My Hero

If you have ever been on a blog site like the Sartorialist or just had a perusal on the internet regarding mens fashion or street style you would have evidently come across this man....

A one Mr Nick Wooster.  Wooster is the Men's Fashion Director of Neiman Marcus Group Services, and has been an internet hit amongst trend and fashion websites and blogs.  This is due to his impeccable dress sense and the fact that he is the sheer definition of sartorialism.  Also at 5'5" he is out there representing us shorter gentlemen, so god bless you for that Nick.

Hmm I would say however...Short, quiff, moustache, tattoos,  Sartorial yet quirky dress sense....remind you of anybody?  I think he might have been taking tips from a young David Adams.  So watch out Nick I'm coming for you.

Hot off the Row

I've just got in some new cloth from the kind people at Holland & Sherry of Savile Row.  Here you can see some beautiful dark green cotton velvet, a blue and black 100% wool Herringbone, a grey and red Donegal tweed and a 100% worsted wool purple and white Herringbone.

This is all for a very exciting project that I am working on.  More details on that will be coming soon.

Look out winter 2012/13

Last week saw the catwalks of Milan light up again with some magnificent shows from the likes of Prada, Gucci, Dolce and Gabbana and Alexander McQueen for their menswear fall 2012/13 collections.  So there will be some trends to look out for next winter.  

                          Gucci                                                                           Gucci


There were a trends of high gauges, double breasted, kneelength coats, drain pipe trousers and overall well fitted garments.  There were some beatiful colour palletes along with black that constited of deep rich colours including turquoise, burgundy, yellow, red, navy and puple.  

                          Alexander McQueen                                               Gucci

                         Gucci                                                              Dolce and Gabbana


Mix these with multi tonal fabrics including floral and camouflage.  Also a variant of textures and fabrics including velvets, furs, leathers, wool, tweeds, silks, satins, patent leather and sequins.  Details and embellishments included gold zips fastenings and embroidery.

                                     
                          Dolce and Gabbana                                                Alexander Mqueen                    




A lot had a 19th century decant feel.  So I hate to say I told you so.

                          Alexander McQueen                                                Prada


My favourite shows have to be, Prada with their use of blacks and reds, long coats and fur collars.  Not to mention using some of Hollywoods elite as models including Adrien Brody, Emile Hirsch, Gary Oldman, Jamie Bell, Tim Roth, and William Dafoe.

                          Prada                                                            Dolce and Gabbana


My other favourite show was Dolce and Gabbana with the shear gravitas of the show its self and the beautifully embroidered jackets and capes.

Tattoos and Tailoring

Zombie Boy


Rick Genest (AKA ZOMBIE BOY) has had a real life rags to riches tail.  After leaving high school at 17 he immersed himself in the underground punk rock scene in Montreal and was homeless and living in abandoned buildings.  He got his first tattoo at 16 which was a a skull and crossbones on his left shoulder.  By 19 he was committed to his full body tattoo project and stayed loyal to Montreal artist Frank Lewis, who designed the majority of his body over the next six years.  

In early January 2011, he was spotted on a Facebook page by a one Nicola Formichetti, Lady Gaga’s personal stylist and the creative director of the legendary Paris based fashion house Theirry Mugler.  Formichetti flew to Montreal to meet Genest to complete an extensive photo and video shoot for Thierry Mugler’s fall 2011 campaign. The two clicked instantly and Formichetti invited Genest to Paris to model in the Mugler men’s fashion show. It was the first time Rick had ever travelled outside Canada, and incidentally his first time on a plane. Acting as his mentor of sorts, Formichetti then cast Genest in his biggest role to date; a pronounced cameo in Lady Gaga’s video ‘Born This Way’ filmed in New York City.


His relationship with Formichetti has clearly been a boon for his career, and has since seen him pose for such magazines as GQ, Vanity Fair and Vogue Hommes Japan, as well as a collaboration with the juggernaut of the fashion photography world – the renowned —L’Enfant terrible Terry Richardson.

Tuxedo

Happy Anniversary

Last year was the 150th anniversary of the little black jacket.  A resident of Tuxedo Park New York, James Brown Potter vacation in England and were introduce to the then Price of Wales who later became King Edward VII,  After asking advice on Formal dress Mr Potter went to Henry Poole & Co of Savile Row wear he was fitted a short black black jacket with no tails.  Once taken back to the United States and worn for the first time at formal events it was to be forever know as the 'tuxedo'.

To celebrate this iconic garment I teamed up with Henry Poole in a project to reinvent to tuxedo for the modern gentleman.  The inspirations for my tuxedo have came from looking at pre and post its invention. After doing my initial research on the Tuxedo and it origins, the fact that it derived from the tail coat and how it has evolved into the modern dinner jacket we all know today, I started to play around with period looks but with modern cuts.  I have taken inspiration from all eras from 17^th century brocade and 19^th century British Regency to Dickinson and the modern catwalk.  I wanted to take the best parts of these eras as well as a mix of dinner jacket, frock coat, tail coat, dressing gown, smoking jacket and create something new with a traditional beauty.  Together with Dormeuil fabric I used brocade silks, jacquards, satins to craft an outfit that is splendiferous, I want it to be lavish and decadent, and I want the wearer to feel like a king.

If the dress coat could be described as the most elegant of nineteenth century male attire, then the frock coat must be the most dignified. Combined with the top hat, the general effect was very impressive.

From a technical point of view, the frock coat follows a similar development to the dress coat. The standard pattern has a panel at the front (double-breasted), a waist seam (I 820s) and - by 1840 — it  included the sidebody panel. Waist lines were raised or lowered and sleeve styles changed according to prevailing fashion. There were also variations in the coat length.

Apart from changes in the style of collar and lapel, the most notable difference in the frock coat from one period to another was in the style of the skirt. This ranged from being very full and flared in the earlier period to hanging straight with very little fullness from 1880 to 1900.

Towards the end of the century the frock coat was mainly replaced by the morning coat.

My Jacket at a photo shoot in Paris

and at the launch party at Quintessentially, London.

Wes Anderson

I am thoroughly looking forward to Wes Andersons new film 'Moonrise Kingdom'.  An all star cast about a pair of lovers flee their New England town, which causes a local search party to fan out and find them.  This film is from the same creative mind that brought us the likes of Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited and Fantasic Mr Fox.
Being a stylish gent himself there is always attention to detail in the fashion and costume in his films and there is always some great tailoring,  I especial like the colour pallets used in the whole of The Royal Tenenbaums.

You can certainly see his inspiration for Fantastic Mr Fox.

Timothy Everest by Joshua Osborne

Video

While I was interning at Timothy Everest I got to be a part of this video made by student Joshua Osborne.

A Winning Suit

My Timothy Everest Inspired Suit


In the Autumn term of my second year on the BA Hons Bespoke tailoring course at London College of Fashion we had to undertake a project that involved collabroating with the tailoring house Timothy Everest.  In this project I had to design and make a suit that compliments his casual collection.

Design Rationale:

My design inspiration has been the 1980’s popular culture and art work.  After looking at what people are wear in the age demographic of early 20’s to early 30’s, from high end fashion to streetwear I have notice a 1980’s trend emerging.  I took my main inspiration from the artists Andy Warhol and Patrick Nagel, with their use of bright block colours.  I have taken the best of the traditional tailoring and combine it with the eccentric colours of that era.  The client I choose to embody my design is the musician and producer Mark Ronson, he is at the heart of the young music scene and dresses with the much needed sense of style.  With this in mind I used my connections with a friend of mine to tailor make this suit to the lead singer and guitarist of The Strangerhood, Dean Austin.  This mixed with the dandyism of detail that the tailor Timothy Everest puts into his work; I have fused these ideas with the vintage county look and the slim fitting contemporary style into a bespoke suit that is fit for any gentleman who also likes to go raving.

Timothy Everest

My Internship

Back in March 2011 I was lucky enough to win an internship with the tailoring house of Timothy Everest at his design studio.  I was chosen on the merit of my work after doing a project in collaboration with them.  I was really happy to expenicing the way that they work at Timothy Evesest as he is a big infulence on me.  I find we share the same sense of design and the same taste for astectics.  I also admire his take on tailoring and the quintessential britishness with a modern twist that keeps it interesting, and he isn't afraid to collaborate.

After interning there I also have come to admire the way he runs his buisness, as there doesn't seem to be any sense of protensouse highroky that I have found in other fashion houses.   It is a small team and everyone has their own role which is just as important as the next,  it gives it a sense of a family and which is why everyone there is happy and lovely to work with, which I think helps in a creative envoirment.

Being part of there team for 6 weeks gave me a great insight into the deign process and the profeesionalism behind the work.  I also got to be apart of a number a exciting projects including helping with a photo shoot for a collaboration with Urwerk a fantastic swiss watch makers which took place at the amazing Ham house in Richmond.

I also got to go to the opening of the Tommy Nutter exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum.  This was great as being another one of my influences I not only got to see the work close up but got to enjoy it with a glass of champagne with guests including Edward sexton, Cilla Black and Ringo Star.

http://www.timothyeverest.co.uk/