Let's compare the tailoring in two film scenes. Here is Fred Astaire dancing in Broadway Melody of 1940. Pay attention to how his clothing moves with him. 🧵
Here's the opening scene of Spectre. Daniel Craig is basically just walking in this scene.
Despite his more extreme movements (dancing vs walking), Astaire's tailoring moves with his body, rather than fighting against him. You can see this first with how Craig's jacket lifts off his neck when he raises his arm (collar gap). No lifting on Astaire.
Before someone suggests that Astaire's jacket collar may be pinned down, you can see it's not when he flies into the air. The jacket collar shifts up and down, but still stays glued to his neck throughout the scene. This is the result of high armholes and good tailoring.
Astaire's lapels always lay flat on his chest. Craig's lapels buckle away from his chest because his jacket is too small for him.
More of a stylistic matter, but Craig's shirt showing beneath his jacket's buttoning point ruins the visual fluidity of the suit, breaking things into distinct pieces. Astaire's high-rise pants and longer jacket achieve continuity.
Craig's jacket is too tight across the upper back. His sleeves are also too tight for his arms. As a result, the sleeveheads often have a divot. Astaire's sleeves don't have divots. They fall cleanly.
You can see the tightness towards the end of the scene. The side seams are straining on him. Whoever worked on this film tailored this suit within an inch of its life. The armholes are also quite low.
Since the suit is so shrunken, the scene opens with a collar gap and ends with a collar gap. The suit fights against Craig's body the whole time.
IMO, a lot of tailoring in films looks bad because:
1) Brand placement deals force actors into ready-made designer suits, rather than quality bespoke suits made for their body.
2) The trend towards shrunken silhouettes in the last 20 years. Does not work for everyone.
3) Questionable costume direction. A bespoke tailor told me that he made suits for a famous actor with a muscular build, but was told to keep taking in the seams because the costume dept wanted to show off the person's muscular figure. The result is bad from tailoring POV.
I would slim up Astaire's trousers just a tad in the original clip, but the quality of the tailoring is much better. Suit should allow for movement. At the very least, it should fall cleanly. This can be done even on muscular builds.
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Fall is upon us and soon it will be time for waxed cotton jackets. Let me suggest ways to wear one.
But first, which outfit do you think is more stylish? Choose before opening this thread. 🧵
If you choose the right outfit, then we have the same taste. But why do we like it better? To understand, we must go back to the invention of this fabric itself.
In the 18th century, English sailors repurposed the linseed oil-soaked canvas they used for sails.
These "oilcloths," as they were known, repelled rain and blocked wind, so sailors made them into capes and smocks for sailing on the high sea. But the material was stiff, heavy, and prone to cracking, so the British maritime company Francis Webster & Sons refined the process.
Of these four pairs of shoes, which do you think is the lowest quality?
Make a choice before opening this thread. Then I'll tell you something about shoe quality. 🧵
When it comes to leather shoes, there are broadly two dimensions of quality.
The first and most important is the type of leather. Quality leather shoes will be made from full-grain leather, which shows the natural grain of the hide.
However, not every hide is suited for full grain leather. The animal may have picked up a lot of scars along the course of its life. In such case, the tannery will sand down the surface and apply a chemical coating to produce a consistent finish. This is called corrected grain.
Have you ever noticed that old clothes online sometimes look better than old clothes in your closet?
Why is that? 🧵
It's often said that clothes were better made in the past. This is true to some degree, although the discussion is often narrowly focused on durability.
In this thread, I'll focus on something else: how clothes age, which affects how long you enjoy wearing them.
I'll give you some examples.
A hundred years ago, denim was mostly woven on slow shuttle looms, which produced a narrow-width fabric that was finished with a self-edge (selvedge). This fabric was taken straight off the loom and given to factories.
A couple of years ago, I saw Jesse Watters on Fox News say that Otaa ties are "the best ties in the world."
So I bought one.
Otaa is an Australian neckwear company that has been showing up a lot in American politics. Along with Jesse Watters, they appear to be favored by RFK Jr. and his top deputy, Jim O’Neill.
Let me tell you a beautiful story about this couch. 🧵
IG msviciousdesign
Some will recognize these motifs as Mughal paintings, which flourished on the Indian subcontinent sometime between the 16th and 18th century. But menswear nerds will recognize them as something else: Drake's of London.
Left: thrifted couch
Right: Drake's of London scarf
Drake's of London is a menswear label that started in the 1970s, initially with men's accessories, but having since grown to a full line of apparel. They are known for many things, but this print is perhaps their most famous. It appears on scarves, pocket squares, and even ties.
Style lessons from Robert Redford, one of the most stylish men in the last century. 🧵
A tailored jacket continues to be one of the most flattering things you can wear. However, for it to look good, it has to fit right. That means a jacket that bisects you halfway from your collar to the floor when you're in heeled shoes. Also trouser + suit jacket silhouette flows
It also helps to know how to use this visual language, especially with regard to ideas about formality. For instance, a dark business suit cries out for a tie. If you don't want to wear a tie, try a more casual garment, like a sport coat.