THE CLASSICS: VELVET JACKETS!

Dressed up, or dressed down with jeans and a tee, these are a MR PORTER & FASHIONSPAM favourite!

Velvet has long had regal associations - in 14th-century England, King Richard II asked that he be buried in the stuff - but its more interesting, bad boy reputation can be traced back to Lord Byron. Painter Mr Richard Westall famously depicted the 19th-century poet wearing burgundy-coloured velvet, and, with the party season upon us, MR PORTER takes an endorsement from one of history's most notorious lovers pretty seriously.

We're not alone in our admiration for soft, tufted cotton, as almost all the designer brands are offering velvet jackets this season. The fabric has long had a louche image, redolent of relaxing with a glass of brandy and a cigar after a formal dinner, or Bond-esque nights out in expensive clubs. It's an image that's been refreshed this season, in that the new velvet jackets come with slim cuts, shorter bodies and softer construction.

However, if the shapes have been refined the classic colours are un-improvable, which is why Acne and Dolce & Gabbana have jackets in a shade of burgundy of which Lord Byron himself would have approved, while bottle green, burnt orange and chocolate brown line up alongside more sober black and blue. Although black and navy blue are the easiest colours to wear there's a strong logic to going for bolder hues, in that as most men already own a navy blue suit, and a black dinner jacket, this is an opportunity to expand the sartorial repertoire.

Whatever colour you go for, a velvet jacket is extremely versatile. Dressed down with jeans and a T-shirt it's right for a weekend lunch, or a casual day in the office, while, at the other end of the spectrum, it can substitute for a tuxedo over a crisp white shirt, black bow tie and tux trousers. No wonder men in search of a good time have been wearing velvet jackets since the days when Lord Byron was scandalising Europe with his bad behaviour.

 CLICK CLICK CLICK FOR MORE PICTURES!!!

THE MAN: MR PICASSO!

Also known as: 

Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso. Wow!

Were they bright red, breaking on two-tone shoes, or criss-crossed in loud golfer's check? Were they unexpectedly formal, hind parts of a bespoke suit, or baggy plus fours with argyle socks? Were they ever tuxedo trousers before they metamorphosed into summer slacks or shrank into jaunty pre-war Riviera swimsuits? 

They were all of these and many more, since Mr Pablo Picasso changed the way he dressed as often and as radically as he changed the way he painted. He was as instinctive a dresser as he was an artist, replacing one look with another every time something in his life or his fantasy prompted it. Many of the artists around him dressed quite conventionally, above all when success caught up with them. There was Mr Georges Braque in his cool white scarf, Mr Henri Matisse plumply avuncular in a waistcoat while sketching a nude, or Mr Wassily Kandinsky as formally attired as an old-school banker. Mr Salvador Dalí, it's true, put on a show, with the twirled mustachios, the fur coats and silver-topped canes. But Mr Picasso wasn't putting on a show. Whether dressed for the opera, disguised for a bal masqué or simply clowning about, he was always himself - or one of his many selves.

Picasso changed the way he dressed as often and as radically as he changed the way he painted!

"Only superficial people do not judge by appearances." said Mr Oscar Wilde - bless him! And I look forward to one day reading some learned thesis on how artists present themselves to the world and why. Mr Francis Bacon dressed in later life like a successful gangster, an upper-class, English Al Capone in tight, perfectly cut double-breasted suits with subtle stripes and threatening black leather coats, also tight, with epaulettes. Frivolous? I'm not sure. Everything he wore had its meaning for Mr Bacon, and you can even find the clothes he loved - particularly rainbow-hued silk shirts and desert boots - in his pictures. Is it merely anecdotal that Mr Alberto Giacometti invariably worked in a tweed jacket and tie, however caked in plaster, paint and clay they became? I don't think so. Challenging accepted vision every day in his Montparnasse hovel, Mr Giacometti clung to whatever shreds or threads of normality he could find. 

Style, they say, is the man. So how did Mr Picasso, the master artificer of the 20th century, choose to project himself? Did he limit himself to this look or that? Did he decide at a certain point to wear his trousers wide with a crease so sharp (like his friend, the poet Mr Jean Cocteau) that they could cut a Camembert in half? Of course not. He was a creature of infinite fantasy and infinite change. And having just looked through a few scores of photos of the maître at different moments in his long career, I can attest that he virtually never appeared before the camera in the same garb twice. Catch him if you can. During his early years in Paris he would be in vaguely artisanal dress, dark overalls and donkey jackets, occasionally spruced up by a broad-brimmed hat or Romantic lavallière. Then without warning he appears in clunky gaiters or, bizarrely, in an army uniform he had borrowed from his co-cubist, Mr Braque. These were early days, but it was already clear that Mr Picasso enjoyed not just dressing but dressing up.

CLICK CLICK CLICK FOR MORE!!!

DAY3: OUTWEAR - THE OVERCOAT

THE OVERCOAT

A coat created by a Scottish family business that dates back to 1772 may be an unlikely

style totem for Teddy boys, mods and skinheads. But in its various guises the Crombie,

as it was affectionately called, became as much part of their considered and particular 

uniforms as certain polo shirts or shoes.

Overcoat -  usually extend below the knee (made from heavier cloth or fur, because overcoats 

are more commonly used in winter when warmth is more important)

Topcoat -  short coats that end at or above the knees ( topcoats are usually made from lighter 

weight cloth such as gabardine or covert)

 Topcoats and overcoats together are known as outercoats.

(Then you also have the greatcoat, redingote, frock overcoat, ulster coat, inverness coat, 

paletot coat,paddock coat, chesterfield coat..but there is no time to go into details of each one..

for more easy info click here)

Salvador Dalí

Salvador Dalí arriving in London in 1955, wearing a double-breasted Chesterfield-style and

waxed moustache (we love the moustache!)

CLICK CLICK CLICK TO READ MORE AND +10 PICTURES!!!

ICONS of MEN's STYLE

So..Just to make it clear before any accusation, incrimination and much more

(God knows what women are capable of!)

We (fashionspam) adore, love, appreciate, admire & cherish women!

BUT

We are going to start a series entitled

ICONS of MEN's STYLE!

(Inspired by the homonymous book by Josh Sims, 
by 40s, 50s & 60s movies & tv shows, 
and by personal favourites)

The reason is simple:

Womenswear progresses in leaps and bounds, fuelled by the readiness of women to wear what may 

at the time be perceived as the radical or outrageous. 
Not so with menswear menswear evolves, slowly. 

But from what? 

Behind nearly every item in the modern male wardrobe is a first of its kind the definitive item, 

often designed by a single company or brand for specialist use, 

on which all subsequent versions have been based 
(and originals of which are now collector items in the booming vintage market)

So, whether you like the idea or not

(We will see in the 'pageviews' statistics!)

And ladies, don't worry, any single inspirational

outfit, dress, ring, shoe, bracelet, nail, handbag

WILL BE UPLOADED DIRECTLY HERE HERE


CLICK CLICK CLICK TO READ MORE!!!

WHAT'S MY LINE?/BORN IN THE WRONG ERA PT.2!

What's My Line? Was a panel game show which originally ran in the United States in the 50s and 60s, with several international versions and subsequent U.S. revivals. The game tasked celebrity panelists with questioning contestants in order to determine their occupations.

JUST BRILLIANT! Another confirmation that I was definitely born in the wrong era!

Mystery guests have included: Frank Sinatra, Alfred Hitchcock, Yves Saint Laurent, Muhammad Ali, Paul Newman, Barbra Streisand , Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Salvador Dali, Colonel Sanders, Hugh Hefner, Sean Connery, Eleanor Roosevelt, Woody Allen, Duke Ellington or Elizabeth Taylor !

Check out three of my favourite special guests (it was quite hard to choose just three, so you should watch them all): Salvador Dali,Yves Saint Laurent & Louis 'Satchmo' Armstrong (Muhammad Ali and Nat King Cole are quite funny as well!)

Host nods 'No'

Dali says 'Yes'
SURREAL!

CLICK CLICK CLICK FOR MORE VIDEOS!!!

DALI | INTERVIEW

DALI: 'Charlie Chaplin is one genial clown but never painted like Dali, Charlie Chaplin's living times paint masterpieces.'
..
WALLACE: 'I must confess, you lost me halfway through'

WALLACE: 'Oh, I agree, I agree. Tell me this, what do you think will happen to you when you die?'
DALI: 'Myself not believe in my death.'
WALLACE: 'You will not die?'
DALI: 'No, no believe in general in death but in the death of Dali absolutely not. Believe in my death becoming very -- almost impossible.'
WALLACE: 'You fear death?'
DALI: 'Yes.'
WALLACE: 'Death is beautiful but you fear death?'
DALI: 'Exactly....because Dali is contradictory and paradoxical man.'