Fashion Interlude

Wednesday 8th February 2017

Jackie was awfully good; so was Jonas (despite injury to his vocal chords); so was the Robot PV at the Science Museum; Russian Revolutionary Art at the Royal Academy just a wheensy bit tiresome and, my dear, the crowds. What kind of PV is that exactly? Genevieve Suzy arrived by public bus from the Hockney Opening at the Tate (never before known) accompanied by Mareshi Injit Sen in a waistcoat of antique Spanish tooled leather. The shade was malachite. Lady Bracknell’s Confinement, given at the Women’s Institute hut in Cromer, was exceptionally outstanding as well.

But I’m pushing all that aside for fashion. If anyone enquires after my occupation I say first and foremost it’s wearing clothes. I manage to wear clothes even when all else fails. Shirts must be expensive, although just now my shirts are quiet and purring but have no detail uplift. I saw Gary Barlow on TV in a white shirt with big, black buttons. Where did he get that? I haven’t seen anything with that extra thrill for years. Knits can come from the second rank houses, such as APC, Lindberg, Tiger of Sweden – expensive but affordable; this season I acquired an excellent salmon knit from Sandro (of which more later). As you know, I’ve championed the jackette and the spider trouser for the last ten years. I hope and pray this look never dies. I don’t think it will, it’s so flattering. After all, pleated trousers were new in 1985 but dead by 1996 and never seen since. So ugly. That’s not to say, fashion isn’t the fight against Death, with endless renewal. But you can renew within the same silhouette. I’ve got one Balenciaga black waxed jeans and one APC sand slacks, otherwise all trousers are Topman or Zara with some tiny exceptions. Adorable, throwaway and spray-on. I do a lot of my winter white through slacks. I would buy a high-end slack at Prada (just one pair per season) or wherever, but I never see anything that induces the required state of complete and absolute must-have-ness.  My fav suit is still the Topman grey flannel and the Topman Limited Edition powder blue which maybe I’ll wear at this summer’s dynastic wedding, when my family is united with Frankie-Doreen and Giles Ullerston’s.

My present mania is for frock coats. I got one by accident for the visit to Scotland, because it was all they had in tartan at Topman. The look is so elegant, with the single button and the coat is not removed at the table, which confuses some. Now I’ve got another in dirty oatmeal, bought online from Topman Limited Edition, slashed to £80. A third I’ve had for some years, bought at The Library. It’s a navy, light crepe, a rare house, hugely expensive but reduced, only worn at Glyndebourniana and the Daily Mail Weekend Section Christmas Party, where it really needn’t have bothered.

In a frock coat, you feel frocked as never before.

Now the house of Sandro – except it’s not really a house but a chain of shops which I’d always despised as high street. Until I went down to Covent Garden to buy Christmas presents and they were having a sale so I bought the salmon knit already mentioned and a rust coat. Still v. expensive although reduced, but not £2300 to begin with, like the light Spring coat I tried on at Prada. Sandro is classic, luxury and not too middle-aged. Even so, is one going to buy a suit there for £500 when you can get one at Topman for £180 which is maybe 25% less expensive looking but 40% more nipped in, tiny and spray-on.

All the same, look out for Sandro for occasion wear. Paul Smith I still recommend, although not for suits. The high-end houses have gone off the rails both in price and the ghastliness of what is offered. The Library, once so dependable with a line in less expensive unknown designers, is now entirely devoted to what might be called a middle Viking look, clothes made of mud in unheard of shapes.

The other thing is altering: I’ve had the trousers of the hated Bott Ven suit slimmed down. I wore the result on Tuesday at the Royal Academy PV then on to the Science Museum for Robot PV. How had I never noticed before the jacket of the Bott Ven suit is a jackette? Now I’m having some Prada black slacks (bought at the Prada Factory Shop, Montevarchi) given the same treatment.

Still, I am wracked with guilt at not buying at the absolute height. There’s always the dread that somebody will be muttering, ‘Cheap’ as I go by. Twenty years ago, I would never imagined I’d be prancing in slacks costing £25 from a chain store. Let’s hope this is progress.

New Good Wool Coat in Rust by Sandro - More a Draped Look - Novel for me. I hope Not Dreaded Baggy, Sacky

New Good Wool Coat in Rust by Sandro – More a Draped Look – Novel for me. I hope Not Dreaded Baggy, Sacky

My Topman Online Buy Reduced Limited Edition Dirty Oatmeal Frock Coat

My Topman Online Buy Reduced Limited Edition Dirty Oatmeal Frock Coat

Have Had a Lot of Success with this Limited Edition Zara Cossack Jacket. Can be Worn at Table and was on Christmas Day with Topman Off-Bone Brushed Cotton Slacks

Have Had a Lot of Success with this Limited Edition Zara Cossack Jacket. Can be Worn at Table and was on Christmas Day with Topman Off-Bone Brushed Cotton Slacks

Prada Spring Collection: Joshua Baring Said Would Wear This to go Hiking, which Since He never Goes Hiking, Means Never

Prada Spring Collection: Joshua Baring Said Would Wear This to go Hiking, which Since He never Goes Hiking, Means Never

More Horror from Prada: Spring Collection. Thank God Don't have to Buy

More Horror from Prada: Spring Collection. Thank God Don’t have to Buy

Dreadful Mess: Prada Spring Menswear 2017

Dreadful Mess: Prada Spring Menswear 2017

Drab Little Coat: In Sloane Street Branch Another Coat, Kitty-Kat colour, Literally Tied with String

Drab Little Coat: We Don’t Want Gingham: In Sloane Street Branch Another Coat, Kitty-Kat colour, Literally Tied with String

 

 

 

Posted Thursday, February 9, 2017 under Adrian Edge day by day.

2 comments

  1. Nicky Taudevin says:

    The baggy rust coat by Sandro is a near copy of a beautiful coat by Wooyoungmi, which is only very occasionally seen on the streets.

  2. Adrian Edge says:

    Oh dear! But delighted to hear from Nicky Taudevin again

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