Archive for January 2010

The Grapes Of Wrath - premiered 70 years ago this week.

Thursday, 28 January 2010 Comments Off

Today The Grapes Of Wrath is not only relevant for its style value but also for its reflections on social injustice.
It's sad that most people, even in the supposedly affluent West, don't need to be reminded how difficult it can be to make ends meet; they experience that difficulty daily.
The clothing - what the fashion magazines might inappropriately title Depression Style or Dust Bowl Chic - is a real treat to see; the chambray shirts, the eight piece caps, the bib'n'brace overalls...

As a result, it's a film worth watching for both the most poignant and the most superficial of reasons.
The real tragedy of this film, directed by the great John Ford and first screened in January 1940, is that very few of us on either side of the Atlantic seem to believe that social equality is even a remote possibility these days.
With so many of us finding our way back to those amazing clothes, maybe there's a chance that we might rekindle some of that ideology as well.


Naive. I know.

John Simons - Every Ending Is A New Beginning

Friday, 22 January 2010 Comments Off


Sale time at the J Simons store has always been a major talking point for anyone in the UK into Americana and Ivy League clothing, but this winter's sale promises to be something of a real conversation killer.

Along with all the Made In America coats, soft-shoulder suits, loafers and wing-tips, he'll also be selling the rails, the shelves and anything else that you can agree a price on.



In other words, this is the sale to end all sales: J Simons, the purveyor of traditional American clothing, is closing.

Having been in the same location since 1981, John Simons - the man who introduced Bass Weejuns and Florsheim to the UK, the man who invented the term Harrington jacket and helped shape some of the country's most enduring style references, from mods to smooths to soul boys - has decided not to renew the lease on the shop's current premises and move his retail operation online.



This of course is devastating news, perhaps not least for the likes of Paul Weller, Kevin Rowland, Robert Elms, David Rosen and Dylan Jones - all of whom, over the years, have been known to frequent the Covent Garden store and before that The Ivy Shop.



The closure in fact is bad news for anyone with an innate sense of style and an instinct for sartorial one-upmanship.

Always ahead of the cultural curve, maybe Simons' decision to shut shop isn't just a pragmatic one. With many of the brands he's spent decades championing, often single-handedly - Brooks Brothers, Woolrich Mills, Penfield, Pendleton, Baracuta and Sperry Topsiders, Schott - all enjoying unprecedented commercial success right now, it only makes sense for him to go one better and make his own.




Perhaps as a result, the only person with anything remotely resembling a smile in this circumstance seems to be Mr Simons himself, who sees the closure as an opportunity to concentrate on designing for his own label and an increasing number of other brands eager to exploit his free time and wealth of clothing knowledge.




Introduced last summer, his chinos, with their distinctive belt loops and über-contemporary silhouette are just a taste of what he has in mind. I've got tons of ideas, tons of designs, he says with the kind of enthusiasm you wouldn't expect from a man in the throws of a shop closure.

Along with the chinos, I'm looking forward to doing raincoats, shirts and maybe even knitwear, he says, sounding like someone about to embark on a brand new adventure.

J Simons
2 Russell Street, Covent Garden,
London WC2B 5TD

this post originally appeared on GQ Daily

As-Salāmu `Alayka - Muhammad Ali

Sunday, 17 January 2010 Comments Off

wishing the greatest boxer ever
a very happy birthday

Don't Be Late - That's the Sound of Chapter Sweetheart

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At the heart of it is a sweet and soulful bass line, not so unfamiliar; but all around is a cacophony of sound - guitars sounding like they're being tuned-up, a vocal which initially sounds disinterested and dejected, a drum-beat that has more to do with the Stooges than with Motown's Sound Of Young America.

And then you realise it's a tune you've known all your life.


Chapter Sweetheart create a joyful noise, not just on their amazing version of Smokey Robinson's My Girl, but on all the tracks available on their myspace.


On certain tracks the east London based outfit introduce cornet, harmonica and even handheld bull horn - bringing to mind the sound of Ornette Coleman and Joe Bowie and at the same time the No Wave sensibility of the Lounge Lizards and James Chance.


What's also great about these recordings is that they feel dirty, they feel live and unapologetic, like walking into someones living-room before they've had a chance to tidy-up you get a a palpable sense of who they really are.

This is how great garage bands are meant to sound.


They've got a number of dates line-up and it's well worth taking the opportunity to see them at this stage. Tomorrow night they perform live at the Social off Oxford Circus. This is a chance to catch a great new band early, or to be forever late.





Chapter Sweetheart

The Social, London

NKU: James Brown circa 1968/9

Monday, 11 January 2010 Comments Off

Never Knowingly Underdressed - James Brown: Sometimes, you like to let the hair do the talking!

Winter In America part 1

Sunday, 10 January 2010 Comments Off




































all covers available from eBay

An Open Letter To Thom Browne:

Thursday, 7 January 2010 Comments Off

Dear Thom,

It's hard to believe that it's almost a year to the day since your seminal Fall 2009 show and collection launch at Pitti in Florence.


A time of mixed emotions perhaps; it must have seemed as if the romance had worn a little thin and an industry backlash was firmly in motion.

Over the past few years it's become obvious that you in fact haven't come to save menswear, but to follow a very singular design vision; I think a few people felt betrayed by this.


With that in mind, the Fall 2009 presentation was impressive and audacious - a legion of men all dressed the same, a monotonous drown of typewriters filling the echoing auditorium.

The rules of the catwalk show weren't just broken, they were dismissed altogether.


A lot of people saw the show as a comment on modern businessman.

Others saw the Thom Browne insignia as a comment on militarism and modern war.


Me, I immediately thought of Kafka's The Trail, especially the Orson Welles version starring the much underrated Anthony Perkins.



Josef K works in a bank - rows upon rows of desks occupying an expanse the size of a football pitch; filled by the sound of typewriters.



To me you played with elements from the book and the film: hidden boxes, important documents...


the nice apple K intends to have for breakfast...



...and his attire:




He opened the wardrobe himself, spent a long time searching through all the clothes, and chose his best black suit which had a short jacket that had greatly surprised those who knew him, then he also pulled out a fresh shirt and began, carefully, to get dressed. (from Chapter 1)


It occurred to me that there was a humour about the show that might have been lost on almost everyone but you.




The empty space at the start of the Florence show reminded me of the famous section which was cut from the film.





And the ad which followed the show seemed to continue the reference - the blindfolds referring to Lady Justice.




& reminded me of that great cover for the recent Penguin Classics edition created for the agency Mother by Gary Card and photographer Jacob Sutton.




I figured it wasn't just the imagery - powerful enough as it is - that might have inspired you to reference The Trial but also the sense of being an innocent man accused of an horrendous and yet unknown crime.




It was as if, to me at least, you could identify with Kafka and the Josef K character in the novel.



What many fashion fans were looking to you to provide was a kind of new Ralph Lauren...





What they got was a very different type of cultural protagonist - an unsettling avant garde response to the current yearning for nostalgia.



The description of you by Eric Wilson in The New York Times last month indicates this ambivalence perfectly:

Thom Browne the designer best known for making expensive, narrowly tailored suits that have been both enormously influential and endlessly mocked.

The Pitti show itself of course was a kind of trial - like all fashion shows - the audience, the press, buyers and bloggers and friends - all attending court and performing their part as judge, jury and law enforcers.



Despite the overall positive reception to the show and the success of the Spring Summer 2010 show, questions as to whether you had enough of a financial foundation to survive the current economic downturn only seemed to grow in volume.




(The S/S 2010 of course reminded me of another Kafka great - Metamorphosis - where the main protagonist turns into an insect. The Beatles soundtrack was a lovely touch.).




With another season about to launch, I suspect you'll continue to provide your critics and your fans with much to talk about.

Hopefully, with the new backing of the Cross Company you'll be able to enjoy even more the creative freedoms you've worked so hard to preserve.

I like to think of that as a kind of justice.

All the best,


J.



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