Love talking to Jimmy Frost Mellor about clothes. Asked him to write
something for garmsville. Amazingly, he has...An ideal day and an
ideal look.
Michael
Arlen, or Dikran Kouyoumdjian to his family, in the Green Hat (1924)
would have you believe that the air around Shepherd Market in Mayfair is
'like wine'. Maybe that was once true, maybe it never was. Today that wine is
corked beyond being potable, but London still retains its Bright Young Things.
Where to find them? Go East young man!
Dean
works in Present, Shorditch High Street, in what was the old Duffer of Saint
George HQ. His boss worked for Stuart Molloy at Jones on the King's Road
who in turn worked for John Simons at the Squire Shop in Brewer
Street, Soho. He is a part of a very real family tree of London stylists.
Unassuming,
he wears Updated Ivy and lives the life from his bicycle to his haircut. I
always seek him out to talk clothes whenever I'm there.
So
what's my point? Dean
is a perfect example of my 'Persian Rug' theory: London spreads out before us
all with a richness which overwhelms, but it is only when you stop to study the
details that you start to understand the beauty and the genius of the
place. And Dean is a great detail.
Combine a conversation with him with a short
stroll to Franze and Evans on Redchurch Street for coffee and you start to
really see the city as the details come together to make up the whole.
It's
like a jigsaw which requires you to put it together without a picture to
lead you and so your comprehension of your discoveries is far greater
than if you were just following a pre-existing pattern. Maybe
that's fanciful. But
it is an attitude which can add a lot to city life. So
what would be the perfect outfit be for such an urban Columbus?
I've
long been a fan of the idea of the Urban Tweed and after 34 years of study (I
took the first 13 years of life off) I've found none better than the J. Keydge
Ivy 'Slack' jacket in 100% wool Charcoal Herringbone from J Simons. It's the perfect formal /
informal jacket. All you have to do is to add or subtract a tie, The jacket
stays the same but its perception keeps morphing.
A
grainy blue oxford cloth button down comes next like Brooks Brothers
used to do and Mercer and Sons now do.
Trousers
should be dark and the hardest working shoes I've ever found were called
'loafers' by some wag. I like the original Penny Bass Weejun.
A classic design from 1936 which never seems out of place or time. A mac and a brolly also make sense, just in case. Subfusc stuff maybe, but it's all about how you wear it. And more to the point it's stuff which it doesn't matter where you wear it. It's all very boardroom / bar room friendly. Most
of all you just have to wear it with enjoyment. And get on with living.
Jimmy Frost Mellor was once Saturday Boy at John Simon's legendary Ivy Shop in Richmond. But not twice.
images of Dean by joelandmattias.com
