Sunday, January 18, 2009

Guy Stuff - Turning It Up In The Cold

The Ask Teri Q&A in the Wall Street Journal addresses the question of turned up collars for men.
Is it foppish or fabulous?
Here's her response
Most guys are comfortable turning up the collars of their top coats only in the winter, when they want to ward off gusty winds. But don't forget that some of the most macho role models in history wore upturned collars with panache: James Dean and Marlon Brando in their tough-guy leather jackets, as well as Humphrey Bogart in his trench coats.

Also, René Lacoste, who wore the stiff cotton knit collars of his signature tops turned up to keep the sun off his neck, was a legendary French Grand Slam tennis champ known as Le Crocodile.
So guys, there's nothing foppish about turning up the collar on leather jackets, coats and some shirts.
I like the look but it definitely has a Euro vibe, non?
Here's some Euro guys with the turned up style.
Photo by The Sartorialist - Florence
And can someone tell me what is up with the white jeans and white tights in winter?????
Is that an Italian thing?

Francois Truffaut

Marcello Mastroianni


Now that we have Global Cooling the turned up look is more than a just a sartorial statement.
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3 comments:

Duchesse said...

Key word is "function": do you need to keep rain, sleet or beating sun off your neck?

Nothing looks more pathetically pretentious than a man at an evening gathering with a popped collar. Reminds me of blinkers on a horse.

Belle de Ville said...

It does look pretentious...but somehow I still like it.

Anonymous said...

I read this column on that day too. White jeans on men period, EEEEEEEEWWWWWWW. Collars up only on shaggy euro types only please.

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