Sartorial Pontifications

Visual Quote?

2009-12-05T18:03:00.000-08:00

a scene from Blow Up, 1966

They pass a troupe of white faced mimes in a park playing slow-motion
tennis without a ball, and they stop for a while, sipping hot tea from
a thermos, to watch the intensely contested game.

--Salaman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath Her Feet

As porcupines possess great visual memory, the prickliest would like to point out this equally applies to the daily scene of Hare Krishna playing tennis at Willard Park on a sunny day.

Another possibility from the film version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - although this one is quite a bit less silent, the ball is equally invisible:

japanese sweets

2009-09-12T02:07:00.000-07:00

Amazingly modern traditional confectionary designs

elusive

2009-08-29T21:28:00.000-07:00

don't mind me, i'm just breaking your heart.

Nissan Figaro 1991: possibly the cutest car butt ever. This is what the new Minis and 500s should have looked like. Why take the retro out of retro resurrections?

the proper station

2009-08-20T19:27:00.000-07:00

kaette kita yopparai, oshima nagisa (1968)

In Oshima Nagisa's Three Resurrected Drunkards, a character "becomes Korean" by wearing a Korean military officer's uniform. A sentiment echoed in Oliver Twist:

What an excellent example of the power of dress, young Oliver Twist was! Wrapped in the blanket which had hitherto formed his only covering, he might have been the child of a nobleman or a beggar; it would have been hard for the haughtiest stranger to have assigned him his proper station in society. But now that he was enveloped in the old calico robes which had grown yellow in the same service, he was badged and ticketed, and fell into his place at once- a parish child- the orphan of a workhouse- the humble, half-starved drudge- to be cuffed and buffeted through the world- despised by all, and pitied by none.

-- Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist

paisley & madness

2009-08-20T18:54:00.001-07:00

Pola Negri, endangering herself.

Alas, I feel how much even of incipient madness might have been discovered in the gorgeous and fantastic draperies, [...] in the Bedlam patterns of the carpets of tufted gold!

[...] as the visiter moved his station in the chamber, he saw himself surrounded by an endless succession of the ghastly forms which belong to the superstition of the Norman, or arise in the guilty slumbers of the monk. The phantasmagoric effect was vastly heightened by the artificial introduction of a strong continual current of wind behind the draperies — giving a hideous and uneasy animation to the whole.

--Edgar Allan Poe, Ligeia

Stoic

2009-08-20T18:26:00.000-07:00

Just another day at the office for Mr. Lion.

Mr. Lion would teach you a thing or two about effortless style.

Picking Off The Continentals

2009-05-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

John Searle. Father to Us All.

The proper get-up for hunting down philosophers who disagree with you.
cf. Derrida

1983 In The Flesh

2009-03-12T02:44:00.000-07:00

too sexy!

Alla Pugacheva. The diva to end all divas. I will not describe her since words will pale in the brightness of her fluffity-fluff stole (most likely made of dead men).

Here she is performing the classic "Million Roses". The song is about a poor artist who woos an actress by filling the square in front of her apartment with a million roses.

Pfft...

It'll take a lot more than roses to make Alla take a second look at you.

THEE ELDEST OF ALL THE YOUNG DUDES

2009-03-02T18:21:00.000-08:00

When it comes to Beau Brummel, if you have to ask, well... has anyone you know ever cut a Prince Regent by asking of his lord, 'who's your fat friend?' I didn't think so. Among his lesser achievements were the advocation of champagne as boot polish and oh, just inventing the men's suit as we know it today.

Too Pretty For You

2009-02-23T00:36:00.000-08:00

pulling it off again.

Here are a couple more beautiful boys working it on the cover of Popeye.

For neither in tailoring nor in legislating does man proceed by mere Accident, but the hand is ever guided on by mysterious operations of the mind. In all his Modes, and habilatory endeavors, an Architectural Idea will be found lurking; his Body and the Cloth are the site and materials whereon and whereby his beautified edifice, of a Person, is to be built.

-- Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus I:v

Yeah, OK.

2009-02-23T00:24:00.000-08:00

continuing the dangling cigar/ette as prop

More perfection from Jacques Dutronc. OK Patron (1974).

1) Undone double breasted jacket
2) contrasting buttons on the shirt
3) precise pant-length
4) sassy brown pointy shoes breaking up the black suit

But, like a generous, creative enthusiast, he fearlessly makes his Idea an Action; shows himself in peculiar guise to mankind; walks forth, a witness and living Martyr to the eternal worth of Clothes.

-- Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus I:v

The Dandy Unlit Cigarette as Prop

2009-02-20T02:55:00.000-08:00

Is that wicker on your head, my friend?

The well placed unlit cigarette dresses up the scary-man black t-shirt and wicker cowboy hat, all in the context of Freetown, Sierra Leone, to great affect.

Yes You Are!

2009-02-17T22:35:00.000-08:00

Yes, Pierre, you are totally hot.

Bertolucci's Partner (1968), loosely based on Dostoyevsky's The Double. It gets ragged on, but Pierre Clementi is captivating - even with his out-of-control hair (cf. middle part + super-frizz).

The jacket in this shot is an insanely closely cut number, especially around his rail-thin shoulders. The constrictive affect is a little like Cesare from Dr. Caligari.

Vintage

2009-02-17T22:16:00.000-08:00

45s and cuteness

Yukimura Izumi. The cutest and of the Janken Musume. Circa 1960.

Doin' It Right

2009-02-17T17:22:00.000-08:00

Jacques Derrida

I admit a couple of continental philosophers are sharp cookies. However, only one pulled off a supermodel pout in a director's chair. As we say, Jack knows.

Popeye, The Eternal.

2009-02-14T19:13:00.000-08:00

pulling it off.

Popeye is a magazine popular amongst high school and college boys in Japan.

The features are always (to be honest) kind of crazy. Hunting deer in plaid short-shorts and a mink vest? Of course. It's exhilarating Japanese craziness.

For neither in tailoring nor in legislating does man proceed by mere Accident, but the hand is ever guided on by mysterious operations of the mind. In all his Modes, and habilatory endeavors, an Architectural Idea will be found lurking; his Body and the Cloth are the site and materials whereon and whereby his beautified edifice, of a Person, is to be built.

-- Thomas Carlyle, Sartor Resartus I:v

A Well Placed Ring

2009-02-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

Pierre Clementi in Belle du Jour
"The good sense of a gentleman is nowhere more finely developed than in his rings."

ARTICLES OF FAITH.

1. Coats should have nothing of the triangle about them; at the same time, wrinkles behind should be carefully avoided.

2. The collar is a very important point: it should be low behind, and slightly rolled.

3. No license of fashion can allow a man of delicate taste to adopt the posterial luxuriance of a Hottentot.

4. There is safety in a swallow-tail.

5. The good sense of a gentleman is nowhere more finely developed than in his rings.

6. It is permitted to mankind, under certain restrictions, to wear white waistcoats.

7. The trousers must be exceedingly tight across the hips.

Thomas Carlyle Sartor Resartus. III x: The Dandiacal Body

2 Color Russian Poster

2009-02-12T20:32:00.000-08:00

Poster for Der Mann im Feuer. See it in its full glory here.

Red, black, and yellowing paper. So satisfying.

"Patrician" is Okay if You're Capucine

2009-02-11T21:07:00.001-08:00

"nothing in my hands" [in givenchy]

Capucine in Walk on the Wild Side... Icy aristocratic perfection, playing a prostitute. Well, she's not known for her acting skills.

flippant

No Mans Error Becomes His Own Law

2009-02-08T23:19:00.000-08:00

I've been dandy so long, I don't even care.

When you've been living the life so long, you start to break the rules and accessorize to your own tune (or parrot chirp, as it were). That's when you know you've Owned It Truly. To wit:

a. Wearing a necktie as a bow tie.
b. A vintage archer's jacket resurrecting long lost meanings of "smart sport coat".
c. Turquoise satin trim on coats is a definite "do".
d. Parrots count as jewelry.

No more are the Actions, that proceed from those Passions, till they know a Fashion Law that forbids them: which till fashion Lawes be made they cannot know: nor can any Law be made, till they have agreed upon the Cookie-cutter Dresser that shall make it.

These Laws persist until broken by the true Dandy.

No mans error becomes his own Law; nor obliges him to persist in it.

Teutonic!

2009-02-08T21:10:00.000-08:00

Too German for Dandy?

Beleevers :: Jacques Dutronc

2009-02-08T20:44:00.001-08:00

Vertuous Praise for Jacques Dutronc. He is the original quaalude dandy: style in a stupor.

Here he is, singing (read: staggering) to Le Plus Difficile. Let's also not forget Pan's People, showing off exemplar 60s dance moves.

State of Warre:: Rubber Rain Boots

2009-02-08T18:04:00.000-08:00

Appropriate forum. No Kate Spade, please.

Unless one findes oneselfe on a Hunt in the Wildernesse, or in a Biblicall Flood, one should refrayne from the wearing of Rubber Rain Boots.

Eyelids

2009-02-08T16:56:00.000-08:00

stylish

Hers is the head upon which all
'the ends of the world are come',
and the eyelids are a little weary.

--Walter H. Pater

Describing the Mona Lisa,
but it might as well be Marilyn.

State of Warre :: Fleece

2009-02-08T09:38:00.000-08:00

Fashion Forward with Polar Fleece.
-- from David Stein

The invention of Fleece, though ingenious, has led to a Trayne of abuse and generall Iniquity. He who clothes himselfe in Things Fleece will find himselfe in a Confederacy of Deceivers who shall dis-prepare him for the Kingdome of God to come.

Words of Wisdome

2009-02-07T17:22:00.000-08:00

Staying young:

"Ah the luxury of floating factors, such is the way of joyful youth..."

-- Saleem Vahidy

State of Warre:: The Tyranny of Comfort, Part II

2009-02-07T12:01:00.001-08:00

The Perils of Knitwear.

Whosoever clads himself in ill-fitting Knitwear, perhaps to avoyd the harsh Gayze of another, know that he shall be as a Servant, not because he is Conquered; that is to say, beaten, and taken, or put to flight; but by his Covenant with the False God of Comfort.

Beleevers :: Marlene

2009-02-07T01:53:00.000-08:00

Stopping the freakin' show.

Marlene Dietrich, Morocco. The most effective, violent, sexy legs.

She quite sensibly takes off her 3 inch heels in the last scene to chase after Gary Cooper in the desert. Oh, she also stops to help a woman pull a stubborn goat along the way. She's perfect.

NB. The True Sartorialist hath satisfied for the fashion sins of all that beleeve in her; and therefore recovered to all beleevers, that Eternall Aesthetic, which was lost in the State of Warre, wrought by the Tyranny of Comforte.

State of Warre:: The Tyranny of Comfort, Part I

2009-02-06T16:31:00.000-08:00

Whosoever pads the streets in shoes of rubber soles, as in the Berkeley Common-wealth, look not askance upon those who tread otherwise, whose soles of wood or leather bring forth sounds that disturb your Tranquillity. For Comfort is not the highest Vertue, nor will its Pursuit gain you entry into the Kingdome of God.

Resistance is Futile

2009-02-06T11:14:00.000-08:00

Fiat 500

Oh me? I'm just the cutest car ever made. Don't mind me.

State of Warre:: Once More, the Evil that is Crocs

2009-02-05T17:00:00.000-08:00

When a man discerns, as if the Sartorial Deity itselfe speaketh, a Commandement in mutuall agreement with his own Beleefes, he shall seek to lay it downe as a a generall rule of Reason. So it is with the Signe in a Berkeley Shoe Storre that commandes men to Turn Crocs in here.

From whence we may inferre, that we do honour to Him, when we Renounce these forms of wickednesse.

State of Warre :: Uggs

2009-02-03T18:36:00.000-08:00

Well, maybe they're okay if they come with Kylie Minogue
attached at an odd angle (Thank you, Photoshop).

Mankind, having discovered sundry causes of the movements of Physical Bodies, hath now also discovered the sources of Bodies animating feare; in turn having origines in Evil.

The Power of Evil, given voice in Physical Form is thus named Uggs.

Nazimova

2009-02-03T18:23:00.001-08:00

Beardsley and Jazz Age.

Alla Nazimova in Salome

State of Warre :: Accessories!

2009-02-01T01:35:00.000-08:00

Louise Brooks, of course.

Without Steddinesse, and Direction to some End, a Great Fancy Outfit is merely one kind of Madnesse.

Where the Passion for piling-on accessories, whose continuance maketh Madnesse, is either great vaine-Glory; which is commonly called Pride, and selfe-conceipt; or great Dejection of mind.

Happy Smiles

2009-01-30T20:14:00.000-08:00

More picture book recommendations for your
adorable Marxist children available here.

Red Page

This page of mine
Is red in hue.

Red for the sun
and your tie too.

Red banners glow
Upon Red Square,

Happy smiles
Shine everywhere.

--Samuil Marshuk

Samuil Marshak. The Rainbow Book. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1974.

State of Warre :: Anime

2009-01-30T19:51:00.000-08:00

Anna May Wong.
Freakin' hard as hell to find her in
anything other than Eastern Lotus get-ups.

Pleasure therefore, (or Delight), is the appearence, or sense of Good. And Molestation, or Displeasure offered by a certain class of Nerdmen who fluently speaketh the Language of Anime, is the appearence, or sense of Evil.

Onerations and Exonerations

2009-01-30T19:09:00.001-08:00

another lovely one from Irving Penn

The word sensuall, as it is used by those onely that condemn them, having no place till there be Lawes governing bad outfits. Of this kind are all Onerations and Exonerations of the body; as also all that is pleasant.

Technique is Really Personality

2009-01-29T20:39:00.000-08:00

Aubrey Beardsley pattern flocked paper. You can get it here.

Technique is really personality. That is the reason why the artist cannot teach it, why the pupil cannot learn it, and why the aesthetic critic can understand it. To the great poet, there is only one method of music -- his own. To the great painter, there is only one manner of painting -- that which he himself employs. The aesthetic critic, and the aesthetic critic alone, can appreciate all forms and all modes. It is to him that Art makes her appeal.

Oscar Wilde. The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Volume IV: Criticism: Historical Criticism, Intentions, The Soul of Man. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007.

Object present

2009-01-29T20:29:00.000-08:00

lovely photo, Irving Penn

Of Pleasures, or Delights, some arise from the sense of a handbag Present; And those may be called Pleasures of Sense.

State of Warre :: Crocs

2009-01-29T20:23:00.000-08:00

Of inglorious Crocs, little shall be sayd, as the thing it selfe speaketh the Calamity.

Continue on for an important public service announcement.

State of Warre :: Backe Packe

2009-01-29T16:33:00.001-08:00

Others who yeeld to a Law of Expediency by the keeping of Trifles &c. in a small Backe Packe, and who foregoeth the Dignity and Vertue of the Handbag, shall feel Contempt joyned with Pitty for following the Spirits of Mad-men and Lunatiques.