Posted in American, autos, British, design, history, Icons, style, vintage, tagged Carroll Shelby, Jaguar, Shelby Cobra, steve mcqueen on May 14, 2009 | 5 Comments »
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“Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting.”
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–Steve McQueen
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Steve McQueen hopping in his Jaguar XKSS-- 1963.
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Steve McQueen tinkering between shooting scenes for Wanted dead or Alive.
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Steve McQueen showing director John Sturges his Jaguar XKSS on the MGM studio lot.
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Posted in American, Art, British, designers, fashion, films, history, Icons, LIFE archive, style, vintage, tagged fashion, photography, design, Costume on April 18, 2009 | 5 Comments »
“Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary” –Cecil Beaton
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Cecil Beaton drinking while wearing his fourth costume of the evening, as host of his garden party. --circa 1948
Cecil Beaton-- his vanity knew no bounds.
Photographer Cecil Beaton adjusting the lens on a primitive camera in his studio, U.K. --circa 1929.
Cecil Beaton-- put that in your pike a smoke it.
Photographer Cecil Beaton escorting Francis Doble (Lady Lindsey Hogg) to the wedding of Lord Herbert Equerry & Lady Mary Hope-- Circa 1936
Actress Ina Claire hugging Cecil Beaton at the opening of "Once Is Enough"-- circa 1937
Photographer/designer Cecil Beaton at the switchboard doing his duty as an Air Raid Precautions operator on the estate of Lord and Lady Pembroke-- circa 1940
Fashion designer Gabrielle (Coco) Chanel w. photographer Cecil Beaton-- circa 1937
Posted in British, LIFE archive, Icons, fashion, tagged Las Vegas, Noel Coward on April 7, 2009 | 3 Comments »
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How timely indeed–
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“If you must have motivation, think of your paycheck on Friday.”
–Noel Coward
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1954– Noel Coward –photo by the legendary Loomis Dean
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1954– Noel Coward –photo by the legendary Loomis Dean
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Posted in American, apparel, British, fashion, history, vintage, tagged design, fashion, illustration, menswear, rules, vintage on March 25, 2009 | 1 Comment »
“Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.” –Oscar Wilde
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Posted in American, apparel, British, fashion, history, tartan, vintage, tagged design, fashion, menswear, tartan on March 25, 2009 | 4 Comments »
“Capital punishment would be more effective as a preventive measure if it were administered prior to the crime.” –Woody Allen
In this case, I have to agree.
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Posted in American, apparel, British, fashion, history, LIFE archive, Preppy, tartan, vintage, tagged design, fashion, menswear on March 23, 2009 | 4 Comments »
“Edward VIII replaced his fly buttons with a zip, a revolutionary move; and his Fair Isle pullovers, shorts and Windsor knots were considered by some to foreshadow the end of Empire.” –Angus McGill
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Posted in British, fashion, history, Icons, tagged 1920s, 1930S, apparel, British, classic, Duke of Windsor, fashion, heritage, history on February 13, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The Prince of Wales’ full name was Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David Windsor but he went by David until he was crowned Edward VIII in 1936.
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“If there were no God,” said Voltaire some little time before he embraced Catholicism, “it would be necessary to invent Him.” Today the apparel industry echoes with religious fervor, “If there were no Prince of Wales, it would be necessary to invent him.” The National Association of Clothiers and Furnishers, during their meeting in Atlantic City in February of 1932, unanimously agreed that, of all the men in the world, England’s gallant Edward Albert alone deserved the title “Beau Brummel.” The one other male, it was naively recorded, who approached the Prince even remotely in the matter of influence was insouciant Mayor James Walker. And their report neglected to state whether the power exerted by this blithe individual should be praised as beneficial or condemned as corrupting and evil because of its jazzy sausage-causing lines and Broadway eccentricities.
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From “Apparel Arts”, 1933 via Dandyism
Posted in accessories, apparel, British, fashion, Icons, tagged apparel, bespoke, best, British, classic, Country, Duke of Windsor, English, fashion, footwear, hand, heritage, history, jacket, made, quality, royal, shoe, sports on February 8, 2009 | 3 Comments »
His sporting clothes brought out the peacock in him. ”I believe in bright checks for sportsmen,” he once wrote. ”The louder they are, the better I like them.”
The Duke practically invented comfortable clothes. As Kerry Taylor, the Sotheby’s specialist who has spent seven years preparing for this sale, explained, ”He was reacting to his buttoned-up and old-fashioned childhood.”
Ms. Taylor said the Duke so disliked suspenders that he invented pants with elastic in the waist. He didn’t like buttons on pants, so insisted on zippers, which were large and primitive in the 1930′s. He preferred buttons on the sleeves of his jackets — four, to be precise. He always wore cuffs on his trousers, which infuriated his father. After World War II broke out, he had his pants made in the United States because textiles were rationed in England and cuffs required extra fabric.
Prince of Wales check sports suit. Jacket by Scholte of London and stalking trousers (modified plus-fours) by Forster & Sons, 1923. Altered in the mid 1930s when a zip was inserted. Came with the removable blue cotton plus-four linings (more below).
Posted in accessories, apparel, British, fashion, footwear, Icons, tagged apparel, bespoke, best, British, classic, Duke of Windsor, English, fashion, footwear, hand, history, made, quality, royal, suit on February 8, 2009 |
Crit Rawlings, president of Oxxford Clothes at the time, dropped $12,650 on a silk suit. In all, the Duke’s 25 suits, sport jackets and formal outfits took in $773,145.
A double breasted navy wool suit with Grenadier (front buttons) and Welsh Guards Officer (sleeve buttons) buttons, worn on the 1936 Nahlin cruise. Jacket by Scholte, London labelled H.R.H. The Prince of Wales 25.4.31 Made of lightweight navy worsted. The matching pair of trousers were made by Forster & Son, London.
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