Formal wear origins

ERIC MUSGRAVE
CONTRIBUTORS
THEIR FORMAL TOUCH
“A man needs a few formal-wear options. Currently,
I have a regular all-black suit with shawl-collar jacket,
which is totally acceptable. But I really like exchanging
the jacket for my Black Watch tartan tux – it is a more
individual look. My all-time favourite formal outfit is my
black velvet SB frock-coat suit. I wore it for my wedding
nine years ago and it still looks excellent every time I give
it an outing.”
Eric Musgrave has been writing about fashion
for nearly 30 years and is the author of the recentlypublished
Sharp Suits, a 200-page celebration of men’s
tailoring. An award-winning editor-in-chief while
at Drapers, the UK’s top fashion business weekly, he
has also held senior positions at Men’s Wear, Fashion
Weekly, International Textiles (based in Amsterdam)
and Sportswear International (based in Milan), as well
as writing for numerous other publications, including
Financial Times, The Observer and Vogue.
PETER MARSHALL
“While it’s always a pleasure to wear black tie to an event
that requires it, many of my favourite formal memories
happen afterwards. There’s something wonderfully decadent
about strolling in to an elegant bar late at night dressed in
a classic tuxedo and casually ordering a Manhattan as if it
was the most normal thing in the world. That’s when that my
formal wear truly makes me feel like a million bucks.”
Based in Toronto, Canada, Peter Marshall is the
creator and editor of TheBlackTieGuide.com, a full
online guide dedicated to formal wear that draws
42,000 visitors per month. Beginning in 2006 he
spent five years researching and writing the site, in
the process visiting libraries from Vancouver to New
York and attending black-tie charity galas, opening
night performances and formal dinners. The guide’s
purpose is to educate men about conventional formal
wear as a counterbalance to the pervasive bad advice
and poor examples offered by formalwear retailers
and red carpet celebrities. He has regularly consulted
by authors, filmmakers and journalists on the topic
of formal wear and future goals include publishing a
hardcover version of The Black Tie Guide.
4 I BESPOKEN
ALAN CANNON-JONES
“My favourite formal wear is the traditional black dinner suit
with a shawl collar and lapel but my current diner jacket is a
black double breasted suit with satin lapels.
An important point for these occasions is that one should tie
your own bow tie, I think that ready-made bows show a lack
of dexterity. The last good occasion to wear my diner jacket
was an evening held at the Merchant Taylors Company in
Threadneedle Street, London.”
Alan Cannon Jones is a course director and
principal lecturer in the graduate school at the London
College of Fashion and works as a consultant for
tailoring, menswear and fashion design technology in
the industry. He had more than 20 years’ experience
working in the tailoring industry for a number of
companies, including Chester Barrie, before taking up
a position at the London College of Fashion.
BRUCE BOYER
“My belief has always been that the occasion dictates the
clothes, and that formal occasions call for propriety in
men’s dress. For me, the tuxedo is the proper dress for men,
but since I also insist on comfort, I want clothes that are
lightweight and soft. My favourite formal dress outfit is: a
double-breasted midnight blue tuxedo in 250-300 grammes.
fine wool with grosgrain facings, a soft voile pleated dress
shirt, and monogrammed velvet Albert slippers. It's a style
and philosophy pioneered by the Duke of Windsor, and still
has relevance for me today.”
G. Bruce Boyer has been a noted fashion writer
and editor for more than thirty-five years. His feature
articles have appeared in Town & Country, Esquire,
Harper’s Bazaar, Men’s Health, Forbes, The New York
Times, The New Yorker, The Rake and other national
and international publications. He was the first
American fashion journalist to write for L’Uomo Vogue
(Men's Italian Vogue). He has also written a book
about Gary Cooper, Gary Cooper: An Enduring Style,
which is neither a biography nor filmography but an
examination of the actor’s stylistic appeal and which
includes 150 never-before-published photos from the
private archive of Cooper’s daughter, Maria Cooper
Janis – it is due for release in October 2011.
JANET PRESCOTT
“Journalists are happily invited to private palazzos,
mansions, banquets and balls with the glitterati, but my
stand-out event was going to Buckingham Palace for my
husband to be made a CB (Companion of the Bath) by the
Queen. The full panoply of state ceremonial was subtly
enhanced by the immaculate understatement of lounge and
morning suits worn by ambassadors, knights of the realm
and the recipients of the senior honours, the epitome of
elegant formality.”
Janet Prescott is an independent writer and
commentator on the textile and fashion business.
She is based in Ilkley, Yorkshire, a region of the United
Kingdom that is well known for its weaving industry.
The major sphere of operation for her at the moment is
Twist magazine, as its Fabrics and Yarns Editor, where
she covers the major international fairs, interviews
personalities in the trade and writes opinion pieces on
subjects such as eco-luxury, designer labels, new yarns,
fabrics and fashion.
NIGEL BISHOP
“Formal doesn't have to mean uncomfortable.
My dinner jacket is lightweight wool-polyester, loose-
fitting cut, with pleated trousers. Not the most trendy,
but incredibly comfortable. I once wore it for a New Year’s
Eve party and went straight on to the golf club in it the next
morning. Played eighteen holes, no problem.”
For a large part of his career, Nigel Bishop worked
in advertising in London, New York and Paris.
He has been a freelance writer for the past 15 years,
working with multinational companies in B-to-B
communications.
Text: Jérôme Stéfanski
Illustrations: Jean-Baptiste Biche
& Olivier Van Begin