Style Stalking (Snapshot) in Tokyo
Style Salvage - A men's fashion and style blog. 21 May 2012, 9:06 pm CEST
An array of Japanese labels but the bulk of the outfit is
made up of mercibeaucoupConsider the Gorge Trends are a funny thing. Someone takes a...
Put This On 21 May 2012, 6:05 pm CEST
Classic
High
Higher
Ridiculous
Consider the Gorge
Trends are a funny thing. Someone takes a good design and exaggerates it a bit, and then someone else exaggerates it further still. This occurs until we have a caricature of the original, thus causing people to denounce the design entirely and swing the other way. This happened in the mid-20th century with drape cut suits. A Dutch tailor named Frederick Scholte found that men could be made to look more robust and athletic if he cut the chest a bit fuller, suppress the waist a little more, and extend the shoulders just a tad. This was eventually copied and exaggerated, and men ignored the need for balance and proportion. Eventually, the drape cut became a gimmick, and after a while, we wound up with the odd thing called the zoot suit.
We have our own trends today. One of them is the height of the gorge. The gorge is the point on a jacket where the collar is attached to lapel, but in common parlance, it’s the lapel’s notch. A slightly higher gorge can make a suit look more rakish and modern. Italians in general, and Neapolitans in particular, tend to make suits with a higher gorge than their American and British counterparts. With the trend favoring modern silhouettes and Italian style, it’s no wonder why high gorges are en vogue.
These days, however, we’re starting to see gorges so high that they almost sit on top of the shoulder. I wonder how long it will be before they disappear behind a man’s neck. When choosing a suit or sport coat for yourself, keep an eye on how high the gorge is. The black and white photograph of Elliot Richardson above shows him in a suit with an average gorge height. Something slightly higher or lower than this is fine, but anything too extreme, such as the one in the last photo, should be avoided.
You should also consider how the gorge sits in proportion to the jacket’s button stance and your physical build. A higher gorge is typically balanced with a higher buttoning stance, but if you’re a shorter man, you can wear one with a lower buttoning point. This will elongate the lapels, thus making you look slightly taller (all things being equal). Luca Rubinacci, pictured above, is wearing such a jacket. Notice, however, that you’ll need enough material below the buttoning point so that the bottom doesn’t look abnormally truncated. It’s about balance.
On the other hand, if you’re a very tall, thin man, a lower gorge and slightly higher buttoning point will make the lapels look short and the area below the buttoning point long. This will add weight to you frame and widen the look of the coat. Not a flattering look for most men, but potentially advantageous for some.
Of course, body proportions aside, it can also be enjoyable to dabble in trends. Just be careful not to veer into the extremes. I pity men who bought jackets last year with razor thin lapels, only to find that they can no longer wear them today. As always, balance and moderation are key, so beware of the overly high gorge.
DRAWING PAXMAN INTO THE LIGHT
Moreintelligentlife.com 21 May 2012, 5:48 pm CEST
~ Posted by Robert Butler, May 21st 2012
Among the performances from witnesses at the Leveson Inquiry—and Hugh Grant, Steve Coogan, Rupert Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks have given compelling ones—the appearance of Jeremy Paxman on Wednesday afternoon could be the most dramatically perfect. The session threatens to take on a symbolic significance.
One of the visible signs of the shift in power between politicians and the media over the last 30 years has been the rise of the abrasive interviewer, and the most disdainful interrogator on British television is Paxman ("a kind of folk hero", in the words of the poet Tom Paulin). "Newsnight", the programme he presents, starts at 10.30pm and this late slot gives Paxman the leeway to roll his eyes, snort with disbelief and once famously ask the same question 12 times. In recent years, disdain has sometimes shaded into torpor: he can look as if doesn't know how he has found himself, this late in the day, at the same gathering as his studio guests.
The tone of the inquiry is the opposite: on Wednesday afternoon, Paxman will face questions that are patient, courteous and bordering on the bland. He won't be able, a few minutes in, to swivel away on his chair, saying "We'll have to leave it there". Papers will be shuffled, water sipped, pauses taken. Minutes will slip by while the witness is given time to find the right tab in the right bundle. He will be allowed to finish his sentences and asked if he has anything to add. Instead of the underlying tone of the questions being "Why is this lying bastard lying to me?", he will be calmly asked, "Is it fair to summarise your position in this way?" or "I wonder, Mr Paxman, if you could help us out with this at all." A strange sight, seeing Paxman in daylight. read more »
THE GENOME GADGET
Moreintelligentlife.com 21 May 2012, 4:58 pm CEST
The Music of Science: Oliver Morton reckons Alan Turing would love this: a gadget the size of a matchbox which can read a genome sequence... read more »
Treasured Items... Raimund Berthold
Style Salvage - A men's fashion and style blog. 21 May 2012, 10:32 am CEST
I just love it and wear it often. It is my aesthetic. It's big and unusual. In fact, I almost got arrested at Heathrow Airport because the security guard just didn't believe that it was a bracelet. It took some persuading but I had to fight for it." Raimund Berthold
A REMARKABLE HORN
FANTASTIC MAN 21 May 2012, 6:00 am CEST
This elegant shoehorn by Swedish brand ESSEM DESIGN is so incredibly minimalist that it borders on monastic. Yet it still manages, as its designer PERNICLAS BEDOW states, to “maintain pure function” – i.e. help one properly put on one’s shoes.
James Surowiecki: Facebook’s I.P.O. and dual-class share structures.
The New Yorker 21 May 2012, 6:00 am CEST
A couple of weeks ago, when Mark Zuckerberg wore his trademark hoodie to meetings with potential investors in Facebook’s I.P.O., not everyone was impressed. Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said that it was a “mark of immaturity” and Zuckerberg’s way of “ . . .
Goings on About Town: Night Life
The New Yorker 21 May 2012, 6:00 am CEST
PageBreak -->ROCK AND POP Musicians and night-club proprietors live complicated lives; it’s advisable to check in advance to confirm engagements. B. B. KING BLUES CLUB & GRILL 237 W. 42nd St. (212-997-4144)—May 24: In their high-haired, eighties heyday, the pop . . .
Kathleen Jamie: “The Overhaul.”
The New Yorker 21 May 2012, 6:00 am CEST
Look—it’s the Lively, hauled out above the tide line up on a trailer with two flat tires. What— fourteen-foot? Clinker-built and chained by the stern to a pile of granite blocks but with the bow still pointed westward down the long voe, down . . . (Subscription required.)
Kelefa Sanneh: Richard Carmona and Arizona after S.B. 1070.
The New Yorker 21 May 2012, 6:00 am CEST
When Richard Carmona talks to voters in Arizona, he likes to tell them that their state—his state—has a lousy reputation. He travels a lot, and people often ask him where he lives. “I say, ‘Arizona,’ ” he says. “And they go, ‘ . . . (Subscription required.)
Charlayne Hunter-Gault: South Africa confronts corrective rape.
The New Yorker 21 May 2012, 6:00 am CEST
On a recent Sunday morning in the black township of Kwa Thema, near Johannesburg, a young lesbian couple went to church. Kwa Thema is one of many settlements that were created by the apartheid regime to contain and control the black majority population, and it remains isolated today. The two . . . (Subscription required.)
Goings on About Town: Readings and Talks
The New Yorker 21 May 2012, 6:00 am CEST
goatTitle-->NEW SCHOOL In October, 2008, the New York Public Library selected the architect Norman Foster to create a new plan for the library’s main research building, on Forty-second Street. The plan—which involves removing the building’s famed stacks of books—has . . .
Goings on About Town: Dance
The New Yorker 21 May 2012, 6:00 am CEST
goatTitle-->NEW YORK CITY BALLET In what may be a timely nod to the much lauded film “The Artist,” New York City Ballet brings back Susan Stroman’s “Double Feature” this week for five performances. A Broadway veteran who has made a handful of . . .
Books: Ben Fountain’s “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” review.
The New Yorker 21 May 2012, 6:00 am CEST
Fountain’s excellent first novel follows a group of soldiers at a Dallas Cowboys game on Thanksgiving Day. Having recently survived a shoot-out in Iraq, they are on a government-funded media tour and are about to return to the front lines. Through the eyes of the titular . . . (Subscription required.)
Andrea K. Scott: Rachel Harrison at the Greene Naftali gallery.
The New Yorker 21 May 2012, 6:00 am CEST
In her sixth solo show at the Greene Naftali gallery, the sculptor Rachel Harrison looks more formalist, feminist, and sphinxlike than ever. Her rollicking polychrome fusions of found objects and hand-fashioned forms remain so encrypted with references that viewers can sometimes feel outsmarted. Take the photograph of a nondescript . . . (Subscription required.)
Lizzie Widdicombe: Jared Gilman of Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom.”
The New Yorker 21 May 2012, 6:00 am CEST
Sam Shakusky, the protagonist of Wes Anderson’s new movie, “Moonrise Kingdom,” is a classic romantic hero. He’s independent, even a bit of a loner; resourceful (he can survive in the woods by himself); and passionate. Only one obstacle prevents him from being with his . . . (Subscription required.)
Hilton Als: “Post Plastica” at El Museo del Barrio.
The New Yorker 21 May 2012, 6:00 am CEST
I’m trying to remember when I first saw the performance artist Carmelita Tropicana, but that’s like trying to remember someone’s first time making you laugh: there are no specifics, just feelings. Often dressed like a more surreal Carmen Miranda—Carmelita wears more glitter . . .
Goings on About Town: The Theatre
The New Yorker 21 May 2012, 6:00 am CEST
PageBreak -->OPENINGS AND PREVIEWS Please call the phone number listed with the theatre for timetables and ticket information. THE BAD GUYS Second Stage Theatre Uptown presents a comedy by Alena Smith, in which a group of childhood friends reunite for a summer barbecue. Directed by Hal . . .
Books: Sue Prideaux’s “Strindberg” review.
The New Yorker 21 May 2012, 6:00 am CEST
August Strindberg was so skeptical of received dogma that he once lay down in a Berlin street with an upright broom as a sundial to satisfy himself that the world was round. Prideaux, his latest biographer, shares this passion for firsthand impressions, lamenting the reductive image of him as the . . . (Subscription required.)
David Grann: William Alexander Morgan in the Cuban Revolution.
The New Yorker 21 May 2012, 6:00 am CEST
For a moment, he was obscured by the Havana night. It was as if he were invisible, as he had been before coming to Cuba, in the midst of revolution. Then a burst of floodlights illuminated him: William Alexander Morgan, the great Yankee comandante. He was standing, with his back . . .
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