We at Duchamp pride ourselves on using exclusive fabrics thus giving us individual design, pattern and colour. It’s a vital part of keeping our own identity within the market place. It’s a very enjoyable and creative part of the process which determines the shape of the season.

We begin the process with deciding on key colours. Each season we create four colour palettes which are integrated into stores throughout the season to keep the merchandise fresh and maintain a sense of continuity.  The DNA of our brand focuses on using strong and inventive colour combinations. It is a process that can take several months to get right. These colours are used through out the whole range from ties to suits to polo shirts so it’s imperative that they work together cohesively.

So here in Italy in early May the process starts on fabric.  We start the day looking through archives and looking for new fabric innovations. These come in new stripe settings and weaving techniques.  Our Italian mill for us is the best in the world when it comes to fabric innovation so we discuss different weaving techniques with the creative team.

This mill is fantastic for our “dressing down” shirts. The more relaxed approach to men’s shirting. They are simply brilliant when it comes to combining techniques in interesting ways to create really individual designs. We study all of the new techniques that they are trialling and we discuss how these ideas can be pushed further. The mill enjoy a challenge so we are constantly pushing them to try new things, some work, some don’t. This is the joy of having such good partners who want to work as closely with us as we do them.

By mid morning and after several espressos’ the ideas are flowing so we start to edit the designs we’ve been looking through.

We have a huge shirt range with over 100 different options of colour ways and design. The mill is one of three Italian suppliers that we work closely with.  The range is big but we need to narrow it down as much as possible to keep it focused and “on brand”!

By lunchtime we are working on CAD (Computer-Aided Design) work, dropping colour into the designs to see which colours are more appropriate for each of the designs. It’s amazing how some combinations will work on some bases but not on others!It’s a fine line when using such strong colours as it can easily deviate and become un-wearable if the wrong colours are put together! Once the designs are picked and the colours chosen its then over to the mill to CAD up all the artwork for each design.

The CADs will arrive in a few weeks and then we will carefully select the colour ways which will then be sampled to go into the range. These colour ways have to work back with the rest of the range. What jackets will these shirts be worn with? …. What ties can we put with them?…. What is the end use of each of these designs?….what is the total look?…what is the outfit?…Would we buy it?

These are questions we have to continually keep asking ourselves . We need to keep pushing forward with new innovations in both fabric and design. It’s an exciting time for the brand as we strive to create a modern a new look.

When the CADs are selected we wont see them again until the shirt fabric is woven at end of July. These will then be made up into the shirt styles we have been designing in the meantime and we will see them again at the end of October when they will be  presented to our customers.

Keeping a close relationship with the mills we use is imperative.  These are some of the best in the world so it’s important to us as a brand that we use the best fabrics and most luxurious cloths available.  Italy is renouned for its textile business. They are great at what they do and you pay for what you get, but our brand ethos is very much to use the best, made by the best.

Including a full quota of Spring Summer wedding suiting, I’ve attached some snaps and hope you can come down, meet the team and check out the new collection.

From the mind of our new Visual Merchandiser James Shouli this is the most impressive display we’ve ever had. This blog tells the story behind its poetry inspired creation.

James found inspiration for his creation in the words of T.S Eliot’s ‘A Dedication to my Wife’, which he found described the notion of marriage perfectly. The words from the poem are displayed as though they are being beamed from an antique film projector. These calligraphic words, set against a backdrop of white boxes set the tone for the rest of the display. (You will find the poem in full at the bottom of the piece.)

James saw this image of a put upon wife from the early 20th Century, and it inspired him to create the bundle of boxes as a centre-piece to the display.

This is the kind of projector we were looking for for the display, finding one that wasn’t black was possibly our biggest challenge!

The above image is James’ original sketch for the display, it evolved over time to but the general theme stayed true to his original idea.

The mannequins have an ‘invitation’ in their hand, each one includes a proverb about marriage.

A DEDICATION TO MY WIFE

by T.S. Eliot

To whom I owe the leaping delight
That quickens my senses in our wakingtime
And the rhythm that governs the repose of our sleepingtime,
The breathing in unison

Of lovers whose bodies smell of each other
Who think the same thoughts without need of speech
And babble the same speech without need of meaning.

No peevish winter wind shall chill
No sullen tropic sun shall wither
The roses in the rose-garden which is ours and ours only

But this dedication is for others to read:
These are private words addressed to you in public.

It’s been a decorative device for more than 2000 years. It became widely known as a pattern on women’s shawls, but is now much more widespread in menswear. Its modern popularity originated in India but, in English, it is named after a town 13 miles west of Glasgow. Welcome to the fascinating world of paisley.

Paisley Floral Print Shirt

It looks like a teardrop, a stylised pine cone or maybe a kid’s drawing of a whale, but the curvilinear pattern of paisley is thought by some to represent a frond from the Tree of Life. The earliest examples are linked to the Babylonian empire that was based in modern-day Iraq 2200 years BC. The predominant food source of King Nebuchadnezzar’s nation was the date palm, which also provided building materials such as wood, string and thatch. By providing sustenance and shelter, the date palm was regarded as the Tree of Life.

Some costume historians suggest that the paisley motif represents the tightly curled palm frond just as it begins to grow, so it is a potent symbol of fertility. It spread in all directions from Babylonia. Some scholars see its influence in the curves and swirls of early Celtic art in Western Europe, but it flourished most spectacularly in India during the Mughal period (1526–1764). Here the distinctive shape appeared in all manner of art, from stone carvings to textiles, but most significantly it appeared on the gorgeous raiments of princes, aristocrats and holy men.

Experts suggest that the paisley motif began to appear on men’s decorated shawls around the mid-1600s. The oldest existing remnant of cloth dates from about 1680. The classic shawls of Moghul princes were lavishly produced in pashmina – a rare goat’s hair – and took up to 18 months to make in a technique that was a blend of tapestry and weaving. The centre for production was the region called Kashmir. The name was distorted in Europe to provide the term cashmere for a soft goat’s hair.

Paisley poise Lace Tie

In the middle 1700s men of the British East India Company brought patterned shawls back to the UK were they were much admired. But Kashmiri originals were very expensive, so ways had to be found to mass-produce imitation of the Indian shawls. There is a record of “Indian shawls” being made in Edinburgh in 1777 and in Norwich in 1784, but Napoleon was the reason Paisley became the centre of patterned shawl production.

The Napoleonic wars of the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries hit the luxury export market. Paisley was a town specialising in silk production, so there were plenty of skilled workers with nothing to do. According to popular legend, in 1805 an Edinburgh shawl manufacturer called Paterson sent an order he was having trouble making to some unemployed workers in Paisley. In a short time, the workers realised the money to be made from turning out woven or printed shawls and the industrial town in central Scotland became recognised as the centre of patterned shawl production.

Other places produced paisley designs, but Paisley itself was very efficient. From the mid-1840s the invention of Jacquard looms – which enable complex patterns to be woven quickly and consistently – allowed an even wider selection of patterns to be produced. France was hungry for the exotic patterns too and cross-Channel copying was rife. In 1842 the British government introduced regulations that allowed a paisley design to be patented for between 3 and 12 months. As the fashion craze continued, designs from studios in London and Paris, the work of freelance designers, and the well-staffed design studios at the big textile manufacturers experimented with the infinite varieties of the stylized floral motif.

Sybilla Paisley Print Bowtie

By the mid-1870s, the womenswear craze for paisley shawls waned, but by then the exotic pattern was established as an enduring link between art and fashion of the eastern and western hemispheres. Ironically, in its various revivals, especially in the Swinging Sixties, it became associated more as a menswear pattern – the Moghul princes would have approved.

Paisley patterns can be fairly simple or extravagantly complex. They look splendid in the rich weaving of a multi-coloured Duchamp tie or strikingly bold in the simple black-on-white print of a Duchamp shirt. The paisley pattern has its fashion highs and lows, but discerning menswear dressers appreciate its versatility, its beauty. Its colours and its amazing historical tradition. Paisley was, and remains, the decorative pattern of choice for men of distinction and taste.

This is a perfect opportunity for our customers to find that shirt or tie that they may have missed first time around. Go to www.duchamplondonoutlet.com and pick up a bargain!

To book your one-hour session with either myself or Gianni please email your details to fixup@selfridges.co.uk. Add the finishing touch to your new Duchamp suit by walking away with a complimentary pair of Duchamp enamel cufflinks.

Selfridges, Oxford St, London.

I'll be on hand at Selfridges, without the Bentley unfortunately.

Gianni Colarossi

What we can agree on is that today we know the polo shirt as a short-sleeved casual garment in a knitted fabric that has a short placket front carrying a few buttons and a ribbed collar. It is a versatile little fella, seen either in an endless spectrum of solid colours or in a multitude of variegated horizontal stripes. Duchamp has some cracking unicolour examples this spring in the classic pique knit, which gives a sort of waffle effect.

There is plenty of waffling among style historians about where this comfortable and ubiquitous men’s staple originated. One school of thought insists that it was developed by British polo players in India in the 19^th century, who wanted a comfortable sports shirt in which to conduct their equestrian duelling. The counter argument is that the “polo shirt” of this group of saddle-sore athletes was actually more like a formal dress shirt, with long sleeves and a full buttoned-front. What everyone agrees on is that at the end of the 19^th century, John Brooks, grandson of the founder of the Brooks Brothers firm in the US, came to England and saw that polo players had their shirt collars buttoned down to stop them flying up into their faces. He took the idea back to the US and created the iconic Brooks Brothers button-down formal shirt, which was described as “the polo shirt”. It was introduced in 1896 and is still sold today.

If you take a look at http://equineart.in/polo_in_princely_india.html, you’ll see some archive pictures of pukka polo players in the India of the Raj. And in among these sepia images are a few garments that do actually look like today’s modern polo shirts. But there are also others that look like modern T-shirts, henleys (collarless tops with button fronts), old-school collarless rugby shirts, and long-sleeved formal shirts. So maybe today’s style could be described as “a” polo shirt rather than “the” polo shirt.

The other major school of fashion archivists credit French tennis legend Jean René Lacoste (1904–1996) with “inventing” the modern polo shirt. He certainly knew his way round a court. In 1926 and 1927, Lacoste was ranked the world’s top tennis player. He won seven major singles titles: the French Open in 1925, 1927, and 1929, Wimbledon in 1925 and 1928, and the US Open in 1926 and 1927. He was one quarter of the French “Four Musketeers” team (with Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon and Henri Cochet) that won the Davis Cup in 1927 and 1928.

Lacoste’s nickname was “le Crocodile” and the reptilian device on the fashion line he founded was to become one of the best-known clothing brands ever. Some people say the name was given to him because he had a prominent nose, or because of the way he scuttled around the tennis court, but the man himself explained: “The American press nicknamed me ‘The Crocodile’ after a bet that I made with the captain of the French Davis Cup team. He had promised me a crocodile-skin suitcase if I won a match that was important for our team. The American public stuck to this nickname, which highlighted my tenacity on the tennis courts, never giving up my prey! So my friend Robert George drew me a crocodile which was embroidered on the blazer that I wore on the courts.”

In 1933, with his friend and significant knitwear manufacturer Andre Gillier, he founded La Societe Chemise Lacoste (The Lacoste Shirt Company), which made the same sort of tennis shirt that Lacoste had first worn in 1926 or 1927. Rather than a long-sleeved, stiff-collared shirt that was the usual tennis kit, Lacoste preferred a short-sleeved cotton piqué polo shirt. The ribbed collar, worn turned up, protected his neck from the sun and the longer shirt tail meant it stayed tucked in. The short sleeves had ribbed bands. It became a sporting classic but it was not until 1951 that Lacoste hit on a brilliant idea – he added a line of coloured shirts to the tennis whites.

So practical was Lacoste’s garment that it was picked up by other sports people – including polo players. It also became a fixture on the golf course. It should be noted also that in 1927 Edward, Prince of Wales, later and briefly Edward VIII, asked the Court hosier A J Izod to create a knitted shirt for him to wear while hunting. The result, shown in a 1936 edition of The Tailor and Cutter, looks identical to a modern polo shirt. According to the T&C, the Prince was said “that it was the finest hunting garments that had ever been made and ordered a dozen. This fashion alone kept factories in the North of England and Scotland working two or three shifts a day for many months”.

Coincidentally, the company that licensed the Lacoste look from the French company for America was known as Izod, having separately acquired the name of the London-based supplier to the Royal court. For many years, the Lacoste shirt in the US was known as an Izod.

The next, confusing, twist in the genealogy of the polo shirt came in 1972 when Ralph Lauren, formerly Ralph Lifshitz, gave his new casualwear company a suitably aristocratic and sporty name – Polo. In the 40 years since then, Lauren’s main collection has sold millions of polo shirts by Polo, all carrying a polo player device.

Comfortable, stylish, sporty, colourful, the polo shirt is a reliable essential in any man’s wardrobe. Duchamp produces its version in typically high-quality cotton and scintillating colours. Its proportions are spot-on – trim but not mean, slim but still easy-to-wear. And when the present version is this good, let’s not exert too much energy arguing about its origins.

Racing arouses passions and those passions express themselves in the uniforms of the spectators as well as the diminutive riders atop the expensive horseflesh.

From Ayr to Folkestone to Downpatrick, there are 62 racecourses in the UK. Each year they host about 1,400 race meetings and around 9,500 individual races. They pull in about 5.8 million race-goers, so there’s plenty of competition for punters to impress in the style stakes. You can bet with confidence on Duchamp, which has plenty of form when it comes to turning you out looking like a winner. And the going is particularly good this spring and summer season.

Racing is a social occasion and a visit to the track always deserves a fine and considered outfit. Regard it as a very smart party and you will be well on your way. The social history of racing traces a superb pedigree. The earliest recorded race in the UK took place in 1174, during the reign of Henry II, at a horse fair in Smithfield, London. The oldest course still being used is Chester, which dates back to the mid-1500s. The first race on Deeside occurred on February 9, 1539 with the consent of Chester’s Mayor, Henry Gee, whose name provided the nickname for the runners to this day, the gee-gees.

The spring and summer festival of equine athleticism includes, in March, the Cheltenham Festival and, in April, the Aintree Grand National and the Scottish Grand National at Ayr. May sees the Guineas Meeting at Newmarket. In June the season rises to the Epsom Derby and then peaks with Royal Ascot. July has Glorious Goodwood in West Sussex, with the St Leger meeting at Doncaster in September completing the major cards.

A typical Ascot outfit from Tailor and Cutter, 1939

Horse racing has enjoyed Royal patronage since at least the 17th century. Today the epitome of classic racing style is seen in the Royal Enclosure at Royal Ascot. Horses have competed on the Berkshire course since 1711 when Queen Anne brought her thoroughbreds the short five miles from the stables of Windsor Castle.  Today’s style at Royal Ascot, however, dates from the second half of the 1800s when Edward, the playboy Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) ensured that racing became an essential fixture in the summer social calendar of the elite. It’s no coincidence that Cockney sparrer Eliza Doolittle – “My Fair Lady” – was introduced to high society at Royal Ascot.

The presence of HM The Queen and other members of her family means that correct dress is essential at Ascot. This year Royal Ascot (Ascot is only “Royal” for the five-day meeting in June) has felt the need to re-state the dress code for the Royal Enclosure, entry to which requires you to be sponsored by an existing attendee. The rules state that “gentlemen are kindly reminded that it is a requirement to wear either black or grey morning dress which must include: a waistcoat and tie (no cravats); a black or grey top hat; black shoes. A gentleman may remove his top hat within a restaurant, a private box, a private club or that facility’s terrace, balcony or garden. Hats may also be removed within any enclosed external seating area within the Royal Enclosure Garden. The customisation of top hats (with, for example, coloured ribbons or bands) is not permitted in the Royal Enclosure.”

Image taken from The Tailor and Cutter 1936

The modern rules would win the approval of the late Victorians. There are two routes to go with a morning suit. One option comprises a black herringbone or plain black tailcoat with a cut-away front and contrasting finely striped wool trousers. (The fancy design is called a cashmere stripe, although it has nothing to do with the fine fibre). Trousers in a small dogtooth check are a less familiar alternative to the striped. The waistcoat can be either single-breasted or double-breasted in black or, more usually, grey, or a pastel colour such as beige (which is known as buff), pale blue, pink, pale yellow…  It can be silk but usually it is wool and plain rather than patterned.

The alternative option is to have a three-piece morning suit made from one cloth, which is most usually light or dark grey. An all-black ensemble is too austere for the jolly social mood of the meeting. With both suits, there should be a crisp white collar on a double-cuffed shirt, a silk necktie (the cravat known as an ascot is no longer welcome at Ascot!) and finally a pair of simple black oxford shoes. A top-pocket handkerchief is optional. HRH Prince Charles and HRH Prince Michael of Kent often set a high standard in mixing colours and patterns across their shirts, ties and pocket squares. Others prefer a less-is-more approach. Duchamp is obviously ready, willing and able to supply the most exquisite components to complement your morning suit.

A typical scene from Royal Ascot

If your Royal Enclosure badge does not arrive this year, try for the Grandstand Admission ticket at Royal Ascot. Under the new rules this year “gentlemen are required to wear a suit with a shirt and tie.” The course organisers make the good point that dressing up – smartly and elegantly – is an important part of the Royal Ascot races experience. Epsom has pretty much the same rules for Derby day too.

Another well-dressed meeting is Glorious Goodwood, where smart lounge suits are the favoured ensembles of elegant race-goers. Linen or cotton suits are definitely acceptable as the meeting is in July; like all the major meetings races, it should be treated as a party, so go for bright colours, eye-catching patterns, and interesting textures – in short, the classic Duchamp look.

Another attractive aspect of trackside fashion is the bold checks traditionally sported by bookmakers, bookies’ clerks and other “gentlemen of the turf”. Presumably bookies and their runners started wearing brash and loud outfits so that they could be noticed among the throngs of punters. Duchamp applauds this tradition of “racy” style and in its summer suits, jackets and trousers can provide lots of options to get you looking “on the money”.

But always keep an eye on the weather for the spring and summer meetings. Do not overdress if the forecast is hot weather. It’s only the horses and the jockeys that should be sweating.

Most of us call the upper garment of a suit a jacket, but bespoke tailors refer to it as a coat. This verbal curiosity dates back to when the main covering for a man’s body was a long garment that offered the wearer protection from the elements.To achieve the best insulation, two layers of cloth – one against the body and one wrapped across on top of that – were tailored into what today we call a great coat or overcoat.

Buttons and buttonholes began being used on clothing in the 13th and 14th centuries, when tailored clothing began to replace draped and pinned garments, such as cloaks and gowns. On a coat, to keep the inside and outside together a line of buttonholes on the upper layer of cloth was slipped over a line of buttons on the lower layer. To maintain the symmetry of the garment, a corresponding line of buttons was added on the opposite side. The outline of the double-breasted jacket had been created.
The modern lounge suit and its trouser-less cousin, the sports jacket, were adopted by polite society from about 1860. Before that the respectable day uniform for a gentleman was a frock coat, a sort of lightweight overcoat that could be worn indoors, with a waistcoat but not another jacket, beneath it. Frock coats were seen in single-breasted or double-breasted styles but the DB almost always looks more imposing, more masculine.

At the end of the 19th century, the Victorian frock coat was shortened to create the DB jacket.

The British fashion historian James Laver proposed three reasons to explain why certain clothes were worn. Firstly there is the Utility Principle, in which dressing provides warmth and comfort. The Hierarchical Principle explains clothing that is worn to reflect one’s position in society. The final Seduction Principle refers to clothes that are worn to attract a prospective mate.
The DB jacket scores highly on all three scales. It is clearly warm and insulating because of the extra cloth it uses. The relative complexity of the silhouette and the potential for multiple buttons or fancy fastenings like froggings (the horizontal braiding seen on old uniforms) mean the DB has always been popular with men of aristocratic or royal bearing. And, properly selected, the DB can emphasise the classic silhouette of a male ideal – broad shoulders and a narrow waist.

DBs lend themselves to peaked lapels, which provide the right “balance” to the look and also help carry the viewer’s eye outwards to accentuate the shoulders. The secret to a successful DB lies essentially in the number of and positioning of the buttons. Although such styles are rarely seen, it is possible to have a DB jacket with only two buttons – one that’s for fastening, with the other there just for show. At the other extreme, a DB jacket inspired by a naval reefer coat might squeeze on five pairs of buttons (DB styles were popular for naval uniforms as extra protection was needed at sea).
The most common options for DBs, however, are 4-button or 6-button styles. A 4-button style can be fastened with two buttons or just one. Originally on a 6-button style, all three buttons on the wearer’s right side would be fastened when the jacket was being worn, but today often the top pair of buttons is for decoration only.
For its brilliant 6-button DB summer jacket, Duchamp is sticking with the classic rules – all three buttons on the wearer’s right can be closed, although for comfort and swagger one can leave open the bottom one, as has been done in the photo.

There’s a slight retro tip to this double-breasted jacket in blue cotton drill. It’s a lightweight summer cloth, so despite the DB style it won’t be too warm to wear on a sunny day. With three patch pockets, mother-of-pearl buttons and twin vents, it has a decidedly casual air. Duchamp’s style is cut slightly cropped in a contemporary fit.
Stylish DB jackets are not as popular these days as they ought to be. The revival of the DB starts here.

All images courtesy of the collection of The Gallery of Costume, Manchester