April showers bring rubber boots and environmental concerns

Period Hessian boots.

It’s April, and no matter where you live, spring 2013 will be wet if not flooded in some areas of Canada (hello Saskatchewan). Rubber boots are your practical and stylish answer – but with environmental reservations.

Rubber boots as we know them today didn’t start as rubber boots. The style of boot derives from Hessian boots, a high style from the Regency Period. These 18th century boots were made of leather with a heel and slightly pointed toe, and decorated with a coloured tassel. This is the boot from which rubber and cowboy boots derived. (Click here for further period boot reading.)

Though also worn by Beau Brummel, the most famous of dandies, the Hessian boots were adopted by the military and favoured by officers.

One of these officers,  Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington, modified the style and changed footwear forever. Wellesley wanted a boot tough enough for the battlefield but comfortable enough for evening wear. The resulting boot was  made of plain soft calf skin (possibly treated with wax to make them waterproof), cut closer to the leg, housing the trim stirrup trousers of the period.

Leather “Wellington” boots.

These Wellington boots became all the rage – civilians and soldiers alike wore this style to emulate their favourite war hero and statesman. It was the boot of 19th century aristocracy, synonymous with fox hunts and country life in Britain.

Rubber Revolution

According to Scientific American, rubber footwear originated with Amazonian Indians who lived amongst rubber trees in South America,  but it wasn’t until the mid-1800s that rubber boots appeared.

Natural rubber is composed of long polymer chains which, when uncured, move independently, giving an unstable substance that can get sticky when warm and brittle when cold. In the mid-19th century, Charles Goodyear discovered a process called vulcanization that linked the polymer chains, making rubber strong, elastic, and waterproof.

Goodyear used his invention to make tires and Hiram Hutchinson bought the patent to manufacture footwear, and the waterproof Wellington boot was born. (See pictures of rubber boot making in France.)

Wellingtons, wellies, gummies, gum boots, or  rain boots have been worn all over the world to keep feet dry and protected for mining, farming, fishing, food processing, chemical plants, and for those who live in wet climates.

The Chet by Hunter.

Remember the black rubber boots with red soles from your childhood?  They’re  still readily available at Canadian Tire, but for those who itch for a more stylish rubber boot, Hunter, the Scottish rubber boot company, makes all kinds of styles, long and short – featured here is their Chelsea-style rubber boot. For casual dress, Sweden’s Tretorn offers cool sporty, waterproof “rain sneakers”, along with other styles and lots of colour options. Further reading.

But there’ s a catch to these stylish waterproof numbers.

Environmental Considerations

Rubber decomposes, as anyone who grew up in the pre-Spandex era can tell you. I have a pair of lined, rubber Tretorn rain boots that cracked within two years. I don’t know if the lining had anything to do with it, but I can’t wear them anymore. Tretorn doesn’t have a recycling program. So what do I do with them?

Canadian-made Kamik rain boots.

Hunter sells care products with their boots to shine them up, but this doesn’t seem to affect the “long-term” ownership of these boots. I’ve looked at forums and blogs that complain about their wellies “crumbling” and “splitting” since the Scottish company moved their manufacture to China (read this blog for an excellent take on Hunter’s move to cheap labour).

A wonderful alternative to throw-away boots is Kamik‘s vegan footwear. The styles are similar to Hunters, but the boots are eco-friendly, and the Kamik waterproof footwear is vulcanized, unlike the China-made Hunters.  Kamik’s boots are recyclable and made in Canada. Kamik’s products can be found in Canadian Tire and various other locations throughout Canada and the U.S. Find dealers. Read more about Kamik.

Rubber boots are awesome in wet weather, so feel confident to roam the streets in the rain and splash through puddles, but do be mindful of the environmental impact of your choice in wellies.

My knotty error

I’ve made a mistake. I’ve made a mistake and this is the public admission of my error.  No, I don’t have to publish this, but I want people to know that I’m not afraid of being wrong.

The last thing a professional wants to do is pass on incorrect information, and it seems I’ve done so. In a 2010 blog post, The new royalty, I explained that in centuries past, it was royalty who set the fashion, now, movie stars and musicians are key influencers.

In that post (now edited), I give the examples of kings’ conditions that cued historical clothing: Henry VIII was said to have gout which moved him to wear non-restricting footwear, thus dictating the shoes of Tudor times, and prematurely bald Louis XIII of France introduced men’s wigs to the world.

I made an assumption that Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor upon abdication, was the originator of the Windsor knot.  It made a tremendous amount of sense to me that the Duke, a small man, would wear a knot that took up more tie so it could graze the waistband of his high-waisted trouser, but it turns out that it was his father, George V, who (may have) originated the Windsor. But as I dig deeper, I’m finding information that refutes the George V theory. Looking at photos of George, he opted for silk cravats tied into four-in-hand knots – a traditional British necktie knot. So if George and Edward didn’t wear the Windsor knot, where did it come from?

I belong to a professional costume group and we’ve been discussing his topic. One of the costumers says, “Suzy Menkes in her book, The Windsor Style, says the Duke of Windsor had his neckties made by Hawes and Curtis, who always used a very thick lining.” (Hawes and Curtis is an old tailor shop favoured by royalty on London’s Jermyn Street.) The thick tie was too much for the multi-step full Windsor knot, so the Duke tied a four-in-hand knot. Though he didn’t wear it, he’s synonymous with the Windsor knot.

Another costume designer believes the knot may have originated in the U.S. when the Duke visited in the 1930s. In their attempt to emulate the stylish Duke, the Americans, in much thinner ties, took extra steps to create a wider tie knot, and with the help of the U.S. media, this knot was dubbed the Windsor knot.

Interestingly, the Canadian Armed Forces has adopted this knot. My military contact sent me the Armed Forces regulations handbook, in which chapter 2, section 2 explains dress. Two tie knots are allowed in the Canadian military: the four-in-hand and the Windsor knot. The funny thing is, the illustration of the Windsor knot in the handbook looks like a half Windsor knot, not a full Windsor.

The more I find out about this knot, the more confused I am. Perhaps this argument is simply a matter of semantics.

Further reading: The Mystery of the Windsor Tie Knot Revealed

Gentlemen’s Cravats – The Necktie: A Brief History

Error

In our culture, people have a deep fear of being wrong. I used to be one of these people, and then as I delved further into understanding the human condition, I realized that it’s natural and inevitable that we’re going to be wrong sometimes – it’s part of what makes us human. Knowing that humans are more prone to mistakes than to flawless victories, I’m okay with being wrong and I’m willing to tell the world about my mistake.

Many of us have experience with people who love being right all of the time and will rub your face into their (self) righteousness. But what does it amount to?  More stress for one thing – the chips on our shoulders can weigh us down and make us defensive. This black and white way of seeing the world as right and as wrong is, to my mind, limited, because there is so much to know, so many different perspectives, and the issues are often much more complex and require a different angle of logic.

What I’d like to leave you with is this: if we’re right all of the time, we’re not going to experience mistakes; mistakes are things we learn from. Insisting on being right keeps us from learning and growing, and a hard-headed, stuffing-opinions-down-throats style of communication rarely scores points. A dash of humility on the other hand, will.

Movember Mustache: The Hitler

Welcome to Movember! This year, we’re doing a famous mustache series. For our mid-Movember Mustache, the Toothbrush, 2 -3 centimeters of whiskers, synonymous with one of the most criminally insane minds of modern history, Adolf Hitler.

The Toothbrush was a popular American mustache style starting in the nineteen-teens, brought to life by entertainers of the day like Oliver Hardy and Charlie Chaplin. Once brought to Germany, the younger generation immediately took it on to replace the full ornate styles like the Kaiser, the Handlebar, and the Walrus, worn by their fathers.

Hitler, 1916.

Why Hitler took the Toothbrush style on in the first place has been argued for decades. Some believe that the neat, efficient style of the period was simply adopted by Hitler out of personal preference. His sister-in-law claimed that it was she, with her dislike of his bushy, unruly mustache that urged him to cut it.

It’s now understood that Hitler preferred a fuller Prussian style as a younger man during World War 1, but had to compact his mustache to wear a gas mask, when the British developed mustard gas during the Great War. Toothbrush mustache or not, Hitler’s gas mask proved ineffective – he was gassed and temporarily blinded in 1918.

Hitler’s “ugly slit”.

Alexander Moritz Frey, who knew Hitler in the Bavarian infantry, explained his first impression of him: “At that time he looked tall because he was so thin. A full moustache, which had to be trimmed later because of the new gas masks, covered the ugly slit of his mouth.” (Source: The Telegraph)

After the war, it’s no surprise that the Toothbrush mustache style disappeared; to this day, it is the infamous symbol of one of the most evil minds the world has ever witnessed, whipping up the same emotional response as seeing a swastika.

Strangely, the Hitler style ‘stache hasn’t died out entirely. Zimbabwe’s dictator, Robert Mugabe, wears a mutation of the Hitler, called a “Philtrum”, named after the place it grows, in the groove of the upper lip.

Mugabe started out okay, voted into power in 1980 and at first, “delivered on promises of peace, reconciliation with the white minority, and social development.” (Source: PBS) But as history has shown us, Mugabe terrorized, abused, and murdered his own people.

“Mugabe must be viewed as the 21st century Hitler because of the deaths and suffering of Zimbabweans under his rule,” Anglican bishop of Pretoria said in 2008. Another South African bishop explained Mugabe was a “person seemingly without conscience or remorse, and a murderer”. Sound familiar?

I found in my travels a story of Frank Spisak, convicted Ohio murderer who, in 1982, shot three people to death, and wore a Hitler mustache at his trial. For you old school Spiderman fans, J. Jonah Jameson, Peter Parker’s angry, screaming boss at the Daily Bugle, out to squash the web-headed Spiderman, was another nasty figure who wore the Hitler style mustache.

Could the Hitler and pseudo-Hitler mustache styles have drawn out their delusional cruelty?

In his excellent 2007 Vanity Fair article, Becoming Adolf, Rich Cohen explains his take on the Toothbrush as being “the most powerful configuration of facial hair the world has ever known. It overpowers whoever touches it. By merely doodling a Toothbrush mustache on a poster, you make a political statement.”

But just when a pattern begins to form, along comes Michael Jordan.

No one but basketball star himself knows why he chose to wear this mustache for a 2010 Hanes underwear commercial, but he caused a furor when he sported the ‘stache of der Führer:

Ironically, the mustache helped to increase Hanes’ sales, according to CBS, but since Jordan’s been called on it, it hasn’t been seen since. No surprise there.

But it’s still not dead. British comedian, Richard Herring, sports a Toothbrush in his show, Hitler Mustache, to draw attention to voter apathy in the UK, and to see if he can associate the mustache style with something other than the leader of the Third Reich.

Herring admits that when he first grew the Hitler, he got paranoid and feared being assaulted by someone in the street, but eventually became comfortable with it for his paying audience and for a reclamation of the mustache style “as a political protest against the BNP (British National Party)”, saying he was “using the Hitler moustache to oppose fascism.” (Source: BBC)

Creating a positive connection with the Hitler mustache will take a lot of work. And many generations.

TIP: For those of you in mid-Movember mustache depression, check out this great Movember video for support from Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation)!

The power of men’s shoulders

It has always been my opinion that a man’s strength lies in his shoulders. Whereas women’s bodies have two expanses – the shoulders and the hips that meet at the waist (the smallest point of a woman’s torso and what I think of as the point of our femininity), men’s shoulders are much larger, broader, and rounder, holding his power and displaying his magnificence.

Zoologist, Desmond Morris, said in his BBC series, The Human Animal,  that a man’s wide shoulders above a narrow  waist is considered the most appealing. This classical shape speaks of a strong, healthy, and masculine body, and men often wear clothes to draw attention to the breadth of their shoulders, exaggerating their size, and visually increasing their power.

Saskatchewan Roughriders

Take football players for example. Their padding is there to protect their shoulders but also to magnify them. Football uniforms exaggerate a player’s small waist and wide chest and shoulders, undoubtedly to intimidate the opposing team with their size, strength, and power.

Albeit all of the protective equipment worn on the “battlefield” of the football stadium, these men are not in the mortal danger that underpadding was created for – protection from weapons.

War

Unfortunately, where there is disagreement, there are wars, and with wars come weapons. The use of weapons calls for protection, and throughout history, body protection has come in different forms – thick quilted fabric, leather armor, and metal armor, each type with its own kind of shoulder protection.

In Medieval times, armies and knights wore rounded, moveable metal plates called pauldrons, worn to protect the shoulders in battle. Over these rounded pieces, armored fighters wore a gardbrace to protect the shoulder of their free arm. Sometimes two gardbraces were worn with raised guards at the top to deflect blows to the neck.

Henry VIII’s already enormous frame was further exaggerated by his armor. He wore one gardbrace with a huge guard (sometimes in the form of large spikes) on one shoulder – as seen on the left. Also note the armored codpiece peeking out of the faulds of his breastplate – even in battle, never forget the King’s penis!

Read this interesting take on Henry’s enormous girth in Daily Mail UK.

In Japan, the Samurai tradition paid special attention to the shoulders of their costume. Real Samurai wore the sode, rectangular shoulder protectors made of iron or wood strips laced together with leather. These shoulder pieces were very large during periods when bow and arrows were used as main weapons, getting smaller as Japanese armies operated on horseback. (Source.)

For modern men who wish to don armor but don’t feel like carrying around 45 lbs of extra weight, I found a Korean designer on Etsy who has created a wool “armor” hoodie, complete with fabric pauldrons, and designed so the eye moves up to the powerful shoulders.

Even when not in battle proper, men’s shoulders have been excessively decorated to draw attention to this manly body feature.

Matador costume, Museum in Ronda Bullring Arena, Ronda, Andalusia, Spain

Before bullfighting was recently (and thankfully) banned in Spain, Matadors risked goring by bulls, but strangely, their costumes offered little protection from the hard horns of an angry bull.  These  costumes featured short pants, long stockings, and a beautiful jacket with hombrera, heavily decorated shoulder pads, again drawing attention to the virile Matador’s V shape.

Because there was such little protection for the bullfighter, I’m assuming that the gorgeous, heavily adorned costume was meant for show, drawing attention to the beauty of the Matador who received for his work not the spoils of war, but roses tossed out when the crowd was pleased with his performance.

Character shoulders

Wide, majestic shoulders can give a man the illusion of size, making him more imposing than he actually is. On film and on stage, wide, exaggerated shoulders speak of size and power in heroes and villains.

Hero types are often young and strong, like Thor of The Avengers. Thor’s power is displayed through  (the illusion of) his wide shoulders.

The actor underneath does not have particularly imposing shoulders, so the costume designer illustrates Thor’s power through the illusion of big, powerful shoulders in a V-shaped breastplate with an exaggerated cape growing out of it, drawing the eye to the girth of the breastplate and the colour of the cape instead of the width of the arm.

The power suggested by broad shoulders can add a touch of menace to a villainous character. Darth Vader is tall, dark, and broad-shouldered, cloaked in a large black cape to make him a very intimidating and imposing figure.

Orcs of Middle Earth have little patience for each other and strongly adhere to their hierarchical power structure. Like any other army, these horribly ugly Lord of the Rings creatures wear costumes that demonstrate their military position, and their the shoulder pads speak of their rank.

Here, the small, whiny foot soldier Orc wears what looks like bear fur shoulder pads on his cloak, decorated with what I’m guessing are pig’s teeth. Senior Orcs not only stand taller, but wear larger leather shoulder pieces for instant visual recognition of their rank.

Suits

Modern day armies flood into office buildings every day in their version of armor – the suit. Suits, with their padded, squared-off shoulders suggest credibility and authority, but suit shoulders can get out of hand – remember the 80s? Men and women wore suits with massive, jutting padded shoulders to exemplify power. While these magnificent expanses spoke of the wearer’s clout, they didn’t do much to frame the face – to0-wide shoulders diminish the head, giving visions of melons on teeter-totters.

The truth about pants (dedicated to a disgruntled Toronto Star reader)

People tell me I’ve hit the big time when I receive hate mail.

I write as the men’s entrepreneurial image expert in the  Toronto Star‘s Small Business section, and one day, I got a 4 am  email from an intelligent but angry reader who couldn’t believe that I would waste his time talking about something as unimportant as socks.

He got personal, saying that I was the best journalist this side of Fox news, and expressed an interest in reading future posts he envisioned such as, “Belts vs Suspenders, which one makes you more money?” and “The Truth About Pants”.

I thought the latter would make a fine blog topic, so in honour of  this disgruntled reader, I’m pleased to tell you the truth about pants!

History

Costume is divided into five major types of clothing: draped (a wrapped cloth – e.g. togas), slip-on (over-the-head – e.g. poncho), closed sewn (e.g. tunic, shirt), open sewn costume (long cloth closed, stitched, worn over other garments – e.g. coats, caftan, Russian tulup), and sheath (sewn and tubular, fitted closely to the body – e.g. breeches, skirts).

There is evidence in Bronze Age paintings found in the Spanish Levant that men wore some kind of leather trouser that was adorned with fringe and sometimes garters, and there is mention of  “linen breeches” for all “the sons of Aaron” in Exodus XXVIII, but it wasn’t until people started riding horses that these leg tubes caught on.

Before this, men wore the types of clothing women wore – robes, mantles, and tunics. When horses became the prime mode of transportation, riding with two free legs was preferable, so the garment  was adopted by individual riders and mounted armies who, over time, made them part of military uniforms.

Heavily pleated Japanese hakama

Civilizations in Asia and Europe had some form of pants. In Japan, the Samurai wore a kind of pleated split skirt called the hakama, Turks had harem pants, and the Gauls and Celts wore breeches (brit-chez) and trousers. European breeches morphed into hose or chausses, which looked like hip-waders made of wool that tied to the braies, short drawers tied around the waist.

Chausses tied to braies

Bracae, Latin for breeches took a while to catch on in Rome, though Italy was surrounded with cultures that wore some kind of leg covering. Ancient Roman men generally avoided wearing trousers or pants of any kind, considering them barbaric, and worn by “uncivilized” people who lived outside areas controlled by Rome, like the Gauls who lived in present-day France, or the Celts in the north. But during the Roman conquests of cooler northern Europe, the chilly Roman army adopted the local dress of short, tight leg coverings for warmth and protection, which were eventually brought to Rome.

These breeches they would have worn looked like pajama bottoms, tied to the waist and held to the legs by criss-crossed bands of linen or other material. Feminalia were snugly fitting knee-length pants that covered the length of the thighbone, or femur (hence the name). Augustus Caesar (63 B.C.E. –14 C.E. ), the famous Roman emperor wore feminalia through the winter “to protect his sometimes fragile health”. (Source)

Evolution

Parti-coloured hose in Medieval Spain

In the 14th century, the cut and construction of men’s hose improved, and parti-coloured hose, hose with different coloured legs, were popular in Europe. These hose were made of knitted wool, sometimes lined with linen, and often coloured red, black, or brown – popular colours of the period made so with dyes of iron ore.

During Henry VI’s reign, men’s hose got a little more structured and laced to the doublet which, I assume, gave an increased feeling of security to the wearer. The 15th century saw the inclusion of the infamous codpiece that began as a triangle of fabric laced to the crotch to cover a gentleman’s tackle.

Early codpiece

By the time of Henry VIII, codpieces were the order of the day, padded and exaggerated in size, sometimes used as pouches for coins and such. Codpieces peeked out from the divide of a Tudor gent’s waistcoat skirts, not to be ignored!

Hose separated into two parts in the middle of the 16th century, becoming upper and lower hosen. The lower hose were more like a stocking and the upper hose looked like puffed shorts, made of brocades if the wearer could afford it. This upper piece was known as trunk hose.

16th century trunk hose

From this point in time, the trunk hose grew in length, becoming nether hosen during the Elizabethan reign, then into huge pleated knee-length slops in 1600, and heavily pleated bag breeches later in the century. For the next few hundred years, the lower garments grew longer and slimmer, becoming pantaloons by the 19th century.

Long pants as we know them today appeared during the early 1800s and have kept on since, varying in widths and rise lengths (the distance from waistband to crotch) during different eras. Front openings have evolved from tie-on crotch covers (codpieces) to button front flaps (fall-front) to a modern zippered fly.

Lots of changes, lots of forms. That is the true story of pants, an interesting and complex evolution of leg tubes developed for equine travel.

Further reading: article on pant origins in The Atlantic.

Guess the era!

This week, we’re going to test your spacial-temporal abilities and see if you can visualize the gentleman’s coat from the pattern pieces below and match it to one of the coats below:

Your choices:

A. A two-piece fitted doublet with lower tabs worn with “bag breeches” from 1630, Flanders.

B. Men’s frock coat with deep back pleats from the 1830s.

C.  The Justaucorps, a French coat from the early 18th century.

If you chose C, you’re correct! The Justaucorps, an excessively pleated, stiffened, and decorated coat of French origin,  worn during the late 17th and early 18th century period when aristocratic men were at their fanciest and most extravagant. This period for well-to-do men was completely over-the-top, putting women’s costume to shame in Europe.

This coat was collarless and heavily trimmed in  ribbon, braid, and embroidery, and covered with dozens buttons connecting the back skirts, a line in front to fasten the coat, and useless buttons adorned the pocket flaps. The enormous cuffs, running the length the wrist to the elbow, into place on the “pagoda” sleeve.

This heavily-adorned, deeply-pleated coat topped a long, stiffened, skirted sleeveless waistcoat – the first three-piece suit! Shirts made of linen or silk had showy lace cuffs, worn with a loosely knotted 7 -8′ long neck cloth (forerunner of the tie).  Sometimes a sash tied around the waist. Breeches and hose  covered the trunk and on the gent’s feet were heeled shoes or boots with red soles and heels. Men wore long, curly wigs and carried tricorne hats (with three points) under their arms because the tall, curly wigs prevented the hat from sitting firmly on the head.

Men carried ribboned walking sticks and took to wearing fur muffs to keep their hands warm in cold weather, often with little pockets inside to carry their snuff boxes. Colours of the period were bright – yellow, green, and red, getting away from the dark, dull colours of the Commonwealth era.

Both men and women painted their faces with powdered lead and/or arsenic to make their skin white, and applied rouge and lipstick – sometimes a false beauty spot was applied to the face for ornamentation and in some cases, to cover facial scars from ailments like small pox. Whitening the skin signified the class of the wearer – the aristocracy didn’t work / didn’t outside where his skin would have become darkened by the sun’s rays. However, a pristine, lily-white face didn’t come without a price.

Although this era was known as the Age of Enlightenment, most fashionable men and women poisoned themselves with red and white lead make-up and powder.  The make-up they used caused the eyes to swell and become inflamed, attacked the enamel on the teeth and changed the texture of the skin causing it to blacken, it was also not uncommon to suffer baldness… It was known that heavy use of lead could cause death. (Source.)

The simple two-button suit that modern men wear is an extremely boiled-down version of the grossly elaborate 300-year old suit that required assistance to put on. Attendants dressed the gentry in coats and waistcoats made of heavy satin, silk, and velvets which I imagine must have weighed a ton and no doubt affected the joints of the wearer.

In the modern era, we might have our wardrobe problems, though they’re miniscule compared to the lengths that men of the early 18th century went to in showing themselves and their wealth off. The excessiveness of this period is a shining example of the human ego knowing no bounds.

Note – Immediately following this post, In the Key of He is scaling back posts to release every two weeks.

Historical whiskers: Van Dykes and goatees

Flemish painter, Anthony Van Dyke, originator of the Van Dyke whisker style.

If you lived through the 90s and were old enough to grow facial hair, chances are, you wore a wrap-around mustache/beard combination and you probably called it a goatee. You might be shocked to know that in the modern era, this facial hair style, mistakenly called a goatee, is actually a 400 year old Flemish (Dutch) style called a Van Dyke.

Author, Victoria Sherrow, explains both types of facial hair in her historical study of appearance in For Appearance’s Sake:

Goatees are tufts of hair on the chin, trimmed to look like the beard of a male goat, which give them their name.

Some men wear a mustache along with this type of beard. Variations of this look include the Van Dyke beard, which was named for seventeenth-century Flemish artist Anthony Van Dyke (1599 – 1641), whose portraits showed men wearing goatees.

Men like King Charles I of England. Charles usually sported a long chin beard and mustache combo, and commissioned many Van Dyke portraits. Shown here,  Charles I from Three Angles by Van Dyke, was created  as a guide for Italian sculptor, Bernini, commissioned by Pope Urban VIII to make the bust of the king. (Bernini is the famous sculptor of the period who did breathtaking work with marble and created such pieces as The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, David, and Apollo and Daphne. See images of his work here.)

This style comes in many forms from the complete, solid wrap-around, to various detached mustache and chin beard combinations of various shapes and styles that go in and out of fashion. During the Grunge period of the 90s, for example, every guy I knew who could grow a beard wore a closed Van Dyke (but called it a goatee).

The great musicians of the period wore them well – Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, and sometimes Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder. The Van Dyke is a strong characteristic feature of the 90s and it was a good look at the time, but that was 20 years ago (!). Gents, if you haven’t changed your facial hair since 1994, I strongly suggest you modernize and shave off or reshape your whiskers – there are many variations of the mustache-chin beard style and lots of style experimentation to do that won’t make you look like you’re clinging to your youth.

The face is like a canvas; women change their looks by applying cosmetics, men by shaving, growing, and shaping their beards.

Heavy Van Dyke fans

Founding Pantera guitarist, the late Dimebag Darrell.

Pantera's Vinnie Paul

Metal musicians seem to like the Van Dyke, and lots of rockers come to mind. The two different Van Dyke styles shown here are worn by Pantera members: guitarist, Dimebag Darrell, wore a long mustache, grew his chin beard out and dyed it red. Ian Scott, the guitarist from Anthrax, also has a long chin beard that he sometimes colours red (not sure which came first), but he wears it alone without a ‘stache. He also shaves his head which makes his goatee more prominent and obvious.

Darrell’s brother and drummer, Vinnie Paul, wears a closed Van Dyke style with fancy chops. Shown here, his cool three-section chop sets off his Van Dyke.

Goatee

Pan, the ancient Greek deity of the woods, shepherds, and flocks, among other things.

The goatee proper, is simply chin whiskers, as Sherrow says, so-called because of its similarity to the chin hair of the billy-goat. The origin of goatee beards is thought to have originated in ancient Greece, where Pan, god of the woods, of creativity, music, poetry, and sexuality, is usually depicted wearing a chin beard.

Over time, this image of a goatee-d deity morphed into an image of the occult, known as Baphomet, illustrated in Eliphas Levi”s Dogmas and Rituals in High Magic (below). According to Secret Arcana, a website devoted to occult symbolism, Baphomet is symbolic of alchemy “where separate and opposing forces are united in perfect equilibrium to generate Astral Light.”

This Baphomet image has become synonymous with Satan and associated with sin and  darkness. If one thinks along extreme lines and decides to split the world into good and bad, embracing the dark, bad side is, in a sense, a way to thumb one’s nose at the “good” establishment. Not surprisingly, many rock and rollers have embraced the bad-ass, bad-boy image associated with darkness and the rebellion against the mundane.

Metallica's James Hetfield

Metal musicians who favour the goatee include Metallica singer and guitarist, James Hetfield, who sometimes wears a long, two-piece goatee, and bassist and vocalist for Slayer, Tom Araya, favours a long one-piece goatee.

Tom Araya of Slayer (Photograph by Steve Appleford)

Abe Lincoln was known to sport a goatee, as did the beatnicks of the 1950s. When Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher, Joel Hanrahan, shaved off his chin beard, it was an event – read this hilarious tribute to Hanrahan’s dead goatee here. And let’s not forget the most famous cartoon goatee of them all, the chin beard of Norville “Shaggy” Rogers, slacker and suspected stoner on Scooby-Doo.

For this post, it was simply my intention to clarify the Van Dyke and the goatee confusion, but what I found in the research is amazing to me. The historical, artistic, and occult lore of facial hair runs deeper than I realized and I am led to one conclusion: no matter how much things change, the more they stay the same.

The black dandy

During February, we looked at black America during the rock and roll period, focusing on music and style. We watched black expression and black identity blossom, echoing the civil rights movement as black people demanded more rights, freedom, and respect. This post is a follow-up to the Black History month series that will discuss black dandyism.

A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon his physical appearance, showy clothing, refined language, and leisurely hobbies. It is a term that originated in Britain during the late 18th century (think Beau Brummell) and carried on into the 19th (Oscar Wilde and Lord Byron are famous dandies of the period).

French poet, Charles Baudelaire (1821 – 1867) defined the dandy as one who elevates aesthetics to a living religion, and “contrary to what many thoughtless people seem to believe, dandyism is not even an excessive delight in clothes and material elegance. For the perfect dandy, these things are no more than the symbol of the aristocratic superiority of his mind.” (source)

In another age, philosopher, Albert Camus (1913-1960), had his own opinion about dandies, saying, “The dandy creates his own unity by aesthetic means. But it is an aesthetic of negation. “To live and die before a mirror”: that according to Baudelaire, was the dandy’s slogan. It is indeed a coherent slogan. The dandy is, by occupation, always in opposition. He can only exist by defiance.”

Between these two, dandyism comes across as snobbery and aesthetic spite. But does dandyism still exist, and if it does, what does it look like?

Dandy lions

There is a movement among some urban African-American men who embrace 18th century dandyism and mix it with their African roots. These “dandy lions” express a modern version of black dandyism.

Shantrelle P. Lewis, curator for the photography and film exhibit, “Dandy Lion: Articulating a Re(de)fined Black Masculine Identity,” explains to The Root DC, the African-American blog on the Washington Post site, that a “dandy lion” is “a new statement on black masculinity within a contemporary context. He is a man of elegance, an individual who remixes a Victorian era fashion and aesthetic with traditional African sensibilities and swagger.” Have a look at some examples of dandy lions here to get a sense of their wonderful styles here.

Ms Lewis says that the universal image of a black male is negative and not reaffirming, and there needs to be more expressions of black masculinity available.

You don’t have to be thug or an athlete or dress like everyone else with the sagging pants, exposed boxers and oversized white tees to be a man. Express creativity and individuality. That’s what dandy lions seek to express, especially to a young generation that’s also paying tribute to the older generation.

It’s interesting that this dandy movement, now over 200 years old, has changed with the times and been embraced by new generations of people. Its current resurgence comes at a time when world economies are sluggish and the brightly-coloured suits, flashy socks, and silk hankies seem ironic, but as Ms Lewis points out, a popular trend is to dress well in inexpensive vintage clothes. Modern dandyism borrows from the past to create a new expression of the present.

“Younger men who are opting out of the traditional form of hip-hop fashion are creating a new expression of hip-hop aesthetic,” she says.

Ghetto Rags

I have been a fan of Big Rude Jake, a fantastic Toronto swing band, for many years and I was lucky enough to be a member of the audience for their recently recorded live album. For that show, Jake wore a long, flashy 3-piece suit,  gooey with fabric, and oozing with style. When I asked him about it, Jake told me that when he tours the U.S., he likes to shop in men’s apparel stores that cater to the black community, and that’s where it came from.

Jake in "ghetto rags".

He tells me that these shops are frequented mostly by poor and working class black families, and the clothes that these shops carry are known as “ghetto rags”.

“The fabric on these suits are not the best material,” he says, “but the styles are always wild and the colours are bright and fun. Same with the shirts, socks, and shoes.  There is a strong retro feel to the designs, and a kind of cool, jaunty elegance. The feedback I get when I wear one of these numbers is alway positive. People rave about them!”

One thing I learned from doing the Black History month series is that the civil rights movement had one goal: freedom, and this came in many forms. Part of the freedom people worked for was freedom of expression through music and through style, and this molded African-American identity. During the 60s and 70s, African-Americans embraced their African heritage through style, bright colour, and clothing, and the modern black dandy, in his fancy suits in vivid colours, also reflects an African influence.

Jake makes an interesting point in that “Wealthier black people often adopt the dreary fashion statements of the dominant white culture, which, these days, tends to favour drab colours over sharpness and pizzazz.”

He says that the truly impoverished make an effort to look glamourous with bright colours and fancy suits when the occasion calls for it. In many ways, this is about self and cultural respect, and it’s no surprise that the people most amazed by Jake’s brilliant stage clothes are white people. “They just never get to see a man in a purple double-breasted suit!”

Homophobia

When people think of dandyism, Oscar Wilde may come to mind. Wilde was a brilliant author and playwright of the 19th century who loved to dress in fancy clothing and happened to carry on an affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, but his dandyism and his affair with Bosie, as Wilde called him, is purely coincidental.

Through her exhibition, Ms Lewis confronts the homophobia that exists in the African-American community because “many people attribute dandyism with sexuality and homosexuality. Just because someone dresses well doesn’t mean they are gay, and just because someone is gay doesn’t mean they dress well.”

The dandy lion exhibition seeks to confront homophobia, breaking any links between taking pride in oneself and sexual orientation (much like the modern urban metrosexuals who despite their good taste in clothing, culture, wines, and grooming products, are straight and proud of it).

“All it takes sometimes is exposure to an idea to be picked up and embraced by young people,” Ms Lewis says.

A range of role models is absolutely to the benefit of black youth throughout the US, challenging the sweeping negative stereotypes of black men so often supported and sustained by the US media. With any luck, the modern dandies, the dandy lions, are breaking that mold and offering a more positive cultural identity to black men in the US and abroad.

Are you interested in looking dandy yourself? Check out Pimpernel Clothing and the Gentleman’s Emporium for Victorian-inspired clothing.

Black history month: Black Power

It’s February, the month where we celebrate the lives and times of African-Americans that have changed the historical landscape. During February, In the Key of He will recognize some of the greatest and most stylish black musicians of the modern era.

Last week, we discussed the champions of Berry Gordy’s Motown Records in their matching skinny suits, glorious harmonies, and tight choreography. This week, we’ll have a look at conditions that shaped the style of this period of social turbulence that turned everything upside down and inside out.

The Black Power movement of the late 60s raised social and cultural awareness and motivated people to change. With a new consciousness of who they could be as a people and what kind of role they could play in society, African-Americans got organized and started talking, supporting leaders who helped spread the message of freedom. The movement was political, and as it goes with any political movement, ideas about what “Black Power” was and how to achieve it splintered and collected in opposite corners – the non-violent movement associated with Dr. King on one side, and the armed and angry Black Panther Party on the other.

Stokely Carmichael, an organizer of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), in line with the NAACP  (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and Dr. King’s stance on peaceful protest, civil disobedience, and integration, coined the “Black Power” phrase, describing it as “black people coming together to form a political force and either electing representatives or forcing their representatives to speak their needs.”

This side of Black Power sang We Shall Overcome in solidarity with all people, supporting full integration of non-whites into the then-segregated society.

The other side of Black Power supported conscious segregation from whites, the “oppressors” of blacks. Some argue that the Black Panthers responded with violence to the violence that they experienced in their neighbourhoods at the hands of white police officers. Black Panther spokesman, Eldridge Cleaver said, ”…these racist Gestapo pigs [the police] have to stop brutalizing our community or we’re going to take up guns, we’re going to drive them out.”

Panther members were out to protect their community. They fashioned themselves as their own Black Panther army in black berets and hip-length black leather coats, and toted guns.  Their first platform point reads, ”We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our black and oppressed communities. We believe that Black and oppressed people will not be free until we are able to determine our destinies in our own communities ourselves, by fully controlling all the institutions which exist in our communities.” (source)

In between these two extremes was every other political opinion, but everyone had freedom and the right to their own identity in common. In 1966, Carmichael said, “We must wage a psychological battle… for black people to define themselves as they see fit, and organize themselves as they see fit.”

And so began a new self-appointed black identity in the United States.

The echo of society

African Kente cloth

The prescribed formality of the early 60s was abandoned for freedom of movement, expression, and identity, especially in Black America, where the shape of beauty, sculpted by white hands, was being smashed apart. In black America, African-Americans began to look like African-Americans – men began to abandon hair straighteners to make them blend into a white society (read about the “conk” in the first post of this series), opting instead for the natural afro – big, beautiful, and quintessentially black. Traditional African garments like flowing caftans were popular and African textiles like woven cotton Kenta cloth from Ghana were worn with pride.

In New Day in Babylon: The Black Power Movement and American Culture, 1965-1975, William Van DeBurg explains clothing style in the 1960s and 70s as an expression of Black Power. “Though many of the popular trends of the movement remained confined to the decade, the movement redefined standards of beauty that were historically influenced by Whites and instead celebrated a natural “blackness.””

As Stokely Carmichael said in 1966, “We have to stop being ashamed of being black. A broad nose, thick lip and nappy hair is us and we are going to call that beautiful whether they like it or not.”

As the civil rights movement settled in and a black aesthetic took root, black art, sport, and music became more political. The poetry and theatre of Amiri Baraka, Black Power salutes at the 1968 Olympics, and the black anthems like James Brown’s “Say It Loud (I’m Black and I’m Proud) continued to inspire Black America and lead the people towards freedom. This gave recording artists loud and lucrative voices, giving them better control of their public image and their artistic craft.

Dr. Gregg Akkerman, professor of Jazz at the University of South Carolina Upstate explains in his Youtube lecture series that Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder were among the first musicians who broke away from Motown’s artistic and commercial control:

Stevie Wonder in corn rows, bracelets, and caftan, 1972.

“Stevie Wonder renegotiated his contract with Motown to get complete artistic control over his music, and this was a big thing for Berry Gordy to hand over. He created music that addressed real-life black issues but crossed over pretty well to white audiences… He broke away from Gordy’s control of using songs written by Gordy’s songwriters and playing with his house band, only to develop a sound that had never been heard before  - Stevie wrote the songs, sang the songs, and played all of the instruments on his early albums.”

In the 70s, Marvin ditched the formality of the suit and took on the ease and playfulness of the 70s, getting funky here.

Like Stevie, Marvin Gaye incorporated his own African-American opinion into his music, giving us 1971′s wildly popular “What’s Going On?” album. Interestingly, this album was released on Motown’s subsidiary label, Tamla – Gordy was sure the record would nose-dive. It was Marvin’s first self-produced record, an early concept album with songs running together, told from the point of view of a Vietnam war vet, coming home to injustice and suffering (Marvin’s brother served in the US army in Vietnam for three years). It is the record that gave us wonderful and emotional songs like “Mercy, Mercy Me” and “What’s Going On”.

Both of these artists experienced the restrictions of segregation and artistic control in their early careers, only to work toward the common goal of freedom and an African-American self-appointed cultural identity. Through music, they broke through racism and oppression and challenged artistic boundaries. Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye went from the restrictive “white” standards of neat suits and cuff links to a full transformation that embraced their African past and symbolized the magnificent strides that the Black Power movement took.

Black history month: Motown

It’s February, the month where we celebrate the lives and times of African-Americans that have changed the historical landscape. During February, In the Key of He will recognize some of the greatest and most stylish black musicians of the modern era.

This week, we look at  Motown soul artists of the 60s.

The Isley Brothers

The early 60s in the U.S. were about the uniformity and conformity that carried over from the 50s when the country was rebuilding after WWII. This period shaped the modern social world; it was a time of questioning that generated enormous social change, an era of movements that took shape and demanded equal rights for all. During that time, the United States was steeped in racial segregation. Berry Gordy, a young musical entrepreneur from Detroit “worked to create a sound and image that would appeal to all and encourage integration.” (Mus Ecology)

Arriving at the height of the civil rights movement, Motown was a black-owned, black-centered business that gave white America something they just could not get enough of — joyous, sad, romantic, mad, groovin’, movin’ music.

-Time

My favourite music of all is soul music. Soul is a deep down groove that makes me move; it’s very happy, fun, and uplifting (I defy the pharma companies and suggest a daily dose of soul instead of Prozac!). I like to watch old clips of the Motown groups to see the sharp, skinny shapes of the period in glorious colour moving to tight, groovy choreography.

Take the Isley Brothers for example – a goofy looking bunch of guys from Cincinnati who produced some of the best soul of the 60s. In the early days, Kelly, Rudy, and Ronnie wore the flashy, colourful matching suits very common to this period, and sang deeply impassioned songs (their roots are in gospel choirs). The Isleys are delightful to watch because they look like they’re having so much fun! Check it out.

Trivia: The Isley Brothers recorded Twist & Shout (1962) before the Beatles did (1963).

The Miracles

The Miracles were another of the wonderful uniformed 60s groups that wove choreography into their harmonies and came out with countless hits for the Motown label.

The Miracles original line up consisted of Smokey Robinson, Ronald White, Pete Moore, Bobby Rogers, and one woman – how many of you knew this? Claudette Rogers was actually Smokey Robinson’s wife until they split in the mid-80s. Claudette performed with the Miracles between 1957 and 1964, though she continued to record with them until the early 70s. According to the Classic Motown site, Claudette was the inspiration for Robinson’s “My Girl”, made famous by The Temptations, and Berry Gordy named Claudette the “First Lady of Motown”.

Among the research I looked at for this post, I came across the story about how William “Smokey” Robinson got his nick name: ”When he was 6 or 7, his Uncle Claude christened him “Smokey Joe,” which the young William, a Western-movie enthusiast, at first assumed to be “his cowboy name for me.” Some time later, he learned the deeper significance of his nickname: It derived from smokey, a pejorative term for dark-skinned blacks. “I’m doing this,” his uncle told light-skinned boy, “so you won’t ever forget that you’re black.” (Entertainment Weekly)

Smokey was a prolific songwriter, penning more songs for the Temptations (“The Way You Do The Things You Do”, for example), and a few for Marvin Gaye, ultimately helping to shape the Motown sound. Sweet Smokey has been an enormous inspiration and influence to Motown Records as a song writer, recording artist, and vice-president of Motown Records.

The Temptations

The Temptations, one of the best acts to record on the Motown label are absolutely sensational - look at the gorgeous uniformity of these fabulous skinny teal suits with white trim – they look fantastic! Their choreography added to their cool, highly polished act – Motown’s true gentlemen entertainers.

The Temptations line up changed a lot over the years but consistently produced excellent music for the Motown label. Some Tempations singers “spun off” into successful solo careers. David Ruffin, for example, went on to a record some great songs like “My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)”.  Martha Reeves of Vandellas fame said “Nobody could sing like David Ruffin,” and Marvin Gaye greatly admired him: “[listening to David Ruffin] made me remember that when a lot of women listen to music, they want to feel the power of a real man.” David Ruffin is the bespectacled Temptation who I think made heavy-rimmed eye glasses cool – real men wear specs!

All of the men in these Motown groups wore neat suits, showed a little cuff under their jacket sleeves (with cuff links of course), and punctuated their jackets with colourful pocket squares, sending a message of stylish respect for themselves and their audience.

Another cool thing about these groups is that they wore colour. This was a decade of enormous change on every front and society was in the process of morphing into something that had never been before and as usual, design reflected these changes. Though still restricted to the uniform look of suits in the early 60s, musical groups of the period exploded in brilliant colour. (I’m reading Keith Richard’s autobiography and he says the Rolling Stones are responsible for musical groups ditching the pretty-boy matching suit schtick – more on that next week.) Today, everyone is in black or some other minimal colour like grey. I suppose that’s its own uniform – what a sad comment about modern humanity!

The Motown groups of the 60s bridged the social divide between black and white, bringing everyone together with solid grooves, gorgeous harmonies, and wonderful visuals. I’m going to leave you with a short video of the Temptations’ “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg” (David Ruffin on lead vocal). Like all of the Motown brothers, The Temptations are neat, sharp, and detailed – note the pocket squares, oh, and dig the fantastic yellow suits and kooky shirt collars – outta sight!

Black history month: birth of the cool

It’s February, the month where we celebrate the lives and times of  African-Americans that have changed the historical landscape. For the next four weeks, In the Key of He will recognize some of the greatest and most stylish black musicians of the modern era.

This week, we begin at the beginning: jazz.

Nat King Cole was a very stylish performer with a smooth, deep voice. He wrapped himself in suave style, wearing sleek, structured suits of the period, cuff links, and always a hankie in his breast pocket.

Nat "King" Cole in houndstooth check.

A true gentleman entertainer and the first African-American to host his own television program, The Nat “King” Cole Show. He wore thin ties, cool cardigans, and short-brimmed hats, and he did the best rendition of “Route 66″ anywhere.

Askmen.com says “…this style icon understood the art of fine masculine dressing, but he also knew how to carry himself so that he wore his clothes rather than the other way around.” The site explains “the soulful crooner’s penchant for polished looks included cropped haircuts and clean shaves.”

Cropped haircuts, eh? The writer of this piece misses a very important grooming practice by African-American men from the 1920s to the 60s – the “conk”.

Conks were a method of straightening kinky hair with lye as the active ingredient. Lye is a corrosive alkaline, also known as “caustic soda”, and it can eat through skin. Lye was mixed with eggs and potatoes and applied to the hair which burned the scalp, but the longer as you could stand it, the straighter your hair would be.

I first read about a conk years ago when I read the Autobiography of Malcolm X. Mr. X explains the experience and the social significance of his first conk:

“This was my first really big step toward self-degradation: when I endured all of that pain, literally burning my flesh to have it look like a white man’s hair. I had joined that multitude of Negro men and women in America who are brainwashed into believing that the black people are “inferior”—and white people “superior”— that they will even violate and mutilate their God-created bodies to try to look “pretty” by white standards.

“The ironic thing is that I have never heard any woman, white or black, express any admiration for a conk. Of course, any white woman with a black man isn’t thinking about his hair. But I don’t see how on earth a black woman with any race pride could walk down the street with any black man wearing a conk — the emblem of his shame that he is black.”

Nat was made to carefully balance his career and indeed “suffered the indignity of being “whited up” for some of his TV performances, to make him more “accessible” to a white audience,” according to PBS. A sad reality of his times, but conks aside, it is truly delightful to watch Nat sing because when he does, it’s clear how much he loves to.

Watch this delightful Technicolor clip of Nat in a wonderful blue shark skin suit with a white shirt, thin black tie, and a linen hankie – a perfect picture of the 50s. (Tailoring note – Nat’s sleeves should be longer. Just saying.)

Our second African-American exuding great style is one of the coolest jazz players of all time, Miles Davis. Miles was a jazz pioneer, he personified cool – so simple, so low-key, dressing in basic, uncluttered pieces punctuated with unique details. He wore turtlenecks with trousers, ascots and scarves with his shirts, Brooks Brothers and custom-made Italian suits, and drove a white Mercedes-Benz.

A style blog I happened upon describes Miles’ style: “…classic dress shirts, unbuttoned just so, and sunglasses lent a fresh air of mid-century cool to the developing jazz scene of the 50s, a genre that had been historically linked to the full-suited look.”

If you take a GQ magazine perspective of the world, Miles has been voted him one of the all-time 20 Black Style Pioneers.

“He exudes that confidence and swagger that was characteristic of many of his peers on the scene, but puts his own twist on everything that was going on at the time. He’s really distinct from everyone on our list… We like that he wasn’t always suited up; he’d go casual, playing with scarves, with polo shirts, with khakis. And he evolved over time in a way you just couldn’t predict.”

And so did his music.

I talked to Jamie Stager, a trombonist and PhD candidate in Musicology about Miles and his musical style. Jamie explained that in the late 1940s, musicians Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, in reaction to the restrictions of swing and popular dance bands, began to create fast, angular melodies that were hard to “get” and certainly difficult to dance to.

“These bebop musicians were the “cats” that spoke in their own secret language, in a code that distanced them from the masses,” Jamie says.

Miles learned and played bebop, but he took it and made it into something else. In 1949, he ushered in a new jazz aesthetic with the recording of Birth of the Cool, a slower and more melodic version of the bebop he was weaned on.

“This new “cool jazz” has more players, it is more orchestrally conceived, more arranged, and there is more “space” in the music,” Jamie says.

Miles’ sound during this period is relaxed, open, and spacious – characteristics that stayed with him during his musical evolution. Miles says so himself: ”I prefer a round sound with no attitude in it, like a round voice with not too much tremolo and not too much bass. Just right in the middle.”

Just right in the middle. Subtle, quiet, understated.

Miles Davis as a man and as a musician is an understatement. Isn’t that what cool is all about?