The 1930s style

The website ""The 30s Style" is the work of one Mr. Yamazaki, dedicated to return to the zenith of men's style - the 1930s.

Here is a report I posted at The London Lounge, slightly rewritten, on a meeting with Mr. Yamazaki and his stylist - the efferverscent Mr. Okisaka.

Mr. Yamazaki was accompanied by his lovely wife who also acted as translator. I took quite a few pictures during the two hours or so we discussed tailoring, suit design.

Mr Yamazaki wore a beautiful blue suit with multicolor chalk stripes. It is a single breasted design, with large sweeping peak lapels, and was quite stunning. Mr. Okisaka wore the houndstooth double breasted suit.

Mr. Okisaka is not a tailor nor a cutter, but a fashion designer who takes inspiration liberally from the 1930s. He has reached a stage of development in his design career that he is able to freely interprete the elements of the 1930s which suit his sense of style to incorporate into his clothes. This interpretive style is refreshing, his mastery and fluency of the language of design in those years allowed him to either be faithful to the original (like the suit he made for Yamzaki shown here) or to use elements to redisign a suit like the one he is wearing.

A silhoutte of the trio in my hotel room:



Here is a sepia toned photograph of Mr. Yamazaki. Sitting on the chair, he looks regal - reminds me of the late Emperor Hirohito. He is a full blown 1930s chappie, head to toe (except for Crockett & Jones Captoes he wore on Sat). His glasses were vintage looking as was his watch. The suit is particularly beautiful.



And the creator of these suits, Mr. Okisaka - was more flamboyant, and less bound by the 1930s style. His own personal style takes clues from the 1930s, but as mentioned, he is progressed to a stage where he is free to interprete as he pleases.



The Yamazaki 3B SB, 3 piece suit in multi-stripe

The shoulder



Note the heavily roped shoulder, high notch position and large lapels. Note also the handmade buttonaire hole. This style is quite showy. Despite this showy style, it is interesting that the Okisaka-san chose not to use pick stitching on the lapel.

Note also the lapel is cut such that the edge is straight, following closely one of the stripes on the material pattern. Okisaka-san explained to me that he made this so that the lapel looked more angular. Typical English or Italian cut lapels would have a slight curve - known as the belly, which I prefer, and makes the coat look less angular.



The shoulder is hand constructed...picture above showing the inside stitching. The workmanship is immaculate.



Note the angular lapel, with the very high notch position, coupled with a button point which is at approximately midpoint of the coat, and pronounced and pinched waist makes the garment looks rather dramatic. This gives the optical illusion that the wearer is taller than he actually is. The Duke of Windsor used this to great effect.



Level indicating the height of the trousers at the back. The trousers were held by braces, and typical high back, fish tailed.



The back of the coat had a slight fullness around the shoulder blades.



The cloth was a rather interesting vintage material from Thornton-Jones. Lining was apalca wool, which had a very dull finish, rather different from viscose, but still afforded the smoothness to allow one to slide into the coat.



Showing the dart construction. Okisaka-san took great pains to explain that the coat was constructed.



I am not sure if I understand him clearly. But apparently, unlike modern coats, where there is a side panel running all the way from the bottom of the armpit to the coat bottom. This side panel is attached to the rear panel, and the front panel. In his costruction such that the side panel is completely missing, but the front panel extends to meet the rear panel.

Interesting suit, extremely well cut and stitched. But not a style for me...a bit too showy.

Japanese Style

The Japanese have a flair for improving anything. Take the gentlemen's suit. A creation of British tailors, the suit is a mainstay in gentlemen clothing all over the world. The Japanese business community is no different, and have taken to this style very well. The traditional suit is the de facto standard in business wear in Japan. The Kanji name for suit is subero, an phonetic translation of the origin of the Englishman's suit - Savile Row.

But as is typical of the Japanese, they have created improvements to the suit - whether by innovations of Japanese tailors, or demand to other tailoring traditional countries like Italy to produce what they need to take the British Suit to the next level.

Homes and offices in England at the turn of the century were largely unheated. With this as a backdrop it is easy to understand why traditional English material like flannel, tweeds are heavy and warm. In contrast, offices and homes in Japan, especially in large metropolitan areas like Tokyo is rather controlled - heating in winter, air conditioning in summer is a given. As a result, the heavy(starting at weights like 14/15 oz up to 20 oz for suiting) suiting material favoured by the British are not in high demand. Rather, thinner and lighter material are favoured. Typically 9 oz but sometimes up to 11 oz is popular. Also looser weaves like those in fresco (a loosely woven, gauze like material which is wonderfully cooling to wear as it allows air to circulate freely) is popular, as are half lined and quarter lined suits in lieu of fully lined ones.

I feature 2 gentlemen I met recently in a trip to Dresden, Germany. One is Matsuyama Takeshi, a gentleman of great style, and finese. Matsuyama-san writes on a freelance basis for a number of Japanese magazines on style and watches.



A lovely jacket, made of mohair and ultra thin...unlined, made like a shirt. Tie is made by a Florence atelier and true 8 fold, unlined. Very cool and also cool looking.

The other gentleman is a watch publication journalist. I apologise for not getting his name.



Starting at the top...a Montecristi Panama Ultimo hat looks great perched on his head. Buff colored linen coat, with huge patched, cargo pockets. The coat looked like its half or quarter lined. The nonchalance of the pocket square, taking the colour cue from the blue shirt, but not matching. Trousers of the same hue, but lighter, completes this completely degage look. Very cool.



Note Louis Vuitton tote which houses his camera equipment. Is this a new trend for men to carry large versions of what used to be ladies handbags? I also saw another gentleman carrying a Hermes Birkin Manbag elsewhere.

Shoes are Paraboot, complete with red laces and red socks.

Carmina Oxford Boots

Received this pair of boots last week...after a few months of waiting since ordering them.



This is a special order in limited edition made possible by The London Lounge. Available only to Lounge members and only in cordovan, this boot is lasted on the Robert last.

The boot is unusual in a few counts. Oxford (closed laced) boots are quite rare...the only RTW example I know of is made by Edward Green. Secondly, a pair made out of cordovan, is even more rare. Cordovan is a membrane from the hind of a horse, makes an especially tough, and beautiful leather for shoes.

At first glance, the elegance and formality afforded by the Oxford design would seem to clash not go well with usually thicker, heavier cordovan. But this boot pulls it off very well...thanks to the combined design genius of Michael Alden (supremo at The London Lounge) and Carmina.

The boot turned out to be very elegant, and beautiful. As is typical of shoes and boots coming from the Spanish workshops of Carmina, the finish was very fine. The cordovan was heavily impregnated with fat, as can be seen as the whitish residue on the surface, and wax-like look. Rubbing it vigrously with a clean polish cloth would heat the cordovan and bring the fat to a high gloss shine.

Cordovan shine is different from that of calf...the analogy I used to explain to a friend who is an accomplished architect made him instantly understand was the parallel between the shine of granite and marble. Cordovan is like granite. The shine comes from within...there seems to be a thin membrane wax covering the surface. Whilst calf leather's shine seems superficial, skin deep.

The boot is also hand welted. The usual welts in a normal high quality bench made shoes and boot are Goodyear welted. The Goodyear machine, invented by son of Charles Goodyear (who invented the process to vulcanise rubber and created the tyre giant of the same name). This was a great invention in the industralisation of cordwaining. The Goodyear machine looks like a huge sewing machine, and does a similar job...attaching by even, sturdy stitches the welt to the upper. This reduced the skill level required in welting, and introduced mass produced, high quality shoes.

Even very high quality shoes and boots made RTW by John Lobb Paris or Edward Green in Northampton are Goodyear welted. Usually hand welting is reserved for bespoke shoes and boots. Hand welting results in a finer welt, and this translates to a more comfortable fit.



I typically wear the Philadelphia last on Carmina 9.5E, and Miguel Font, the Director of the Paris store, recommended 9.5E on the Robert. At first wearing the boot seemed a bit tight at the instep, but quite comfortable. I think it was a good call by Miguel on the size. In comparison, Robert is slightly longer than the Philadelphia, and typically wearers would order half a size smaller. For reference I wear 9.5E on the Edward Green 202 last.