Robert Emmett

Six Shirts — Six Cities — Six Parties

2011-12-29T09:20:00.000-08:00

With New Year just around the corner, I asked our Creative Director Nash to come up with some party looks featuring our beautiful Shantung Silk Casuals (which are now in the Emmett Sale). He went one better and came up with six looks for six different cities — and six midnight kisses (which may alas remain in the realm of the imagination).

So over to Nash…

Dusk blue

Where: London

How: Wear it with a midnight blue cashmere suit, a navy knitted tie and navy velvet pumps.

Midnight kiss: Lena Olin (in the film Havana, 1990)

Warm grey

Where: Paris

How: With washed out blue jeans, navy socks, a navy tie, a wide brown belt (with gold buckle) — and the most beautiful double-breasted navy coat.

Midnight kiss: Isabelle Adjani (Le Reine Margot, 1994)

Plum purple

Where: Istanbul

How: With a woven black silk tie, black jeans and black suede boots. Throw a black velvet jacket on top, and scent yourself with rose water, fig and a touch of citrus.

Midnight kiss: Monica Belluci (Matrix Reloaded, 2003)

Golden yellow

Where: Rome

How: With white jeans and a brown suede belt, grey socks and brown suede loafers. Over the top, a grey wool blazer (gold buttons if you can) and a charcoal cashmere scarf.

Midnight kiss: Mia Sara (Ferris Bueller's Day Off, 1986)

Natural brown

Where: New York

How: Under a camel blazer, with indigo jeans, a brown silk knitted tie and dark brown chelsea boots.

Midnight kiss: Cybil Shepherd (Moonlighting, 1985)

Strawberry pink

Where: Tokyo

How: With a grey cashmere suit and blue cashmere scarf, offset by a brown leather belt. On your feet, grey socks and brown brogues.

Midnight kiss: Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, 2003)

An assortment of shirt/tie combinations

2011-12-01T08:34:00.000-08:00

Shirts and ties, ties and shirts. These days fewer of us wear a tie than ever — but it remains the case that a well-honed shirt/tie combination can lift an outfit like little else.

With that in mind, I asked Leah and George at our Eldon Street shop in the City to put together five different looks. And here they are.

First, a classic look: the white shirt paired with a patterned red silk tie.

Regular fit ribbed white shirt, red silk tie and blue/red silk knots

For something a little bolder, we've offset the luscious blue of this pinpoint shirt with the less vibrant tones of the tie.

Regular fit blue pinpoint shirt, grey spotted tie and blue silk knots

Look 3: stripes and patterns (here, a small cross) can play together rather nicely…

Regular fit striped shirt, navy crosses tie and blue silk knots

… as can stripes and checks. The stripe here is wide enough not to compete with the contrasty check.

Slim-fit blue checked Oxford shirt, striped blue tie and blue silk knots

Finally, for a more casual look that's all about textures, this torn silk tie beautifully offsets the luxurious cashmere softness of the shirt.

Slim-fit ice-blue cotton/cashmere shirt and torn silk navy tie

No more curled-corner collars

2011-10-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

Ever noticed how the once-crisp corners of your collar start to curl like old cheese after a few washes?

We noticed that, too. And we don't think it's a good look. So that's why we developed our no-curl collar design. As well as the usual removable collar stiffener, our more formal shirts now typically feature a second internal stiffener, extending right to the very tip of the collar. Double-stiffened, in other words.

So no matter how many times you wash and wear your shirt, the tips of its collar will remain as finely honed as your sartorial style.

New — seductively soft brushed cotton shirts

2011-10-14T06:20:00.000-07:00

We introduced a new range of brushed cotton casual shirts this week — exquisitely soft on the skin, and available in a mouthwatering array of colours. Altogether an indulgence for the senses.

So, now that summer has melted into autumn, I suggest you layer a brushed cotton casual over a T-shirt — or wear it open necked under a loose tailored jacket.

Check them out online — both slim fits and regular fits — or drop into one of our shops and be seduced as soon as you feel exactly how soft these shirts are…

When a designer is also an archivist

2011-10-07T03:16:00.000-07:00

When I talk about designing clothes and fabric prints, I'll often mention that a particular design is inspired by something from the archives.

But what does this mean?

Fabric companies keep vast archives cataloguing all their designs — thousands upon thousands of them, many stretching back as far as the mid 19th century. And these are a vast trove of inspiration for the designer to plunder: recolouring prints; giving old designs a modern twist.

The colour of the past

Because our image of the past is derived from old photos and film — much of it black and white — we tend to think of pre-1950s clothing as monochromatic.

But look at the archives and we can see from the fabrics themselves that the fashions of earlier decades were no less vibrant than our own. So we can recolour the past.

The one thing that has changed, though, is the quality of the fabrics themselves: today we can produce far finer fabrics — so we have the opportunity to combine timeless aesthetics with thoroughly modern manufacturing technologies and a twist of 21st century style.

Photos kindly supplied by Albini Group

Artfully British

2011-09-13T06:35:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday — 10 September — Jermyn Street was closed off to traffic and devoted instead to a celebration of The Art of Being British.

And a fine art it is indeed.

Emmett was, of course, proudly present — showing clothes from our 2011 Autumn/Winter collection. Here are a few snapshots from the fashion show:

Look 1 Navy Cord shirt with silk and cashmere reversible scarf worn with a soft tailored cashmere made to measure jacket and flannel trousers. Shoes from Fosters & Sons, Jermyn St.

Look 2 Baby cord paisley patterned shirt, blue jeans and Foster & Son's Boots

Look 3 Baby twill blue shirt with woven silk navy with blue spotted tie, worn with a soft tailored cashmere made to measure jacket and flannel trousers. Shoes from Foster & Sons.

Watch a slideshow with more photos on Flickr.

Baby cord survives truck theft

2011-09-09T03:19:00.000-07:00

As the summer fades inexorably away, let's console ourselves with the prospect of autumnal fabrics.

We'll soon be receiving a new batch of shirts in baby cord, for instance — a very soft, slightly brushed cotton, which we've washed to give the fabric a casual look (and make it feel even softer). You can see some swatches of baby cord above.

They should be here already — except that, in a caprice of fate, the fabric delivery truck was stolen, halfway from the fabric mill in Italy to the factory.

Thankfully the baby cord was unscathed.

We'll let you know as soon as the shirts are in stock. If you haven't already, join our mailing list to hear about it first.

2011-05-01T02:00:00.000-07:00

Ties.

2010-10-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

The tie for many is emblematic of the office uniform. A superfluous but compulsory item that denotes seriousness and formality. This sober association sadly means very few people feel any sense of joy or excitement when choosing or wearing a neck tie, and so there is very little incentive to experiment or explore the possibilities of this simple piece of hanging cloth. This is a shame as a tie is a relatively inexpensive piece of clothing and so is an easy way to add variety to your wardrobe when a new suit seems out of the question.

There are countless options beyond the plain, spotted and striped silks favoured during the working week. For the less formal occasion a flat ended knitted tie in wool or silk is a perfectly traditional but currently underrepresented choice that compliments jeans just as well as it does a flannel suit. For the summer there are bright grenadine silks or lightweight silk/linen mixes and for the winter wools and cashmeres that are luxurious but unostentatious and perfectly compliment the heavier winter weekend fabrics such as tweed or corduroy (Some particularly charming examples of which have just come into the shop and are pictured above). This is all before we have even discussed widths, knots, lengths and linings. The possibilities are endless.

A tie sits boldly atop your chest, framed by your jacket lapels. It is an inevitable mode of self expression so be purposeful in how you wear it. It is a meaningful item so consider your choice carefully and invest in enough to suit every occasion and outfit. I have heard it quipped that putting on a tie before you go to work is like hanging yourself every morning, but take some care with this simple part of your wardrobe and I can't say it will be the best part of your day; but it certainly won't feel like a death sentence.

How best to wear linen.

2010-06-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

Previously here I discussed the remarkable properties of linen that make it such an indispensable summer cloth. Having addressed why, I thought it only fitting to now address how.

The key to wearing linen is to not try and wear it like cotton: it is an entirely different beast. Due to its low elasticity linen inevitably creases and billows; this is its strength and its most charming feature. It is a luxurious fabric but also an innately casual one and any attempt to dress it up is liable to fall short. Choose a shirt with a soft unlined collar, perhaps in a button down; wear it with jeans or chinos in a washed twill. Linen has a bold rough texture that can look inappropriate with smoother more formal cloths so try and incorporate other rough textures into your dress. Brown suede desert boots are a particularly fetching addition in this vein.

In my experience Linen jackets work best when unlined and unstructured. One gets the full benefit of linen’s cooling qualities, unfettered by linings or constrictive cuts, and as they crumple and crease through a day’s wear they only improve in appearance. There is a tendency amongst British men to only wear linens in lighter shades such as beige; a habit that seems to have been passed down, through BBC imperial dramas and home counties murder mysteries, from the oft romanticized days of the colonies when a suit in this cloth was as obligatory as a panama hat or a gin and tonic at tea time. One should not be afraid to experiment with darker tones, a linen suit in black or a dark navy paired with a polo shirt and loafers can be particularly effective.

Whatever your opinions on linen the one item that no man should be without is the white linen pocket-handkerchief. As at home in a black morning coat as it is tousled in the pocket of a khaki cotton shirt jacket; it breathes a quiet masculine elegance into any outfit. A fact that speaks volumes about all that this wondrous cloth is and can be.

New Prints from Como.

2010-06-07T16:46:00.000-07:00

I have lately been working with a wonderful company in Como to create a selection of bold prints for my summer shirts that are in fact now available in the shops (a selection can be viewed by clicking here).

The mechanics of printing on textiles through traditional methods has in the past made designing one’s own prints prohibitively expensive for more boutique establishments such as Emmett. Very large print runs were required that dwarf the amount of fabric needed to create the twenty-five shirts we produce in each style.

This Como outfit, however, is one of the foremost practitioners of digital printing, a relatively new development that uses specially modified inkjet printers, much like the one you have on your desk at home or in the office, to create superb quality printed textiles at the touch of a button.

This means it is now affordable to print one off pieces to the highest sartorial standards. Photographs can be replicated in such crisp quality that for the first time in history they may appear on a garment in a manner that speaks of refined eccentricity rather than school football tours and stag weekends: think jacket linings and personalised pochettes instead of t-shirts sporting gurning faces and crude euphemisms.

I recently discovered this superb company sits proudly in the Guinness Book of Records for creating the world’s largest tie (see above). At forty-four meters long it is apparently ideally suited to a man with a height of fifty-four meters with a twelve-meter neck. This is undoubtedly more interesting than the advantages of digital textile printing but markedly less useful to the more conventionally proportioned gentleman.

Linen.

2010-05-31T05:09:00.001-07:00

As the summer weather makes its first tentative appearances it is time once again to reassess the building blocks of our daily attire. When the sun is really shining the cottons and wools that we eagerly invest in as all year round cloths sadly do not cut it. In conditions like these Linen, though sadly absent from many men’s wardrobes, is something of a wonder-fabric.

Linen can absorb 20% water without looking or feeling damp, ideal for avoiding those unsightly summer sweat patches. Its high absorbency is coupled with an ability to lose water very rapidly, which means as it billows and wafts to and from your skin it removes any perspiration, dries and returns cooled.

Anyone who has owned a linen shirt for some years will know how wonderfully soft this cloth becomes over time and through repeated washing. It still, however, remains a robust fabric with over double the strength of cotton making it ideal apparel in which to enjoy even the most hardy of summer pursuits in cool comfort.

At Emmett we source our Linens from Ireland and Italy, where the very finest quality linen is still produced. Those who find linen’s tendency to crease unflattering or overly casual should ask to see our shirts made from a cotton/linen blend. These combine the coolness of linen with the crispness of cotton: ideal even in the office.

In Klosters.

2010-04-09T15:11:00.000-07:00

I know this is meant to be a style blog but please entertain me for a moment. I’m in Klosters for the week and whenever I’m here I never miss a chance to visit Chesa Grischuna. It truly is one of my favourite hotels and houses a restaurant with an absolutely inspired chef. It has an authentic alpine warmth and charm that permeates every corner, from its fastidiously friendly and helpful staff to its perfect wood paneled rooms and mountain view balcony covered with enticing fur-covered armchairs. I cannot recommend it highly enough; it is in every way Switzerland at its best.

http://www.chesagrischuna.ch/index-english.html

The Pocket-Handkerchief.

2010-04-08T10:06:00.000-07:00

We have recently got some great new printed linen handkerchiefs in at Emmett for the summer (see above). Like hats many men are wary of wearing pocket-handkerchiefs, as they may appear affected, costumey or overly studied. However, like hats, on having worn one once any man will feel undressed without one. The pocket-handkerchief adds an essential element of asymmetry and texture to a suit or blazer and stops it looking like a uniform. Of course there are exceptions, a paisley silk number in rich hues worn badly can imbue one with all the bigoted pomposity of a stiff mannequin in the window of a stuffy regional gentlemen’s outfitter. But the pocket-handkerchief is not the minefield many men consider it to be. If uncomfortable with the dressiness of silk then linen or cotton are great options. Whether printed, patterned or plain they can be worn as a simple strip or, through various combinations of pinching and folding, in a multiplicity of different shapes and styles.

Summer in particular is a fantastic time for cotton and linen handkerchiefs as their textures complement the lightweight wools of the season’s suits perfectly. A crisply folded washed out red or green cotton sitting in a slightly messy strip in the breast of a navy blue suit with a white or blue shirt lends a subtle charm and freshness to what could otherwise be a boring outfit. If you are wearing a tie, resist the urge to match it. The pocket-handkerchief should add variety and eclecticism to an outfit and not merely reinforce what is already there. A slightly off beat handkerchief communicates a nonchalance and innate tastefulness in the wearer; a matching handkerchief makes you look like you have bought a matching tie and handkerchief box set at Moss Bros. Many men only wear handkerchiefs with their morning coats and evening dress but they also have a very important place at the other end of the sartorial spectrum. In a casual outfit the handkerchief can take on the role of the tie, adding a small splash of colour or pattern to the block tones of trouser and jacket. Wear a pocket-handkerchief and it will surprise you with its possibilities: this simple square of cloth, through subtle variations in preparation and presentation, is a constantly renewable way to lift any outfit out of the mundane.

The Perfect White Shirt.

2010-03-28T06:03:00.001-07:00

The recession seems to have had a sobering affect on the wardrobe of the nation. My experience as the proprietor of a shirt maker has shown me that the well-publicized pinch after the frivolity of the boom years has not resulted in any real decrease in men’s expenditure on shirts but exactly in the frivolity of their choice of shirt. In times when people feel their jobs are less secure they want a shirt that sends a message of seriousness and dependability. The bold shirts of yesteryear feel inappropriately flamboyant, vain, even arrogant in this new world order; and being better dressed than your boss has always been a dangerous game to play.

So the white shirt, with all its nuances of humility and simple presentablity, comes to the fore. But for me the white shirt has always been so much more than an unostentatious garment for work and funerals: it is the most important shirt in any wardrobe and certainly the most important shirt to spend money on. Because in a white shirt there is nothing to distract from the simple choices in quality and cut that have been made. Without loud colours or intricate patterns, whether the fabric is a light flowing poplin, soft luxurious twill, or a stiff sharp pinpoint completely changes the way the shirt looks and feels. How much lining is in the collar? Does it have a placket? Single or double cuff? The most basic choices become the only choices and as such become features rather than just simple matters of engineering. Things like stitching, buttons and thread count are clearly visible, meaning that quality is paramount in a white shirt and a shoddy shirt maker will have nowhere to hide.

The Americans like rugged oxford cottons with soft button down collars whilst the French have traditionally gone for silky poplins with crisp and well pressed collars and cuffs. Being a shirt maker I have had apt opportunity to experiment with this wardrobe staple and as in all good menswear I have found the best choices are those that follow functionality. The pinpoint oxford is a fantastic durable all year round fabric. It breathes and softens up wonderfully with age whilst not losing that enticing crispness that every white shirt should have. It neither looks too casual with a navy suit at an interview, nor too smart with jeans and loafers. In the shop I have them with a semi-cutaway collar that stands up wonderfully worn open neck and comfortably and naturally with a tie. For me this is how the British white shirt should be; comfortable, functional, smart, distinguished but never ostentatious.

The Four-in-Hand.

2010-03-28T05:55:00.001-07:00

People seem to be wearing fewer and fewer ties these days but if you chose to wear one or if your job requires it you should not underestimate its importance. It is your outfits first impression, it handshake that tells whoever you may be meeting, intuitively, who you are or who you wish to be.

For me the single most important lesson in how to wear a tie can be taken from its more exotic cousin the bow tie. That is that perfection and symmetry is to be avoided at all costs. Just as the ready tied bow tie identifies both itself and its wearer through its sleek faultlessness as something of an inferior imposter, so too the perfectly constructed, dimple free, Half-Windsor knot suggests a lack or grace in its wearer: more court appearance than courtier.

Ironically the best knot of them all is also the first and the simplest. The humble Four-in-Hand has undoubtedly adorned every young schoolboy’s neck for generations and many an adult would do well to revisit this classic of their youth. The perfect Four-in-Hand is slightly asymmetrical and creates a small dimple where the knot grasps the hanging silk. For those whose memories are not what they were, the above diagram illustrates how it is achieved.

Harris Tweed.

2010-03-28T05:42:00.001-07:00

A great friend of mine has just returned from a trip to the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides and brought back a lovely piece of heavily brushed Harris Tweed, which he has entrusted me to make into a jacket. Harris Tweed is a great brand that has kept itself relevant by steadfastly sticking to its heritage: all Harris Tweed is still woven exclusively in the Outer Hebrides by individual weavers in their own homes. The coarse texture and rustic hues of this classic cloth seems to be inextricably linked with these oft-romanticized surroundings. My friend told me of a weavers cottage he visited where the loom faced out of a window looking out over a stony, lichen speckled cliff onto a rough slatey sea, with orcas breeching in the distance. Indeed the dyes used in the original Harris Tweeds were made from these very lichens that scatter the islands. Because of their rugged texture and origins in the Scottish Highlands these tweeds have traditionally been fashioned into stiff and durable sporting jackets; but with their bold, rustic checks I’d love to do a series of more casual soft shouldered, patch pocketed jackets in this wonderful cloth.

Cashmere.

2010-03-28T05:40:00.000-07:00

I’ve just come back from meeting with some wonderful manufacturers in Florence at the Pitti menswear fair. I always take Pitti as a chance to discover interesting little brands doing something a bit different. One that really stood out for me this year was a great little company from just outside Venice doing brilliant cable knits in super-soft, ultra heavy-weight cashmere in roll necks and as cardigans with big folded leather buttons; the kind of thing which would be fantastic under a duffel coat or a heavy winter tweed.

I think cashmere is a wonderful cloth for this time of year, particularly in this bitter cold we’ve been experiencing. Recently I had a great series of sleeveless cashmere cardigans made in a large range of colours, from bold purples to more conservative greys and blues, all of which can be found at the King’s Road store. The fabric is from a brilliant old mill near Inverness in Scotland called Johnstons of Elgin; its incredibly soft but has a lovely solid durability to it. Sleeveless cardigans were immensely popular with men of my grandfather’s generation and I’m always perplexed as to why they’re not more popular today. Unlike conventional sleeved cardigans and pullovers they don’t look bulky under a jacket and worn open you can hardly see them but they can add a great splash of colour to a casual outfit or even to more formal attire whilst providing that much needed insulation for the winter months.

Welcome

2010-03-28T05:34:00.000-07:00

I have decided to join the masses and now Emmett London will have its very own blog.

My aim is to keep you up to date with all the news at Emmett London & to keep you looking respectable, dispensing sage fashion advice from the easy "what can I wear to my Dads birthday?" to the trickier "What shirt is best for my Ex Girlfriends wedding?"

Only 25 shirts are made in any one style helping you stand out from the crowd & hopefully avoiding finding yourself in the same shirt as the man next to you at the bar & possibly the barman as well. Unless you happen to like a tipple at The Sporting Page, chances are they wont serve you unless you are wearing an Emmett shirt.