NYC Blog: Men's Fashion, Retail and Visual Merchandising | The Bespoken: For Gentlemen

You’ve Got International Male (part two of two)

 
Like every image in the catalogue, and there are over two hundred of them, most of the men appear shirtless and do not have a single hair on their heaving chests. I mean as in not one. I’m not complaining, in compensation they are chiseled, well defined, with multiple abdominals. They are free from blemish. They are uniformly tan. They are Atlas’. They personify the classic “Chelsea” aesthetic, broad pectorals, biceps and narrow waists. Perhaps because underpants are the stock and trade of undergear.com these men appear to have been Brazilian waxed, to the point where one wonders how do they stay warm in the winter?

 
Like every image in the catalogue, and there are over two hundred of them, all of the men are shot separately in a true commercial format. They may be flirting with the camera, they may be posing, or in the process of taking off a top, even flexing a muscle, but they are not doing it for each other. Still, there’s a sense of foreplay conveyed. They are the buffed and beautiful. Aside each photograph is a close-up, a detail what is known as a “crotch shot” as if they were sizing each other up. Peppered in the detail shots are “buttocks view“, what is known as a “back door.” The first few pages are titillating, it’s like foreplay.

 

 
 The men are hyper-masculine, as far from effeminate as can be documented. They could easily be straight with classifieds that read “bi-curious“, or “gay for pay”. Their photographic isolation begs analysis. It is just them and the photographer, who is supplanted by us, the voyeur. Granted, they may be on a beach, a pool, downtown, the gym or walking down a staircase, but they live in a world where no other man lives. They do not socialize, interact or seem to share any longing for human companionship. Are they solitary, independent or alone? Take your pick. Is this projection internalized homophobia, or simply an attempt to broaden the demographic base of straight readers who are less tolerant?

The underwear and swim pages fill 41 of the 68 pages. While every conceivable style and color is offered, it’s the lace-up bikinis, leopard prints, mesh knits, and brands with salacious names like Cocksox, Pistol Pete and Baskit that garner a second look. For those of us that are less endowed there is the Enhancement Collection, for those of us with love handles there is the Shape Enhancer Collection, think Spanx for guys. This season there are graphic and cartoon prints by UK artist in residence, Jon Burgerman for Bon Bon. Its appeal clearly directed towards the younger portion of their sque who have just graduated from their novelty tees and cartoon PJ’s. Its appeal is to the kind of customer who watches Glee, not a pedophile, but to whom a high school senior is very attractive.

 
Overall, the underwear collection speaks to men to whom confidence is a necessary ingredient to success. Red suggests power, purple aristocracy, orange heat, yellow vitality and blue security. Underwear is hidden, a mystery that can be shared, a surprise, something unexpected under a grey suit. Colorful underwear supplies a boost to morale like Viagra.

Men in the underwear and swim pages are closed mouth and do not smile. Of the sixty or seventy models, only one wears a smile. Joy is not a commodity that undergear.com trades in. These are pouty sullen lads. It is a convention of escorts who have been hired en masse to seduce the guests. The men are aloof. They say without mouthing a word…“come and get me!” Maybe one day I will.

 
There are no tighty whities or boxers with elasticized waistbands on any of the forty-one pages. Everything is skintight, form fitting and stretches to the contours of the genitalia like a compression sock. Imagination and modesty are two other values not embraced by undergear.com. Still the decadent color palate, the unexpected twists of color, the patterns and prints suggest that these men follow fashion, or are at least aware of it. 

 
Following underwear and swim comes casual or active wear. The kind of attire one might wear to a gym if one was trying to get the attention of someone else, instead of lifting weights, engaging in a cardio workout or actually sweat. It is not a mix and match world, nor is or a world of oversize fleece and dirty gym socks, like the real world. It is s a world of outfits named after exotic locales like Moroccan or San Remo Tunic, Venice or La Playa Drawstring Pant, the Torino Lace-Up Top, the Manchester Track Collection and the Montréal Techno Jacket. While the names invoke word travel, a continental view of the world, the clothing is perfunctory, and most likely made in China or India.

As with all things masculine, there are two pages of accessories. Shoes and boots are included. The pages are filled with leather cuffs, watches, a skull ring, a motorcycle money clip, sunglasses, and metallic bracelets and necklaces. None of it is very wearable unless you are trying to blend into a Halloween party where you have come dressed as Jesse James or Dog, the Bounty Hunter.

 

 
Now comes the fun, actual clothes, some of it wearable. Like all catalogs, it looks better in print than in real life. Still you will get what you ordered. Again, the clothing is given names to suggest a true International Male. Some of the exotic places represented in the items name are Beverly Hills, Iceland, Belgium, Aspen, Machu, Biarritz, Moscow, Florence and Brooklyn (just keeping’ it real). That’s right the “Brooklyn Hoodie“. In truth, most of the clothing could not be worn in the country it is meant to be inspired to represent. I don’t see the “Iceland Leather Jacket”, (a sweater hybrid) being practical in the Artic. The faux shearing and faux suede is a dead giveaway to Icelanders that you are not from here.

 

At times distracting, the collections are loosely cobbled together from former seasons and renamed with page headings and little tips, like Old School Cool, Street Smart, Grey Matters, Top Priorities: key this season texture and detail, Denim & Leather: like rock & roll they just go together, and Top Billing. These pages sometimes operate as a collage. Not an ideal way to show fashion, one model in the studio, one model is on the street. The catalogue appears to have been photographed by several different photographers. The editorials are weak, almost diluted, and have no real point of view. They appeared assembled like a quilt.

 
While we might dismiss it, at times the clothing could be worn by the male cast of The Jersey Shore. The collection has elements akin to Diesel, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Ed Hardy. The clothing is constructed relatively simply. There is nothing innovative, smart or cutting edge, but it’s not meant to be designed that way. The clothing has many details, frayed hems, ombre dye’s, zippers; big buttons, distressed washes, and snaps. You will not see these looks strutting down the runway. The collection is too pedestrian. It too lacks point of view. It lacks vision. What it has is mass appeal.

 

  

International Male  and its companion undergear.com may still too easily receive our scorn. Despite its mainstream evolution, it’s still an easy mark, a fashion target for our ire. Like the community it caters to, the catalogs remain easy to marginalize. It’s simply waved away as a niche category. The catalog flies below the radar of “respectable” like-minded “straight” companies like Jockey or Warnaco. It’s difficult to identify International Male/undergear.com’s impact and influence on popular culture and the gay community. But don’t be surprised, nearly every gay male in America is aware of International Male. Not only aware, but speak of it fondly as one of their first printed introductions into the gay community. The catalog inadvertently frames the gay males shopping habits. Taking what had to be a huge gamble at the time, the company knew that many isolated or closeted men were already viewing erotica in their homes, and mirrored that experience, albeit with shopping. That being said, the catalog has provided a kind of standard, a fashion language for over thirty years to show us what we can aspire to be, or obtain, and what constitutes “going too far” and being conspicuous. The catalog covertly asks… how out do you want to be, what kind of gay man do you want to become?

You’ve Got International Male

 
I have the undergear.com catalogue in front of me. Dare I open it? It is a Pandora’s box. It is a catalogue I am well acquainted with. I seldom purchase, but do enjoy perusing. I used to receive their International Male catalogue when the world was young and so was I. How young was I? I was young enough to be about the same age of the models. Alas, now I am currently too old to be their fathers, and too young to be their grandfathers. International Male now sells under the more popular undergear.com moniker, but it is a rose by any other name.

 
International Male is a solely mail-order business with no bricks & mortar locations. It is owned by New Jersey based group Hanover Direct. International Male was often dismissed as “low end” fashion and as “style without substance”. That may be true. However, the catalog’s significance should not be marginalized, International Male has traced the emerging liberation of gays since the late 1970’s, and transitioned to the metro-sexual movement of the early 1990’s. The catalogue company realized that many mainline retailers failed to recognize, let alone embrace its gay clientele. A demographic that wanted/needed something provocative, sexy, or yes…trashy. Men to whom a red leather jacket was more coveted than an LL Bean “Field Coat”. International Male was always a gay magazine, but one in which the words gay or homosexual were never used, but often suggested. The photographs were a Rorschach test for are you or aren’t you? It was a closeted world, albeit one with the door left wide open. The International Male catalog always carried a wide variety of men's underwear, but as that business rose in prominence, the undergarment category was spun off into a separate catalog, undergear.com, which focuses exclusively on men's underwear, swimwear and casual wear. It’s been so successful that International Male disappeared, but its clothing is still incorporated into the more successful undergear.com

 
Like junk bonds, junk cars, junk stores and junk food, International Male is difficult to resist. You know that may not be good for you, but it leaves you wanting more. It is difficult to argue with success. It is even more difficult to define just what success is. One measure is in numbers. Hanover Direct ranks number 104, just above the ubber successful American Girl (dolls) and Restoration Hardware in Internet Retailer's Top 500 Web Retailers. Safeway (drugs, cosmetics and beauty) ranks just above Hanover Direct. Hanover Direct mails out more than 180 million catalogs a year, the company sells home fashions (The Company Store, Company Kids, Domestications), as well as men's and women's apparel (Silhouettes, and Undergear). Each catalog has a corresponding e-commerce site. The demographic base for undergear.com is men ages 25-54. This follows my history as I started reading International Male when I was about 25 and today I’m fifty-four. So what happens next year?

 
Hanover Direct is owned by the New York-based hedge fund Chelsey Capital. Under the leadership of CEO, Wayne Garten, installed by Chelsey, Hanover Direct has pared down its operations, and has reduced its brand portfolio from twenty-two to about a half dozen brands. The multi-channel retailer is also boosting its online operations, and internet sales which have increased steadily since 2003, and which now accounts for about 50% of their sales. However, the recession in the US led to falling sales for many multi-channel retailers in 2009. Hanover Direct was not immune, the company saw sales fall to an estimated $363 million in 2009, from $395 million in 2008. Online sales accounted for $170,000,000 in 2010, and despite a faltering economy, growth was up 0.5 %.That’s a lot of polyester shirts, which retail for 64.00.

 

How do you sell a fantasy? While bloggers will cry foul, there is a phenomenon concerning International Male and its brother magazine undergear.com, which is exposure in the catalog, is invaluable. It’s seen! Casting calls for models attract the thousands. Over the years many famous models and actors have posed for the catalog such as Cameron Mathison, Kevin Sorbo, Charles Dera, Christian Boeving, Bruce Jenner, David Chokachi, Gregg Avedon, Reichen Lehmkuhl, Rusty Joiner and Scott King. While the clothing may appear effeminate at times, there is no question that the models personify a hyper-masculine (read: straight) ideal, pretty boys, bad boys, rough guys, tough guys and all sorts of archetypical males. International Male created looks for the cowboy, the sensitive poet, the surfer dude, the Euro trash gigolo, The gym rat, the disco queen, the athlete, the outdoorsman, the nerd, the biker, the Goth, and the sophisticate. On one page a model is shot donning shorts in a mini-camouflage print, the model is wearing dog tags, but I fear it’s unlikely that this model is enlisted in the armed services. On another page, a model posed with a lime green neon bar that seems straight of a disco or some sleazy gym.

 
There was and is something for everyone. These men/models are an important part of the equation that made the catalog as successful as it was, and undergear.com as successful as it is. One can through their vivid imagination shop for potential boyfriends or liaisons as much as one can shop for bikinis or briefs.

 

 
Historically, International Male has been both beloved and ridiculed. It is clothing and costumes. It is conventional and kitch. It is pornography without any sex. It is a part of the popular culture. You might recall the classic Seinfeld episode about “the puffy shirt”. The puffy shirt often appeared in Interational Male, as “The Poets Shirt” International Male was a guilty pleasure. A catalog while never indecent could not be read openly on the subway or left on your desk for fear of reprisal. International Male was a catalog that you read privately in the sanctity of your home, if you had sanctity in your home. International Male is the Victoria’s Secret of the gay community. Granted, there are websites devoted to making fun of the catalogue, and indeed there was at one time lots to poke fun at, but that has changed and undergear.com is seeking to right its fashion wrongs. The company and its overall look has evolved. As of 2009, undergear.com has gone mainstream. It’s so mainstream it could be easily confused with Limited Express or Armani Exchange. Despite the spicy underwear pages, my straight brother could read undergear.com and potentially order a pair of jeans, graphic tee or tangerine collared boxer briefs.

 

 

 
In some ways, I miss the fun of the old International Male. Perhaps it was the insane fashion peppered throughout. Without meaning to be, it was a parody of high fashion as seen in the film Zoolander. International Male sold mesh shirts that were reminiscent of a Gautier or Galliano’s collection… had they gone very awry. It was a catalog where you could purchase a zoot suit, a silver lame blazer, suede lace up jeans, a three piece suit in purple or pastel pink, crushed velvet undies, a monochromatic polyester-rayon shirt and tie in blinding gold metallic, a full length faux fur in white fox, an overcoat that reminded you of the Matrix, or a black leather laced up top reminiscent of Pirates of the Caribbean, there were print shirts in tiger stripes paired with brown leather jeans and fussy psychotic Colonial outfits that looked like they were discarded from Ann Rice’s, Interview with A Vampire. International Male was a pastiche of club wear, trashy, and overtly sexual. The magazine was “coded” with tongue in cheek references, like describing as item, as a “Going Cruising” jacket, which was not designed for wear on a Carnival Cruise or the QE2.

 
This season’s cover has a comely young man, a dirty blonde, with tussled bangs. He has bulging biceps; the right arm is adorned by a fierce looking biker’s tattoo and a black leather cuff. As for posture, he leans back casually and his right hand rests on the back of his derrière. He has pursed lips and bedroom eyes that suggest a sexual liaison may be forthcoming. His expression is just a bit perturbed, almost angry, as if he is being challenged or teased. Where his he? He is alone except for me. He leans against a riveted stainless steel wall that could be an industrial elevator or some pretentious designers SoHo loft. What is he wearing? A deep V-neck tee shirt in a simple black python skin print. It’s made not from actual python like Orpheus Descending, but a polyester-spandex knit, which is tight enough to show his abdominal muscles. He is wearing a low-rise thong (which seems an oxymoron) with a strategically located cut-out and a contoured pouch with a no-show waistband. If you are not a thong kind of person, there are trunks, briefs and bikinis available in the collection. The collection is all identified as “Extreme” as in “Extreme Python this” and “Extreme Python that“. Not satisfied with a plain leathery looking python, in true International Male fashion the fabrication has been described as “gloss and glam” and it is as shiny as a freshly polished pair of boots. I have yet to open the catalogue.

Please return in a few days for the final installment of You’ve Got International Male

Eco-Gear for Men

Dear Readers,

Todays post come from guest blogger, Erik Braunitzer. I hope your support his work with your affirmations.

Erik writes...

 
There’s an underlying compassion & strong competitive nature behind the core of man, which is why a majority of men live an athletic lifestyle. In due course, this perpetual motivator encourages greater endurance and strength, which are themes commonly associated with sustainability. Yet, the ecological version of ‘sustainable’ directly relates to how natural systems stay productive and diverse by renewal.

As we excel further into the 21^st century, scientists and manufacturers alike are constantly looking to improve their brand’s durability while keeping true to the theme of “eco-friendly.” Many manufacturers of athletic gear have exceptionally durable products and clothing, but they haven’t quite entertained the idea of introducing organically made materials. Then again, the folks at Zeugma may have found one such solution.

They are producing a ninety-five percent organic-cotton material that imitates most of the qualities of regular petroleum-based fabrics - all this minus the synthetic additives. Like most “wick-away” athletic gear (i.e. Under Armor), it’s still very breathable and doesn’t lose color.

And unlike some cheaper fabrics and clothing that has the tendency to fall apart or fade over time, Zeugma gear does not. Traditional wick-away gear made of acrylic; nylon or polyester has been known to self-destruct or pill. Simple abrasion from every day wear/cleaning provides grounds by pilling or unraveling. This earth friendly gear is actually constructed quite tightly, leading to less “balling up” and wear.

 
Although, as any other material, it still should be treated with care. It’s not recommended to wash any more than necessary. Nor should you purposely beat up or stain your Zeugma attire. Simple tricks for keeping these somewhat expensive shreds are as follows:

• Load washer loosely
• Turn them inside out (color maintenance)
• Short washes
• Wash permanent press and knits separately
• Fabric Softener

Zeugma uses company owned manufacturing processes to guarantee quality activewear. First used by yoga manufacturer Prancing Leopard, Zeugma is another great leap in company sustainability.

Courtesy of Douglas Elliman Realtors, New York Rentals.

Fashions Night Out (part two of two)

Fashions Night Out

Tommy Nutter: What We Forget To Remember (part two of two)

 

 
 
While not quite two peas in a pod, Nutter was on Elton John's speed-dial."Tommy completely glamorized Savile Row and made it accessible," said Elton John, who often visited the shop to be measured up while drinking a glass of sherry. Nutter designed many of Elton John’s iconic tour outfits, exaggerated and flamboyant. Nutter’s work helped to create the Elton John mystique. John wears Nutter suits off stage too in nearly all of his publicity shots.

 

Nutter himself was most proud of the fact that, for the cover of The Beatles  album Abbey Road in 1969, he dressed three out of the four Beatles: George Harrison elected to be photographed on the road-crossing in denim. Now some forty years later Mr. Harrison still looks out of place. While they were offered millions of dollars, the Beatles had a firm policy not to associate with brands, pitch products or marketing to promote themselves. That did not stop the shy Ringo Starr from modeling for his good friend, Nutter, and was used in the company’s advertising. 

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber was a client and friend. “He made me a lot of things when one was younger and trendier,” Lloyd Webber said. “There was a wonderful maroon coat I remember I wore for Ascot. He was always such fun, very much part of my early life when Jesus Christ Superstar was going on. He made clothes for Tim Rice too! We were all great mates”. 

Famous Nutter creations include the powder blue suit David Bowie was photographed wearing for his Pinups LP. Eric Clapton and Steve Harley whose 1977 world tour suit by Tommy sold recently at Bonham’s for £700. American, songwriter and singer Neil Sedaka was a Nutter enthusiast.

 
Clients from the hipper purlieus of the aristocracy, aspiring teenage dandies from the East End whose ambition, in the early seventies was to own a Nutter suit were drawn to Tommy Nutter, not only because of his ineffable sense of style, but also because of his peculiarly ironic personality. A flirt, Nutter welcomed the young and embraced them as colleagues. A true win-win, in turn, they celebrated his style, provided good word of mouth and delivered his design message to the streets.

In 1971, Nutter was elected to the Best-Dressed Listin the United States, along with the Earl of Snowdon and Hardy Amies. At the time, American Menswear magazine said of Nutter that he was “tradition, spiced with daring”.

 
Nutter had a delicious sense of humor who had a wide and interesting circle of friends who were attracted by his enthusiasm,  his gentle self-mocking personality and his acerbic comments on the vagaries of others, always ending with the expression, “But who am I to talk?”

Nutter was a man of letters. He was a prodigious and witty correspondent. His letters to his many friends are treasured. In addition, he delighted in writing to serious newspapers on topics as far-ranging as the correct buttoning of the suit on a statue of John F. Kennedy, (which was altered) to the scarcity of deckchairs in Green Park. He was always very ready to spring to the defense of his beloved Savile Row if it came under attack, as it so frequently did in the anarchic sixties.

 

“He never got things wrong about clothes,” said the restaurateur and bookshop owner, Stuart Grimshaw, who was a client of Tommy Nutter's from the late sixties. “He really knew what he was talking about. One would go in and say… What do I wear to go on safari in Kenya? and Tommy would make one an absolutely correct safari suit, a proper one with all the pockets in exactly the right place. This knowledge extended to such minutiae as the correct wearing of half or full brogues or co-respondent shoes. “He was an encyclopedia of correct, classical male style.'”

By the mid to late 1970’s the bespoke business overall became less successful. This downward spiral occurred throughout Seville Row with many mainline shops started shuttering their doors. People were purchasing Ready To Wear. The culture was moving towards casual and active wear as the preferred style. The disco look supplanted the discothèque. Thankfully, Nutter opted not to create bespoke-jogging suits, but he did branch out into ready to wear clothing, marketed through Austin Reed. He also successfully expanded into East Asia, establishing the Savile Row brand in Japan.

In 1976, Sexton bought Nutter out of the business. Nutter went to work for Kilgour, French and Stanbury, managing his own workroom. Sexton continued to run Nutter’s of Savile Row until 1983. What goes around comes around. Nutter returned to Savile Row with a ready to wear shop: Tommy Nutter, Savile Row. This new venture, which traded at No. 19 Savile Row until Tommy's death, was backed by J&J Crombie Limited, who continues to own the "Tommy Nutter" trademark. At this time, Sexton set up a successful business in his own name in New York City.

Always busy, Nutter was also a firm believer in the supremacy of the English suit and of English cloth; during the seventies and early eighties he took part in huge international fashion shows put on by Reid & Taylor, the Scottish firm of woolen and worsted manufacturers.

Still prodigious, in the 1980’s Nutter described his suits as a "cross between the big-shouldered Miami Vice look and the authentic Savile Row. Never one to turn down an opportunity Nutter created the stylish clothing of the Joker, worn by Jack Nicholson in the 1989 film, Batman. Thus insuring that this character still remains one of the best dressed super villains of all time.

 

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Galliano’s, a once Nutter apprentice  has borrowed heavily from Nutter’s collections, as has colleague Vivienne Westwood, Gucci's autumn/winter 2011 menswear collection is a homage to Nutter. Tommy Nutter’s work remains a perennial reference on the runway.

 

If Tommy Nutter was alive he’d only be sixty-eight. A Nutter suit is not a thing of the past. He is very much present. Were he alive I imagine him still designing for Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Eric Clapton and Elton John. They too continue to shake it up and retain some of their youthfulness and sexiness. Given their current state of attire, I think they would do well by Nutter’s gifted hand.

Nutter suits periodical come up for sale on internet sites. While prices vary from 500.00 to 5,000.00 dollars I have yet to see one in my size. I’m a standard size 40 with a 32” by 32” pant, but I do keep my eyes and ears open.

  

Now ell over forty years ago Nutter’s of Savile Row remains a successful shop. Their suits sill are influenced by Nutter’s original work, unexpected pin stripes, cut against the grain, shawl collars in crushed velvet, nipped in waists. It’s as if Nutter’s hand extends from heaven. You can visit the collection at www.nosr.co.uk Nutter’s, 12 Seville Row, London, UK W1S 3PQ info@nosr.co.uk tel: +44 (0) 20 7437 7007

 Now, what have I forgotten to remember?

Tommy Nutter: What We Forget To Remember

 

Lately I’ve been thinking about the British designer, Tommy Nutter. He and his work have crossed my mind. I don’t know why, but there does seem to be a resurgence in interest of his work as evidenced in London’s “Tommy Nutter: Rebel On The Row” exhibit at The Fashion and Textile Museum in South London.

I review his pictures on Google Image search. I come to the same conclusion I made in 1974, Tommy Nutter was irrepressibly cute, boyishly attractive, if not at times a strikingly handsome man, a man with dimples. Men and women found him attractive. How could they not? He had an indomitable sense of style, what the French call panache. As an adolescent, I found myself attracted to him and his work. He was British, which I equated with “class”. Nutter dressed the kind of people (mostly rock musicians) that I listened to alone in my bedroom with the sound up too loud. Mick Jagger sang Red Rooster and Elton John sang Crocodile Rock in Nutter suits.

Nutter rises on the fashion spectrum in the late 1960’s at a time when men wore boxy suits, narrow lapels, white shirts and skinny ties. A Mad Men like uniform, but not as slim, shiny or sexy. In reality, men dressed more like Mr. Mooney (The Lucy Show) and less like Don Draper.

 
Savile Row was a predictable double-breasted navy blue pin stripe world of three-piece suits custom made for bankers, banisters and the gentry. Nutter was however, an avant-garde Savile Row tailor, who single-handedly reconciled the traditions of Savile Row, laid down in the late 19th century, with the modern look of the new bohemians. Nutter emerges just as the “Peacock Revolution” is about to take place.

 
Nutter’s work with its nipped in waists, handmade rolled wide lapels, contrast piping, shoulder pads, slacks styled in a nineteen thirties cut, pleated/cuffed pants that invoked John Held illustrations appealed to the youthful exuberance of the young “hippie chic”. That is hippies who appreciated fine tailoring and had deep pockets. A Nutter suit cost as much, if not more than the best bespoke tailors on the Row.  Nutter was a gifted tailor and a talented designer, who understood textiles and scale, and could artfully mix plaids, tartans, windowpane check, stripes, herringbones, and ginghams to create a kind of quilted suit.  Nutter’s designs may have been rooted in the nineteen-thirties design aesthetic, but spoke to the new hip generation.

If you do not know who this talented gentleman and designer of Savile Row was, let’s start at the end and then look at the beginning.

Tommy Nutter was among the many men who died of AIDS related illnesses earlier in the epidemic. He passed away in Cornwall Hospital in August of 1992 after several prolonged opportunistic infections. He was only forty-nine years old, just barely middle-aged. With rare exceptions his obituaries are scant and do not lament his loss. Perhaps because Mr. Nutter passes away in close proximity to Robert Mapplethorpe, Patrick Robinson, Tina Chow, Keith Haring, Way Bandy, Kevin Aucoin, Gia Carangi, Perry Ellis, Halston, Willi Smith, Colin Birch, and Robert Benzio. Weary from grief, in a relatively brief period, the fashion community was robbed of a litany of great talents. Dying of AIDS was now deemed neither shocking nor tragic; it was commonplace, just another accepted everyday kind of thing. For the most part Nutter fell under the radar in America, as not many Americans were, or are aware of British designers. The New York Times and WWD give him only a brief paragraph, and do not include a head-shot or fashion photograph in his obituary. This for a man who is among one of the most important tailors, designers and arbiters of style and taste for several decades.

Why the dis? Too often seen as a lovable fop, a witty homosexual, vacuous, the news failed to recognize Nutter's insouciant manner masked a serious and continuing purpose, to make sure that the techniques and traditions of Seville Row tailoring were preserved, and valued by his generation.

  

 

Mr. Nutter was born in 1943, during the height of World War Two, an auspicious time to bring a child into the world as Europe was falling apart from the ravages of war. There were frequent air raids, bombings, food shortages, rationing, and viral epidemics to contend with. Nutter was born in Barmouth, Merioneth, Wales, but raised in Edgware,  Middlesex, North London, where his father owned the successful High Street Cafe which catered to a clientele composed mostly of ordinary “blokes”, truck drivers, gas-fitters and builders, burly men, laborers who were not interested in the fine art of fashion. The Nutter's were a typical post-war middle class family with aspirations of upward mobility. Nutter’s childhood was relatively suburban and middle-class. Father Nutter moved the family to the more respectable Kilburn, as soon as finances would allow it. Nutter attended Willesden Technical College, where he was an average student. Like all great designers, Nutter initially studied plumbing,  apprenticed, and then decided to pursue architecture, but he abandoned both by age nineteen to study tailoring at the Tailor and Cutter Academy.

Despite humble beginnings, out of the post war malaise rises Tommy Nutter, the quintessential British tailor, famous for reinventing the classic Savile Row suit in the 1960’s and 70’s.

What’s in a name? The family name “Nutter” is defined as British slang for a mad or eccentric person, as per the Collins English Dictionary Complete and Unabridged© Harper Collins Publishers 1991, through 2003, which may be an apt description of Tommy Nutter and his collections.

In the early 1960's, Nutter joined the tailoring firm of, Donaldson, Williamson & Ward, one of Savile Rows most proper (read: orthodox) Bespoke Shops in the toney Burlington Arcade. Starting as an apprentice, this is where Nutter learned his craft. He absorbed the lore and the rules of the English gentleman's classical wardrobe, and developed a lifelong respect for its rules from world class tailors.

 

After toiling for seven years, in 1968-9, he joined up with Edward Sexton, a master cutter, to open Nutter’s of Savile Rowat No 35a Savile Row on Valentine’s Day. A day that the meticulous Sexton and gregarious Nutter felt would provide them with good luck, personally and professionally. Sexton and Nutter had an off again on again relationship for many years. Their relationship and business was tried by the new mores, recreational drugs and recreational sex of the period.

 
Location is often a determinate of success.  The Savile Row location had the House Of Nutter at one end, and the headquarters of The Beatles company Apple Corps at the other. It was a well tread street by wealthy tourists and nearly everyone in the music industry. Having such close proximity to the music industry, Nutter and Sexton were soon financially backed by Cilla Black and her husband, music producer, Bobby Willis. Ms. Black is the well-known singer who scored huge hits with “Anyone Who Had A Heart”, “Alfie” and “Fool Am I.”Rounding out the trio of backers was the Managing Director of the Beatles' Apple Corps, Peter Brown, and their lawyer James Vallance-White. Nutter learned early on that pop stars and rock icons generated free press, and as setting style was concerned where it’s at… fashion wise.

Intrue democratic fashion on a street of hierarchical iconoclasts, Nutter was the first tailor to open up his Savile Row premises to anyone, including passers-by; introductions and business cards were not necessary to enter the store. Nutter’s shop had windows at a time when bespoke tailoring was usually situated behind austere closed doors, and dense velvet drapes conveying the message “stay out unless you belong”. Nutter’s shop soon attracted rock stars and aristocrats who wanted the mix of innovative styling and traditional made-to-measure tailoring.

 
To demonstrate how pioneering his approach to brand image was at the time, Nutter's shop windows were also innovative featuring displays of patchouli-soaked stuffed rats wearing diamond chokers. On Savile Row, the bastion of the old world, staid sobriety was the order of the day. Nutter was seen as an upstart and know it all whose shop was on the wrong side of the street. The elegantly carved doors with the engraved “N” did not relieve the tension in the sartorial neighborhood. Nutter was considered a “bad boy”, part of the neauveaux riche, practically a fashion anarchist. Nutter didn’t thumb his nose but did push the envelope visually. His window presentations were the talk of the town, To be certain; the huge purple candles in the shape of phallus's can't exactly have endeared him to his neighbors. Simon Doonan, the British Creative Director of Barney’s department store in New York, started out his career producing some of the outlandish windows displays for Nutter back in the day, and helped recreate the feel of the shop.

 
Tommy Nutter’s Seville Row emporium was a haven for London’s gay fashionistas and for some people, the Nutter suit became a symbol of something more than just stylistic élan. Drawing inspiration from the self-styled flamboyant Oscar Wilde, Dorian Grey and the Edwardian period Nutter found his bailiwick. Nutter was also successful navigating the complex social revolutions of the sixties and the often extravagant and idiosyncratic demands of his clients, the leading dandies of swinging London. 

The business was an immediate success, as Nutter combined traditional tailoring skills with his innovative designs. By no means an also ran, Sexton too proved out to be a highly skilled designer. Together they were a talented duo and their collaborations were flawless.

  

  
 
 

Beloved by the upper echelon of the fashion community, Nutter designed for the Hardy Amies range, and then for Mr. Amies himself. Nutter was the darling of the fashion hoi-polloi.

 

         Hardie Amies                           David Hochney

Nutter also dressed the eccentric and flamboyant octogenarian photographer, Norman Parkinson. Nutter’s early clients included his investors, plus Sir Roy Strong, then Director of the National Portrait Gallery and modern art master, David Hockney.

 
 
Twiggy, who was at the apex of her popularity adored Nutter, and wore his classic red velvet pant suit often, so much so  it was copied (albeit poorly) by every other fashion manufacturer, in the UK and US. Ms. Hornsby looked to Nutter for fashion advice and counsel as the Mary Quant Carnaby Street “Mod Look” now seemed tired. Twiggy wore Nutter in front of the camera and off. Not since Audrey Hepburn collaborated with Givenchy has a celebrity and designer has such a successful artistic partnership.

 
 

 

 
Other frequent clients included Mick Jagger, and wife, Bianca Jagger. In fact, Mick and Bianca chose to wear Nutter’s designs on their wedding day. In the early 1970's Nutter created many suits for Bianca Jagger. Bianca, already a fashion icon wanted a man's suit, and not a suit cut for a woman. She asked Nutter for the darts to be taken out of her first pistachio green suit to make it sexier. Bianca Jagger is an altogether differently shaped women from the waifish Twiggy, but in a Nutter fitted suit they both looked like the powerful and intelligent women they are. Their posture and presence convey confidence and intelligence.

Return in a few days for the second and final installment of Tommy Nutter: What We Forget to Remember

 

 

Barney's Warehouse Sale: A Fashion Orgy

 

Forget the fall of the Roman Empire, the decadence, the natural disasters, in less than one weeks time New York City and its environs were hit with a tornado, earthquake and hurricane. What are the chances? The weather stories preoccupied the news, and even upstaged Kim Kardashian’s wedding to Chris Humphries.

Not subject to natural disasters or acts of God, retail is like the church or the US Post Office. It never closes! With a stagnant economy and a volatile stock market, retailers are promoting their end of the season sales, fall previews hitting the stores, back to school sales, and the ever-important Labor Day sales, which are just a week away. This is an important quarter for retailers. I’m not saying they’re giving merchandise away, but Macy’s and JC Penney were running deep discounts to lure in customers, with 25.00 bonus’ and 20% off already discounted items this weekend. Even they couldn’t have prepared for what was about to befall us.

First, the 5.6 earthquake caused many buildings to jostle and sway. I was blissfully unaware of the sisemetic proceedings, as nearly every retailer and office building was being evacuated. It was one big street gathering reminiscent of the 1960’s happenings, or a flash mob, sans the dance number. When Saks, H & M, Banana Republic, Zara, and Anthropologie all let out onto the street at the same time, there is room for potential pandemonium.

Cell phone usage was blocked out by the satellites, who couldn’t handle the amount of call activity. The word on the street turned from rumors of terrorism, to the global climatic weather changes in the Artic pole, to the harmonic convergence scheduled for 12/12/12, and even Nostradamus’ prediction of the Apocalypse. Of greatest concern to tourists, benign Californians and shopaholics was when is The Gap reopening?

Retailers are a practical lot, if not lighthearted, even after the earthquake, before an aftershock was felt, stores reopened within a hour and handwritten “Earthquake Sale” signs were up in the windows.

Once all that hoopla was barely over, we braced for hurricane Irene. A boon to Home Depot, Lowe’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, and the local Ace Hardware, who sold out of flashlights, batteries, duct tape and plywood. Grocery stores couldn’t stock bread and water fast enough. The Mayor placed evacuation orders in effect. The show did not go on…on Broadway, even Mamma Mia closed until further notice. The MTA shut down all trains buses and subways. New Yorkers were non-plussed when the Stock Exchange closed early, but shock swept throughout the city when Starbuck’s announced it was closing all its locations for three days. Now it looked bad.

While the world was bracing for Irene, I was focused on more important things like Barney, no, not the purple dinosaur or Barney as in Rubble, Barney as in Barney’s NY, which was holding its Annual Warehouse Sale on West 17^thStreet. How could a tropical storm do this to me? I anticipated that no other idiots (besides myself) would deign to venture to Chelsea during a hurricane. Brother was I was wrong, as always, the line was outside the door and halfway down the block. The lines for the local emergency shelters were not as long. Rain pelted and gale force winds were menacing. I, like my NY colleagues love a good sale. Once safely inside, I was taken aback the despicable behavior of customers, the grabbing, the shouting, the pulling things off the hangers, and that was just me! Two women nearly came to blows over a Zac Posnan, size 12, which was rarer than a loaf of Wonder Bread at The Food Emporium this week. In their defense, it was a size 12! I saw lots of great buys, but nothing in my size, standard size 40, 32” waist, 32” inseam, a classic medium men’s. Everything was small or large or designed for Graham Norton. Drat the luck! I could see the headline in the post… “Shiver Me Timbers” with the sub-heading “Barney’s customer killed in hurricane, didn’t even have a sale item!” What a way to go!