Tobacco Linen Suit

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Tobacco_Linen_Suit_by_Torsten_Grunwald

When I’m out with the camera, like was in Italy, I dress in very practical clothes. I’m the one with camera, not the shooting object. I prefer that distribution of roles. So you will not find many photos of me from Pitti Uomo.

It doesn’t imply I cannot dress up. In fact I wear tie-shirt-suit on a daily basis. Moreover, I usually try to play a little with colours and patterns. I’m not a guy, who wears subdued blue or grey suits, white shirts and blue tie day in day out. I’m exploring.

Wearing a tobacco linen suit like here is an occasion to try out new and mayby difficult combinations. Can blue brown, blue and green be done, although “blue and green should not be seen”?

Tobacco_Linen_Suit_DB_by_Torsten_Grunwald

I think it works. The unlined navy blue wool tie and navy blue socks do challenge brown and green colours, yet that contrast also energizes the attire. I omit patterns, since they would make the style too busy for my taste.

The DB suit is quarter-lined and bespoke from Italy made up from W. Bill’s linen. I love W. Bill’s tweed but I have to say that I’m not entirely happy with their linen cloth. Not that it crumples. It’s linen. But the cloth I have from them doesn’t appear very colorfast.

Photos: The Journal of Style

Bespoke Tailor Possanner in Vienna

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Possaner-1[Cotton drill suit jacket and sports jacket]

Next month I will be going to Potsdam again for a fitting at Volkmar Arnulf‘s. In this connection I spoke with Bernhard Roetzel, who lives in Berlin and has a tailor in Potsdam. He drew my attention to an Austrian tailor, whom I had never heard about before: Bespoke tailor Possanner. Roetzel is planning to place an order with him in Spring.

Possanner-2[SB linen suit jacket and sports jacket in a particular Austrian “Hunters’ Linen”, “a blend of olive and brown native linen,” Michael Possanner says.]

Possanner-3[SB three button suit jacket in “Scottish 3-ply, two-colored brown-green fresco.”]

Possanner-4[Cream SB dinner jacket]

I was, of course, curious, and I went to Possanner’s website.  One should be careful with judging craftsmen on their online presence, yet hidden in press articles in German at the website I found some interesting and promising information about the owner, “Schneidermester” Michael Possanner.

Possanner-5[Four button DB blazer  with horizontally pointing peak lapels]

Before starting out in the trade Mr Possanner was a journalist. At 30 he decided to change path fulfilling a dream of his, and he applied for an apprenticeship at Knize, the famous tailor in Vienna. He got it, and for the next 10 years  he stayed there learning the craft.

“I always wanted to be a tailor, and I knew there was only one place to learn this craft. At Knize’s,” he told a paper recently.

Then around two years ago he left Knize to establish his own shop in Vienna. When leaving Knize he was a certified master tailor and “cutter, fitter and head of the prime-customer services,” Mr Possanner tells me.

Possanner-6[An unusual bottle green dinner jacket. Michael Possanner tells me:  “A traditional Austrian Hunting-Tuxedo, worn during receptions after a hunt/chasse or at our famous annual “Jägerball” in the Imperial Palace in Vienna.”]

Besides Mr Possanner’s solid curriculum, the pictures at the website hint an advanced classic taste. The shop is charming, and there is a fine selection of garments, exemplary paired with different shirts, ties and handkerchiefs.  There is no show off, just this tasteful demonstration of style.

Possanner-7[DB dinner jacket]

Fine bespoke tailoring is a little more than Neaples and London.

Michael Possanner speaks English fluently.

Photos: Possanner

Our Man in Havana

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

“Before anybody mentions the handkerchief, it was not deliberate, I should say. I didn’t notice it unfolding.”

Menswear photos call for evaluation and for people to quibble. Michael C. G. Iversen knows it. But there is no reason for him to make an excuse. Who can show a photo of himself in a cream white linen suit in Havana with Hemingway on the wall in the background?

Additionally, señor Iversen performs excellently. The two-tone shoes, the elegantly tied silk scarf and the shimmering white shirt cannot be better. I also like that the uncontrollable handkerchief shines like the silk scarf.

“When I sat smoking in the cafes of Havana, tourists took pictures of me. I guess they thought that I was a shabby consul, whom they should know about,” Michael C. G. Iversen notes.

Apparently, even in Havana a cream white linen suit is an event nowadays.

But, as Butler loves to point out: One should never apologize for being well-dressed.

Photo: The Journal of Style

Fearless summer dressing

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Colonial-white-linen-suit-The-Journal-of-StyleThere is lots of talk about white summer clothing. I do it myself. Fact is that few men dare to wear it. Could be we are afraid to stand out, or to look like a museum piece from colonial times.

It is a shame though if we get caught in that type of social imagination because white clothing in linen or cotton is the dress of an elegant summer. That is how it is. Loud colours, say, yellow, apricote and red, are for summer too but a summer of fun, not an elegant one.

In Florence I saw this young man. He went all the way including travel bag and Panama hat. No fear. Well done.

Source: The Journal of Style

Versatile linen suits

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NSM-linen-suit-The-Journal-of-Style-1 NSM-linen-suit-The-Journal-of-Style-2 NSM-linen-suit-The-Journal-of-Style-3 NSM-linen-suit-The-Journal-of-Style-4 NSM-linen-suit-The-Journal-of-Style-5 NSM-linen-suit-The-Journal-of-Style-6

Before ordering a new suit, I like to think about, how jacket and trousers might form part of a different dress than the suit in question. Versality of suit pieces can be useful, for instance for travelling, because you can minimize the wardrobe.

Sometimes the search for versatility doesn’t make sense. Jacket and trousers can be linked together completely. It happens with a striped suit, typically.

However, solid suits, especially informal models, are less coded. Jacket and trousers may live on their own finding new friendships.

Look how well “Butler” does it.

The tools are two linen suits from Napoli su Misura, a bespoke Italian tailor. The ivory is a three-piece double breasted, the brown a three-piece single breasted. Note the slips on the vests, which take the colour of the other suit.

If you go through the possiblities the suits give you, you get an amount of choices, maybe not fully convincing all of them:

  1. Two-piece all brown
  2. Three-piece all brown
  3. Two-piece all ivory
  4. Three-piece all ivory
  5. Two-piece brown jacket & ivory trousers
  6. Two-piece ivory jacket & brown trousers
  7. Three-piece brown jacket, brown vest & ivory trousers
  8. Three-piece brown jacket, ivory vest & brown trousers
  9. Three-piece brown jacket, ivory vest & ivory trousers
  10. Three-piece ivory jacket, brown vest & brown trousers
  11. Three-piece ivory jacket, brown vest & ivory trousers
  12. Three-piece ivory jacket, ivory vest & brown trousers

9. and 10. are favorites of Butler.

“I’m vertically challenged, and vest and trousers of same colour will give extra optical height,” he explains smiling.

Shirts are from Napoli su Misura as well, and nubuck shoes are from John Lobb.

Source: The Journal of Style at Charlottenlund Castle

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