Weekend Reading... Serious Pleasures

With their scandalous outfits and behaviour, a group of young and privileged bohemians captivated, angered and fascinated inter war period Britain. These 'Bright Young Things' as they were coined by the press, threw elaborate fancy dress parties, chased through nighttime London on treasure hunts, drank heavily and experimented with drugs. All tales of sights seen and even a few fabricated were all enthusiastically divulged on the pages of the tabloids. During the 20s and 30s, Stephen Tennant was an important member of this group. Indeed he was oft described as the 'brightest' of these 'Bright Young Things'. He is widely considered to be the model for Cedric Hampton in Nancy Mitford's novel Love in a Cold Climate along with being one of the inspirations for Lord Sebastian Flyte in Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. This weekend, as real Autumn settles in, I've turned to Phillip Hoare's 'Serious Pleasures: The life of Stephan Tennant' for company and to learn a little more about the man behind the decadence. 

Phillip Hoare, intrigued by this era of explored excess and Jazz age glamour spotted the frequent reference of Tennant but it was a Cecil Beaton profile shot that turned his interest in to an obsession. "The reason why I wrote about Stephen Tennant was that he was the embodiment of a fantastical world that I had inhabited throughout my mid-adolescence – a world that, for me, stretched from the Ballet Russes on the one hand to David Bowie's Jean Genie on the other" purred Hoare. Stephen Tennant had looked like David Bowie back in 1927. Gold dust shimmering in his hair and with an extraordinary leather coat with chinchilla fur collar nonchalantly worn over an Anderson and Shepherd suit. He was an alien in Mayfair. The resonance of Tennant's image - its alien androgyny somehow surreal in the environs of Smith Square - reached far beyond its years. Many were enthralled at the time but three generations later and Hoare was still mesmerised when he dedicated four years of his life to this wonderful biography of the Edwardian aesthete. Like Hoare, I've marvelled at Beaton's imagery of this intriguing world and read reference of its poster boy and I'm looking forward to finding a little more about the man. However, before I bury my head in its pages, I want to share a few of the images that accompany Hoare's words.... 

Photographs that catch the eye and capture the imagination litter this well researched biography.

Looking at these shots it is clear that Tennant’s outfits teasingly danced and boyishly bounced from the indulgently luxe extravagance to the theatrical, gender-blurring fancy dress. I'll no doubt be reading about this bright young thing throughout the weekend and beyond but before I do, I just want to leave you with an example of the fascinated gossip that was penned in the press during Tennant's peak...

"The Honourable Stephen Tennant arrived in an electric brougham wearing a football jersey and earrings."

William Hickey, Daily Express, 1927.

The Savile Row Cutter

The last few weeks have whizzed right by me leaving little but a confused, exhausting blur in its wake. However, one recent bit of post sent from blog friend Hormazd Narielwalla has helped provide a much needed change of pace. Whenever I've been able to grab a few moments rest, I've reached for The Savile Row Cutter to help transport me to a different world, the enchanting world of bespoke tailoring.

Now, regular readers should be familiar with the captivating work of Hormazd Narielwalla. After successfully completing a Masters in Fashion Enterprise & Design at Westminster, he assumed a position at the prestigious Savile Row civil, military and sporting tailor, Dege & Skinner, where he soon developed an appreciation for bespoke tailoring. I first encountered the work of Narielwalla gracing the walls of "A Fairytale About Fashion", an exhibition which ran during the festive season of 2008. His Dead Man’s Patterns project was a design story that took its inspiration from a set of bespoke patterns belonging to a deceased customer. In his quest for artistic creativity, he forages for forms in historic tailoring archives and through his visuals narrates previously untold stories. His second publication entitled The Savile Row Cutter takes his bespoke love affair one step further.

Released next month, The Savile Row Cutter documents the tailoring memoirs of Michael Skinner, Master Cutter and Chairman of Dege & Skinner. It charts Skinner's progress from apprentice tailor through to Managing Director and Chairman. Michael Skinner’s enthralling career started in 1952 when he joined the family firm as an eighteen year old and he has since trained a great number of the bespoke tailors currently plying their trade on the Row. Told through his craft and written ‘in conversation’ with Michael, Narielwalla's text provides a fascinating insight into the life and work of a Master Tailor who has been at the forefront of bespoke tailoring for more than fifty years.

London’s Savile Row is renowned for bespoke tailoring. It continues to be the focal point of gentlemen’s tailoring and the reason is dedicated craftsmen like Michael Skinner who help keep its tradition alive and standards high. For anyone as equally enchanted by the world of the Row and its talented inhabitants, The Savile Row Cutter is a must read.

Weekend Inspiration: A Passionate Collaboration

Bank Holiday weekends should be long and lazy. Mine has been filled with various pursuits of everyday procrastination but none have been more fruitful than a flick through a recent second hand book store find. Margrethe Mather & Edward Weston: A Passionate Collaboration explores the relationship between two of my favourite photographers and provides inspiration at every turn of page. Whilst offering a glimpse of California Bohemia, A Passionate Collaboration features work by both artists, chronicles their twelve-year association and sheds much needed light on Mather, whose artistry, sexual identity, and mysterious past were overshadowed by the massive reputation of Edward Weston.

Mather was, without doubt, an extraordinary photographer on her own merit. She was a pacesetter and innovator. With her unerring eye for spare, elegant design, her unflinching capacity for editing an image to its very essence and her obsession with technical perfection, Margrethe Mather was an artist of real substance and significance. As much as I enjoyed reading about their complex relationship it was the selection of plates that really left me inspired. I just had to scan a few of them to share with you.

Margrethe Mather - "Wild Joe" O'Carrol (1919)

Margrethe Mather - Frayne Williams (1920)

Margrethe Mather and Edward Weston - Max Eastman at Water's Edge (1921)

Margrethe Mather -Johan Hagemeyer (1921)

Edward Weston - Roi Patridge (1922)

Margrethe Mather - The Abandoned Car (1925)

Margrethe Mather - Japanese Combs (1931)

Waking up to Yamamoto's My Dear Bomb

Waking up to Yohji's My Dear Bomb (yes that is my pillowcase)

Due to the lack of blinds or curtains, sunshine poured in to our room this morning preventing any vague hope of a long, lazy lie in. I'm not complaining though, what a treat it is. As I wiped the sleep from my eye and made a cup of tea, Susie called out quotes from Yohji Yamamoto's My Dear Bomb. The following one will be bouncing around my sleepy brain for the rest of the day and beyond so I just had to share it with you...

"It is always best to add something playful to any polished, coordinated look in man's clothing. Attractive, classy, and chic alone result in something dull. The man with a real sense of style will always combine a highly polished look with something less refined, thereby combining the sensibilities of the man about town with those of the country buffoon, mixing the sensitive with the clownish. It simply will not do to have it all be of the highest refinement."