London Part IV: A Group Shot
From left to right: Dave (costume designer/collector), Ross (photog.), Charlotte (knitwear designer), Lena (writer). They said they knew the site which made me blush. Really cool bunch to say the least.
Tag Archives: United Kingdom
London Part II – Dealers, Collectors and their wares
I dont shoot many women, Had to post this picture. She makes her own lego earrings. do love her eyeglasses and haircut too. She was pretty rad all around.
One of the coolest bobmer jackets i have ever seen. Probably home made.
Never sen anything quite like it. Two tone trench! Of course later that same day I saw a gal in a cafe wearing a trench that was completely two different colors!
Khaki motorcycle jackets are just too cool. Almost harder to wear than a leather version of the same styles..
London Part I
I wish i could say her dad had a tie on and it was tucked into his trousers, but he was probably wearing bootcut jeans with puma trainers and a skinnyminny 80's rocker tie tied loosely around his neck like a necklace as so many other european men are these days. but these school kids were dressed so well. With all these American Apparel stores poping up, and haberdasheries closing, where will the british dandies be shopping?
This fella manages one of the Paul Smith shops
Thought this woman was so on point with her wide trousers, large brimmed fedora and leather jacket ! (she doesn't work in fashion)
Just a butcher working in his straw hat
Guillermo
What a great example of a single pleated high waisted trouser. Of course i love his Turnbull & Asser shirt with that popping pink and blue. I have been seeing a ton of khaki lately ! trench coats and pants as of late. Maybe we will see the drop crotch boys in girls jeans fad fade..
Drake’s Of London Ties & Squares
I love this tie and the kind folks over at Drake's taught me about madder and referred me to a piece by G. Bruce Boyer
If you dont know him, look him up asap.
madder- a natural dye from a Eurasian herbaceous plant, Rubia tinctoria, the root of which was used since ancient times as a regal dyestuff. Thus “ancient” madder. Since the 19th Century the dye has primarily been used on silk, producing beautifully deep, muted and soft colorations of red, green, chocolate, medium blue, and yellow. Silk dyed in this manner is characterized by a dusty-looking finish and a feel (referred to as a chalk hand by the experts) very much like a fine suede, and a matte finish. And not just any silk. A special “gum” silk, is used. The silk is first boiled to remove its natural gum (an organic resin), dyed, and then the fabric is bathed in a new gum-based solution that gives it its characteristic soft handle and heft.
Today the process is employed mainly for neckwear printed in England in a paisley or small geometric pattern. The coloring agent in madder root – called alizarin — was in fact first chemically extracted and then synthesized in 1869 by two English chemists. Although the dyeing process, even today, requires a variety of painstaking steps, synthesized alizarin brought the price within the reach of commercial producers, and paisley-designed silks of ancient madder became popular in the second-half of Victoria’s reign for neckwear and scarves.
Paisley madder ties have been a status symbol on college campuses since the 1930s, as a natty alternative to the traditional striped tie. Paired with a tweed sports jacket, they’re as conservatively colorful and slightly idiosyncratic today as ever.
This next group of ties are in the crystal weave, a very old fashioned cloth that was originally done for college reppe stripe ties. The smart folks at Drake's thought they'd give it a nice little twist to quote Michael Hill. The plaid is five colored special warp so very unusual and not easy to weave. The gingham is also an end on end warp (woven with both black and white in the warp