Club Chair Bulletin #19
Post-election, postmodern
What’s he been up to?
Thanks for picking up this week’s bulletin, last week’s meeting can be attended here. This week, abridged thoughts on prep post-election, off piste leather jackets, sweats up and down, and the greatest jacket ever made.
Reconciling Americana Post-election
I’m a Brit, but I’m a Brit with a transatlantic taste when it comes to fashion, I have, in the past, identified as an Americaphile. After the results of the election, I feel I will struggle to reconcile the American influences on my fashion.
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Prep is, at the best of times, an optical and political tight-rope on which I have to walk, especially as a somewhat archetypal white guy. Class works a little differently on this side of the pond, I think the best way to describe it is to say I’ve grown up two-cars-one-house middle-class, I do not have a particularly deep cultural connection with prep-wear or Ivy. It is for this reason that I feel I am well placed to comment on it from a perspective of fashion rather than signalling. It is signalling, however, that I feel lies at the heart of my concerns now.
I think we are looking at a greater amount of even-further-widening division in the States going forward, and I’m seeing already across sites that some individuals are looking toward fashion for signalling. Thus, I feel there is cause to evaluate the signalling of one’s fashion, certainly not to abscond from prep, ivy or any further derivative, but to be aware that you do not choose how you are interpreted, only how you are seen.
I expect there to be debates about what it means to be American, what the symbols of America communicate to the outside world. I am concerned that these symbols will become polluted over the next four years.
I could write for a very long time on this matter, I might yet, though probably elsewhere, whilst the club is not apolitical I’d prefer to offer escapism here. I’ll leave it for now.
Curating New-Wave Ivy
Taking the above in a little more of an optimistic direction, I am interested currently with contemporary expressions of prep and ivy. Key signifiers would be influence from black ivy and streetwear, and the infusion of sportswear. I’ve curated a moodboard below.
It ends up being quite a lot of Aime Leon Dore, some Drake’s, in essence it’s the upper-end, ostentatious expressions of the clothes most menswear guys are wearing currently. Nothing groundbreaking, but probably the closest thing to my personal style as of late, and a lot of fun to work within. Pairing modern sporting cloths: sweats and mesh, with traditional oxfords, tweeds, and twills. Perhaps this is the postmodern ivy which I have looked for in the past.
Wardrobe Spotlight
My Barbours
In the beginning God made Britain, and then in order to apologise he made Barbour jackets. I got my Beaufort back in September, and it was joined recently by a quilted bomber of sorts, not quite sure of the exact model. There is just something inherently excellent about Barbour jackets, both in the material and semantic, with the awareness that they have a wide array of connotations, as always context and styling matter hugely.
I forever advertise the Beaufort via its capacious game pocket, particularly its ability to hold an entire bottle of wine, or even the other jacket shown here, though not without looking entirely ridiculous. Mine is absolutely thrashed, riddled with hols and tears, this is the only way to have a Barbour, under no circumstances is it ever retired, it is repaired, re-waxed, patched but never replaced, its the Toyota pickup of jackets, as much as it might suggest Range Rover, it is far more reliable. Despite having it only three months, it has weaselled its way deep into my heart, it is has manufactured for itself some sense of sentimentality, as though I was the one who put those holes there. This is the magic of a Barbour, as silly as it may sound.
The nylon companion which I picked up recently was a good deal, and I thought I’d have a go at styling it, subvert the connotations which in fact hang around Barbour’s pleated offerings more than their waxed. I’ve been pairing it with hoodies and turtlenecks. It doesn’t quite have the same charm as the Beaufort, but will still likely see regular wear.
On the Radar
Cafe Racer Jackets
If there is one leather jacket to rule the all, it is the A2, nothing comes close to its recognisability, fit, ubiquity. The A2 is brown, however, and I’m now looking into possibilities of a black leather jacket to accompany it.
The choice I’ve fallen on is the striped cafe-racer jacket, a slightly off-piste interpretation of a biker jacket with a unique silhouette, leaning slimmer and longer through the torso. That makes it pretty much the antithesis both of the A2, and of jackets we perhaps consider hip right now. This odd-ball factor, coupled with the stripes, piques my interest, and I’ve found they suit me very well.
I’ll be on the look-out going forwards.
Loopwheeler Japan Sweatpants
An immediate disclaimer, I have no idea of you can actually buy these without travelling to Osaka, if you know how, do get in touch. It isn’t that long ago that I would have turned my nose up at the mere suggestion of a pair of sweatpants, these days I really fancy a pair to wear with my navy blazer just to see how many trad guys start steaming from the ears.
I came across these styled in that very manner by @shige_mot0 over on the gram, and they look so damned good. Loopwheeler have achieved cult status for their hoodies and sweatshirts, but these pants take it for me. They knock pretty much any other offering out of the park, the fit, the 100% cotton, the marl, all perfect
