if they have a similar item or if the boot could be made for them.

Double Breasted Rules

He's not nine but you get the idea... (from The Trad Library)


DB with unbuttoned button down


The highly evolved Mr Boyer

"It's over yonder -- by that Fry-toe Lay truck. " I looked 'over yonder' to see a Frito Lay truck in a shopping center parking lot somewhere in North Carolina. 'Frytoe Lay.' 'Over yonder.' Language I'm still unsure of but understand.

Beth Hyer gave me a small bag of Frito Lay chips in 4th grade at St Thomas More in Chapel Hill. She was stunning in her plaid jumper and crisply starched white shirt with Peter Pan collar. I wore a blue blazer, dark grey trousers, a white shirt and a navy clip on tie. There was one kid in my class who wore a double breasted blazer. I didn't like him. Not even a little.

It's hard to write about a double breasted blazer. Not because it's too damned hot to even think about it but, like a middle aged purchase of a Porsche Boxster, it comes with a whole lotta baggage. The rules are simple: Navy only. Peak lapel. Side vent. Six button. Never with a button down collar shirt. Good rules. Nothing is more vacuous than a notch lapel DB blazer -- unless it has a center vent and comes in maroon. One shudders at the thought.

A small detail overlooked by ready made retailers is the required button hole on each peak lapel. For some unknown reason, I'm guessing cost, ready made double breasted usually has only one button hole. This is as criminal as a notch lapel to the cognoscenti.

A simple fix is to have the retailer add a button hole to the other lapel. It's not easy and they'll try to talk to you out of it, but stand your ground or go someplace else. Chicago's Michigan Avenue Brooks Brothers did it for me and they did a good job. The head tailor also told me what a pain in the ass it was but he assured me he understood my desire for balance.

A friend lives in Los Angeles and he's mastered the not so balanced West Coast casual look. Sockless & Gucci-ed, open collared & waistcoated, he runs every day and looks 10 years younger than his age. He also has custom shirts made with double cuffs, button down collar and a monogram on the pocket. And while he likes to wear this shirt with a DB blazer, I blame this lapse in judgement on L.A. and not him.

There is an old rule about never wearing a button down collar with double breasted anything. Once aware of the rule, it's easy to see the clash between soaring peak lapels and a constricted collar anchored with buttons. It's just wrong. Spread collar is preferred even if it's open which the English like to do. But what about a unbuttoned-button down collar?

The highly evolved know they're breaking a rule so they leave the collar unbuttoned. This is language to those in the know that you know, you know, what's going on. The DB is complicated language.

Yanks prefer the blazer buttoned up to the Brits who prefer to wear it unbuttoned. Wearing it unbuttoned in the States or buttoned up in London leads to more language problems. It's another language I understand but am never sure of. This much I do know -- Never give a double breasted blazer to a nine year old.

Bemberg Part II

The other side of yesterday's purple lining. Worn with an old Airey & Wheeler shirt and a very old Feragamo tie. I don't think the suit has been pressed since I bought it and it certainly shows along with a couple lunches on the lapels.

Formal Week: Double Breasted

The Double-Breasted Dinner Jacket

The Contrast of B&W

I've always had a thing for the double breasted dinner jacket. I first saw it at a New Year's Eve party held at my college during freshman Winter break. There was no rule against students attending but pricey tickets and the fact that most students were home for the holidays certainly helped keep many away. My date, president of the SGA, and I got the distinct feeling many of the faculty (who were there gratis) wished we were someplace else.

My art professor was a little kooky and consequently he and his beautiful German wife hung out with us. In a sea of single breasted dinner jackets -- he alone-- was elegantly clad in the most beautiful double breasted dinner jacket matched only by a tartan dinner coat worn by a very preppy architect. It was a vintage double breasted dinner jacket he found from the 30's and it looked it. Rather than the cloth covered buttons so common on American evening wear - - his were larger and plain black with a beautiful shine. It looked bespoke and I didn't know what bespoke was.

This double breasted coat is far from bespoke. I bought it some place off the Edens north of Chicago for $99 and am proud to say it still fits. Made in the USA and I'm pretty sure in Chicago. It has pocket flaps which are a big no-no so I tuck the flap in the pocket and voila, double bessom. My only regret is it's ventless but what do want for a hundred bucks.

Here's a tip that took me a while to figure out. Studs, especially those with the annoying push in stalks, are best placed in the shirt before you put it on. Leave the top stud near the neck out and pull the shirt on over your head. Then you only have to deal with the one by your neck. And one other thing. Get dressed early. You'll need an extra hour at least. Most of it will be spent on the studs.

I've mentioned my disdain for pocket squares before. And I continue to buy them. Why, I don't know. But this Hermes pocket square works. The studs pair nicely with the bow tie and for the most part it's a simple and inexpensive approach. Although, now that I think of it...the pocket square did cost more than the tuxedo.