Thanks to people like Jesse Thorn, the long nightmare of “gaping and bowing in our nation’s lapels” may soon be over. Hats off to you sir.
Q & Answer: My Pocket Square Makes My Lapel Bulge!
Gus asks: I have a recurring problem with my jackets: the left lapel bulges open when I put a pocket square in the breast pocket. Do you know of the cause of this and the cure?
The answer’s about as simple as you’d think it would be. Either your pocket square’s too big or your coat’s too small. With our squares, we usually cut at 16” square, though we go down a bit smaller for heavier fabric to prevent this problem. You can try a less scrunchy, more foldy pocket square arrangement - that might cut down on volume.
More likely though is that your coat is fitting tightly, either in the chest or at the buttoning point. So either have it let out a bit or hit the gym. The fad for tight-fitting jackets has led to a lot of gaping and bowing in our nation’s lapels, and jamming a pocket square in there can exacerbate the problem.
Elegance: Put This On Season Two, Episode Five
Put This On, a web series about dressing like a grownup, visits Milan, a world fashion capital.
In this episode, our director Benjamin Ahr Harrison visits Biella, north of the city, to talk with Luciano Barbera. Barbera isn’t just one of the world’s most elegant men, he’s also the leader of Carlo Barbera, one of the finest fabric mills in existence.
For our PTO Place segment, we talk with the owner of G. Lorenzi. It started as a cutlery shop, and has become a spectacular tribute to the finest small accessories imaginable. It’s home to a visually stunning spectrum of knives, scissors, shaving goods, toothbrushes, combs, shoehorns and other tiny necessities.
In PTO Man, we visit Salvatore Battello, the elegant owner of W-D Man. Before he started his line, he ran one of the last companies in the world that worked with shagreen - the beautiful skin of sharks and rays. Battello tells us about his passion for vintage fabric, and his definition of elegance.
Plus Jesse answers the question “what color shoes go with the suit?” and Dave Hill offers a rudiment on the topic of socks.
This is the fifth episode in our six-episode second season. In this season, we visit the three greatest men’s style cities in the world, as chosen by our readers - New York, Milan and London.
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Watch it elsewhere:—-
This episode was supported by our viewers.
—-Executive Producers: Jesse Thorn & Adam Lisagor
Director: Benjamin Ahr Harrison
Host / Writer / Producer: Jesse Thorn
Rudiments: Dave Hill
Producer: Gianluca Migliarotti
Director of Photography: Daniele Vascelli
Sound: Daniele Belli
Editor: Todd Thoenig and Benjamin Ahr Harrison
“When I was young there were beatniks. Hippies. Punks. Gangsters. Now you’re a hacktivist. Which I would probably be if I was 20. Shuttin’ down MasterCard. But there’s no look to that lifestyle! Besides just wearing a bad outfit with bad posture. Has WikiLeaks caused a look? No! I’m mad about that. If your kid comes out of the bedroom and says he just shut down the government, it seems to me he should at least have an outfit for that.”
- John Waters on the sorry style of today’s rebels (emphasis mine)
In this new weekly series, we peer into your summer weekend agenda and offer a few essential sundries to help you make the most of your upcoming escapade. This weekend, you%u2019re throwing an alfresco soiree.
Let%u2019s face it: that repurposed keg tub has served as the centerpiece of every outdoor party you%u2019ve thrown since graduation. It%u2019s time for it to leak weird liquid somewhere else. And since you%u2019re already headed to the dump, you might as well toss out the wobbly coffee table, the not-supposed-to-be-blinking Christmas lights and, well, just about everything else that%u2019s been outside for over a year. We know, you kind of like that stuff.
We also know you%u2019re going to kind of like this stuff more%u2026
Put This On Season Two, Episode 3: (New) Traditions
Put This On, a web series about dressing like a grownup, visits London, where we examine how traditions are being reinvented in the birthplace of classic menswear.
We go to Savile Row, where we meet up with a historical guide to talk about the history of the world’s oldest tailoring street. We also chat with the tailor Richard Anderson about what’s special about The Row. Patrick Grant, the owner and designer of Norton & Sons, talks about how Savile Row can become a vital part of the international fashion world again.
Just off Savile Row, we go to the basement showroom of W. Bill, the world’s most legendary tweed merchant. Ray Hammet, who’s worked at W. Bill for decades, shows us around the stacks of wooly majesty.
In our PTO: Man segment, we talk with Ian Bruce, painter and member of the band The Correspondents, about re-imagining the SoHo dandy for the 21st century. He takes us through London’s red light district, and tells us why he doesn’t want to look like a painter at the end of a long day of painting.
We visit the tie factory owned and operated by Drake’s of London to learn how a high-quality tie is made, from fabric to finished product. Then we buy one to send to a supporter of the show.
Plus Dave Hill tells where sport sunglasses are and are not appropriate, in Rudiments.
This is the third episode in our six-episode second season. In this season, we visit the three greatest men’s style cities in the world, as chosen by our readers - New York, Milan and London.
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Watch it elsewhere:Clothing Credits (Coming Soon)
—-This episode was supported by our viewers and by The Put This On Gentlemen’s Association.
—-Executive Producers: Jesse Thorn & Adam Lisagor
Director: Benjamin Ahr Harrison
Host / Writer / Producer: Jesse Thorn
Rudiments: Dave Hill
Producer: Kristian Brodie
Director of Photography: Charlie Cook
Sound: Kristian Brodie
