Ten rules for being well-dressed: to follow, or to flout?

[Nick Armstrong]

Gamages (need to check on apostrophes here)

A.W. Gamage Ltd. should have been Gamage's ... but rarely was, even on the shop front



although it was sometimes:



Originally in the late C19th it was GAMAGE on the shop front:




(That's the same angle of view I had, emerging onto Holborn, when working on Fetter Lane for 15 odd years - the fact that a labyrinthine department store filled the space now occupied by a faceless BT office building made me dream and look into a lot of the history of Gamages / 's)

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

i say! several chaps in your top photograph are not wearing hats Caliban!

[Nick Armstrong]

i say! several chaps in your top photograph are not wearing hats Caliban!

Before my time, Cal .... but I agree, bad form what ! (All before my time, sadly - except the colour one. And no, that's not my bike tied to the lamppost)

[muzzer]

Caliban those are great pics. Have you read "Diamond Street" by Rachel Lichtenstein, about Hatton Garden and its environs? V interesting.

[Ant]

Hello all,

Harking back for a moment to the recommended dress for interviews, I believe that a young man showed up for interview for a (male) wardrobe dresser in formal dark suit, black shoes etc. His first day at work saw a reversion to brightly dyed hair, probably ear-rings at a time when they were rarer, flamboyant clothing and a large badge proclaiming "I am not a heterosexual"!

Regards Ant

[Anna]

As to S_A's complaint about not being able to find nice sports jackets for men. One of my brothers decided years ago to abandon the suit for business, he said he had no wish to wear a uniform, he has a lovely range of jackets, I think most of them are Italian, I can ask where he gets them (I know he shops in London although living in North Bucks)
I have a duffle coat, bought last year, but not an old CND Socialist type one. As a teenager I found in the loft a 'motoring' coat belonging to my grandmother, in the softest of leather, which was beautiful. Unfortunately, after I'd left home (leaving some other clothes and possessions there) my mother had a blitz and donated it to a charity shop. She also gave my 'box of treasures' away to my sister, a sore point to this day.
My school uniform could only be bought from the official outfitters - the Winter coat, looking back, I would die for now, it was a trench coat style with inverted pleats in dark brown.

[mangerton]

My school (uniform) coat was a navy blue duffle. My last one lasted till I was about 40.
.

[Flosshilde]

Hello all,

Harking back for a moment to the recommended dress for interviews, I believe that a young man showed up for interview for a (male) wardrobe dresser in formal dark suit, black shoes etc. His first day at work saw a reversion to brightly dyed hair, probably ear-rings at a time when they were rarer, flamboyant clothing and a large badge proclaiming "I am not a heterosexual"!

Regards Ant

I'm surprised he got the job dressed as he was for the interview (I'm assuming that it was a theatrical post) - his working costume sounds much more appropriate

[gradus]

The closest approximation to Gamages these days that I know is Trago Mills at Liskeard - not yet turned into a hideous copper-windowed monstrosity housing BT. How much more attractive Holborn was in those early days photos.
It was probably a basic tenet of dressing well not to buy at Gamages.

[Ant]

Hello Flosshilde, Pebble Mill actually...

Regards Ant