Put This On

This is one of my favorite Monty Python sketches. Heck… maybe my favorite. I’ve decided to post it here because Michael Palin and Terry Jones, as the developers, offer a wonderful example of traditional semi-formal day dress - strollers. Note the black suit jackets, vests (always black, dove gray or buff), silver ties and black-gray-white patterned trousers.

Also notice how amazing John Cleese is.

Last night I watched the BBC documentary “The Perfect Suit.” It’s a breezy history of the men’s lounge suit. I particularly enjoyed the segment with Eric Musgrave, author of “Sharp Suits,” which details the history of the lounge suit. The designers selected were very interesting as well - Antony Price, who helped define the suiting aesthetic of the 1980s, and Paul Smith, who speaks with passion about finding ways to make a uniform special on a mass-market scale. It’s also chock-full of charming archival footage. The special paints with very broad strokes, and there isn’t a lot of insight in it, but it does get everything pretty much right.

I only wish I could muster 1/10th of the host’s wide-eyed naif credulity. I get it: he is baffled and confounded by suits. You can find his brief article about the suit here.

Despite being a web video host, I’m not that into web videos. Mostly they’re not that great, right?

But The Internets Celebrities are the exception. Two guys from NYC doing it big on the small screen. In this first episode of their new series “IC NYC,” they head to the polar bear swim on Coney Island, and while Rafi contemplates getting in, Dallas contemplates a more important question: where are the black people?

These guys are the best. Watch it!

The American Museum of Natural History, one of my favorite museums in States, has an incredible video showcasing a rare spider silk they had on exhibit. Apparently, this textile took four years to make and the spinning of over one million spiders in Madagascar.

In the way Cleverly made shoes out of that legendary Russian leather, someone needs to give this to EG Cappelli or Sam Hober. I want a grenadine necktie made out of this!

Gshen, the maker of those handmade ties we talked about, found this really great video of Eric Clapton talking about his love for Cordings, traditional clothing, and country attire. It’s an absolute must watch. 

(Source: youtube.com, via gshen65)

I may have posted this before, but it remains one of my favorite things ever. Street basketball and hip-hop DJ legend Bobbito Garcia aka DJ Cucumber Slice visits the home of Biz Markie to discover a room filled with sneakers. No furniture, just sneakers.

Watch this, then read this thread of Biz Markie stories on the breakbeat message board Soul Strut. Those two things will make your life better.

“The emma-emma-zuh-ay arruh-arruh-suh-kay / guaranteed to brighten your day.”

I’m not the only one who’s passionate about personal grooming. There’s also one Sterling Archer, codename: “Duchess.”

(Thanks RQT)

PTO Pal Nick Sullivan of Esquire teams up with joins with Patrick Grant, owner of the Savile Row tailor Norton & Sons for a drive around the UK to visit the places where some of the world’s finest clothing (and the constituent parts of the world’s finest clothing) is made. Check out more at Esquire.

A well-fitted armhole is essential to a top’s ease of movement, as this video by Mathew Farnes of Savile Row Artisan demonstrates. The relationship between sleeve, arm and shoulder is one of the great challenges a tailor faces in making a jacket, and one of the reasons jackets are so much more expensive to make than trousers.