Does country clothing still exist in Britain?

jamgood · Jun 13, 2007

Seems H&H clothing has changed its orientation from country gentry to Gucci-ish(?) since '96 (photo below)

2007 >> www.hollandandholland.com/clothing/index_eng.html

Town & Country Magazine, March 1996 (Apparently Manhattans were not enthusiastic.)

Trilby · Jun 13, 2007

A Questionable Gentleman said:
If one set out in a tweed jacket, covert twill or corduroy trousers, tattersall shirt, suede waistcoat or sweater vest, and wool tie, would one fit in in the country or look like a charicature of Remains of the Day?

culverwood said:
I think the suede waistcoat is the item that pushes it over the edge. If the rest does not look straight out of RL it is an older style but still worn.

Agreed. I think the suede waistcoat is more of an American look, even though the people who wear them might be aiming for a very English style. Apart from that, there are certainly places you can go in the UK where people wear this. There are parts of west London where this look is very common.

A Questionable Gentleman · Jun 14, 2007

Trilby,

I'll bite. Which parts of West London? Mayfair? Sloane Territory? The council flats you can see whilst riding the Tube in from Heathrow?

Trilby · Jun 14, 2007

A Questionable Gentleman said:
Trilby,

I'll bite. Which parts of West London? Mayfair? Sloane Territory? The council flats you can see whilst riding the Tube in from Heathrow?

If you walk down Jermyn Street on a Saturday afternoon during the autumn and winter, you'll definitely see this look. Or the traditional Sloane areas. Or just follow me around London -- it's pretty much what I wear during the colder months.

PJC in NoVa · Jun 14, 2007

Trilby said:
If you walk down Jermyn Street on a Saturday afternoon during the autumn and winter, you'll definitely see this look. Or the traditional Sloane areas. Or just follow me around London -- it's pretty much what I wear during the colder months.

I've been to London in Jan & Feb, and indeed have seen gentlemen in tattersall shirts, solid-woolen or emblematic-silk ties, tweed jackets under Barbour waxed coats, flat tweed caps, and cavalry twills or cords walking about the West End. This is a look that wards off the chill and wet wherever you are, rus et urbe.

I favor suede vests under tweed jackets myself during the chilly, wet winters here in the eastern US, but I must admit I've never seen a suede waistcoat while strolling around London.

nikwik · Jun 14, 2007

PJC in NoVa said:
I've been to London in Jan & Feb, and indeed have seen gentlemen in tattersall shirts, solid-woolen or emblematic-silk ties, tweed jackets under Barbour waxed coats, flat tweed caps, and cavalry twills or cords walking about the West End. This is a look that wards off the chill and wet wherever you are, rus et urbe.

Are you sure these gentlemen weren´t Swedish tourists? The description sounds exactly like me when I´m in London...

PJC in NoVa · Jun 14, 2007

nikwik said:
Are you sure these gentlemen weren´t Swedish tourists? The description sounds exactly like me when I´m in London...

Haha--as luck would have it, one such gent that I did have occasion to request directions from turned out to be Danish (a very nice fellow he was, too--he actually stopped and produced a map from his briefcase to help me find the address for which I was searching).

But I overheard others speaking and I'm quite sure their accents were British.

Bracemaker · Jun 14, 2007

Go to Cheltenham National Hunt races during the festival or the November meeting - you will be hard pressed to find anyone who isn't dressed in Barbour / Chrysalis / Locke and so on. Also there is a great tented shopping area, usually with lots of old favourites like Pakemans, Cuyler & Davy, Horace Barton and Cordings all under one canvas roof...

going grey · Jun 14, 2007

for what its worth- here's my two and six pennyworth regarding country dressing

1 don't put much thought into it ( the hardest bit )

2 Very old clothes are best

3 always have one item of instantly identifiable crucial clothing on that cancels out any other questionnable items you might be wearing...eg madly-polished 25 year old Church's brogues..or a good shirt.

4 Fear not the tie ( no twee patterns of countryside-related ephemera..pheasants or leaping salmon )

5 Its OK to look smart so long as it's all muted.....and means "I own this bit of countryside"

6 Bitter in straight glass...not lager if over 50.

Sir Royston · Jun 14, 2007

Trilby said:
If you walk down Jermyn Street on a Saturday afternoon during the autumn and winter, you'll definitely see this look. Or the traditional Sloane areas. Or just follow me around London -- it's pretty much what I wear during the colder months.

Indeed.. I always find it qiote amusing whilst shopping on jermyn St on a Saturday.. Go there Friday and its city suits.. come saturday the same Gentlemen ( me in other words) can be seen in Cords, Moleskins, Tattersall, tweed etc...

Same theory applies to leaving London for the Country on a Friday evening.. As you start to see more green than Grey its manners to replace the Blue Trilby with a Brown one to get in the mood.. Always a battle carrying two hats around (joke)!!

LondonFogey · Jun 15, 2007

Doctor Damage said:
If you go out into the rural areas, middle class folks wear the stuff. But it's not the high-fashion versions worn in NYC or elsewhere. Richard Bucket shows the typical look. Shapeless jackets, cheap ties, muted tattersal shirts, boring pants, and even more boring shoes. None of this stuff is bought in the London fancy stores with double-barrelled names.

DD

This is very much the kind of 'smart' clothing worn by most middle class, middle Englanders aged 45+. Every market town in the UK has at least one 'outfitters' that sells these kinds of clothing, though fewer than in yesteryear. Places like Dunn and Co and Greenwoods sold all that gear plus big aertex y-fronts, viyella pyjamas, clip on braces etc.

What is interesting though is how this stuff usually very unsuccessfully apes the styles of Jermyn Street but gets it subtly very wrong, eg polyester cavalry twill trousers, rubber soled brogues with padded collars, bri-nylon washable summer suits, clip on bow ties, poly-cotton short sleeved tattershall shirts, army work dress pullovers in polyester instead of wool, etc.

It's like they have a folk memory of stylish 1950s country clothes which has been further confused by eastern European designers and Chinese manufacturers...

going grey · Jun 15, 2007

LondonFogey said:
This is very much the kind of 'smart' clothing worn by most middle class, middle Englanders aged 45+. Every market town in the UK has at least one 'outfitters' that sells these kinds of clothing, though fewer than in yesteryear. Places like Dunn and Co and Greenwoods sold all that gear plus big aertex y-fronts, viyella pyjamas, clip on braces etc.

What is interesting though is how this stuff usually very unsuccessfully apes the styles of Jermyn Street but gets it subtly very wrong, eg polyester cavalry twill trousers, rubber soled brogues with padded collars, bri-nylon washable summer suits, clip on bow ties, poly-cotton short sleeved tattershall shirts, army work dress pullovers in polyester instead of wool, etc.

It's like they have a folk memory of stylish 1950s country clothes which has been further confused by eastern European designers and Chinese manufacturers...

aaahhh .. gents outfitters...there was a thread about this once. A dying breed of shops..much lamented..some are good...Scotts of Cirencester and the one on Turl St in Oxford..? Walters

Does country clothing still exist in Britain?

jamgood

Trilby

A Questionable Gentleman

Trilby

PJC in NoVa

nikwik

PJC in NoVa

Bracemaker

going grey

Sir Royston

LondonFogey

going grey

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