NOTEBOOK
ROBIN DUTT at large
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Sharp suits and Golden Years
So how do you remember David Bowie? It may be just over a year since the great man died but his influence, especially in the sartorial sphere, is still everywhere. Of course we all have our‘ favourite Bowie’, be it the Thin White Duke, primarily identified with his Station to Station album, the turquoise Pierrot or, indeed, the great Ziggy himself but, whatever you favour, what has lingered in terms of his clothing legacy is his love and admiration of fine tailoring.
Freddie Buretti, Tommy Nutter, Ozwald Boateng and Alexander McQueen were among the many Bowie visited in terms of sharp suiting, reminding us that the master of change and reinvention often relied on a sharp suit to accompany his intent, from monochrome to ice blue, emerald green to canary yellow. In fact, there is a famous portrait of the star in said sharp suit wielding an appropriate prop – a pair of tailoring shears.
To remind everyone of the intellectual, and sartorial star that was( no is) Bowie, the legendary Jeremy Reed gave an inspiring and passionate talk on the Starman’ s style for the Temenos Academy. In fact, I gave a talk at London’ s Home House a while back about Bowie entitled, A Life in Suits and it made one think just how much he knew about the power of a natty two-piece, not just the shock of the spaceman.
Let us not forget how Bowie revered the Row in his time which contributed in no small way to his ch-ch-ch changes …
Talk of the Town: David Bowie, William Evans guns and( bottom) London Fashion Week Men
EARLY in the year, I find myself at London Fashion Week Men’ s( not my wording) where I encounter one chap wearing two straw hats and sunglasses( but no sun). Creativity is all very well and this young cove was certainly showing a flair of individuality and, while as Oscar Wilde perceived,“ nothing succeeds like excess”, a simple elegance is really sometimes all you need.
NOT that I hunt, shoot or fish( for the creature nor a compliment), there I was at an entertaining evening reception at William Evans in St. James’ s recently where guests were introduced to fine pastime garb and exquisite machines of sport-war. Even I purchased, on departure, a bullet concealing a useful penknife for … well … opening envelopes with cheques of course.
AND finally, off to a marvellous book launch of Daniel Lismore’ s Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken. Penned by Hilary Alexander and Paula Wallace and with quotes from, among others, Vivienne Westwood, Debbie Harry and Boy George, this is a substantial tome on individual style created as clothing sculptures – fabric seen as sculpting materials, gems and glitz as bolts of paints on a canvas.
But the“ canvas”’ in this case is Lismore himself – a living work of sartorial art much like Leigh Bowery and Isabella Blow. Suiting it may not be but a painstaking, deliberately created look and consideration about what image is, it most certainly is.
Have a sartorial spring! Q
SAVILE ROW STYLE MAGAZINE 9