First painter and then photographer, Émile Savitry makes the artistic and cultural life of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Montparnasse districts the privileged frame for his shots. Artists’ studios, jazz cellars, café terraces and restaurants on the Left Bank are the theatre for his human comedies. Humanist photography in post-war Paris Along with Robert Doisneau, Willy Ronis and […]
HUSBANDS JOURNAL
JOURNAL
JEANS, A FRENCH HISTORY
Jeans are five-pocket trousers made of denim: a cotton twill fabric with unbleached weft threads and indigo warp threads. From Nimes to the American spinning mills Denim originates from a town in the south of France from which the fabric takes its name: “de Nîmes” (literally “from Nîmes”). From the 17th century onwards, Nîmes was […]
TWILL
The wool twill is one of the most important weavings of the classic wardrobe, giving their structures to many fabrics: gabardine, tweed, cavalry twill or denim. Technically, it is a matter of passing the weft wire over the chain wire while preserving a slight lag between the wires. Thus, this weaving allows the creation of […]
SCARVES FOR MEN
The men’s scarf was originally not a fashion accessory, but a military item. The instruction scarf After the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871, the 1872 recruitment law introduced general conscription in France. The majority of the soldiers recruited under this law were illiterate. In order to give soldiers access to instructions on […]
BACON – LEIRIS, CROSSED STYLISTIC PORTRAITS
“I have often seen, in the past, at the back of the bar on the Pont-Royal in Paris, Leiris and Bacon together, leaning towards each other in complicit conversation. I liked to watch them, Leiris being serious and Bacon trying to be.” Philippe Sollers, Francis Bacon’s Passions. Bacon was only lately recognised in France. His […]
THE PEA COAT
The origin of the pea coat goes back to the 17th century. English sailors were the first to adopt this coarse woollen garment, warm enough to face the elements. Later on, the coat was reserved for pilots, which gave the coat the English name of P-Coat and then Pea Coat The pea coat is recognisable […]
THIN-RIB CORDUROY
Velvet is neither a material nor a fabric, it is a particular type of weave – and a complex one at that. Consisting of a simple weave (which constitutes its basic structure) to which is attached an additional thread, called pile yarn. This pile yarn is cut to give the fabric its satin appearance. Velvet […]
PICCOLI BY SAUTET
In the early 1970s, Claude Sautet met Michel Piccoli. For a whole decade, the director filmed the actor in The Things of Life, Max and the Junkmen, Vincent, François, Paul and the Others, and finally Mado. Sautet met Piccoli through the composer Philippe Sarde, who composed the music for most of his films. The director […]
BLACK IN MEN’S WARDROBE
In Latin, black is designated by two terms: niger, a shiny black, and ater, a matte black – that of a fresco or a flannel, which is not the same as the shiny black of a wool twill. Sometimes the colour of mourning, sometimes the visible manifestation of a Puritan spirit, black appears to us […]
V-NECK AND CREWNECK SWEATERS
Sweaters have long been considered as humble pieces of men’s wardrobe, coming from common origins and of simple confection. They still entered the wardrobe of sovereigns, intellectuals, painters and singers throughout the 20th century. Sweaters for sports and leisure of the aristocratic classes In 1921, the Prince of Wales and future Edward VIII wears a […]