A Stab at Good Grooming and the Fantastic Sapeurs of the Congo!

I almost forgot about this commercial from the Superbowl (there are so many things I tried to forget....) but this is a good post on it over at dandyism.net. The answer is obvious though. Andre. The other two guys look a bit unsavory. But then again, I love a man in a boater hat. You wish I was kidding.


Ok, maybe not every guy in a boater...

I very much approve of anything that gets a chap's face furniture a little neater, although caution must be used to ensure that it doesn't get too thinned-out. Not many people can pull off a pencil mustache.

Also, this article about Les Sapeurs in the Congo is pretty interesting, although I found the implication that normal dandyism does not emphasize manners to be a bit strange. From revolutionaries like the Chaps to ordinary (but stylish) men like Tim Gunn who don't really consider themselves dandies, manners are a big part of being a proper man. Anyway, the gentlemen in the 7th and (especially) 8th pictures in the article look fantastic. Hooray for dandyism! May it sweep the globe.

Here are more pictures! These guys are awesome, and the photo essay tells a bit about their culture as well. They seem like really nice people, as well as stylish. It will start playing music, but it's very pleasant music.

Coming up: 3 (yes 3!) movie reviews.

Jodhpurs: the Official Trousers of Adventure!

Part One (There will probably be a part two....)

........................................................................................(It's me!)

I love jodhpurs. I have two pairs from eBay, and they are smashing! I do have one thing to point out for anyone selling a pair of these stupendous pants though - measurements. The waist and inseam measurements are obviously important, but they always list the hip measurement (not a problem in jodhpurs) and not the calf measurement (a huge problem). I realize men my height in the first World War and the 1920s (the eras in which my jodhpurs were made) had much thinner calves than me (I have cankles, which is quite annoying) but it would be nice to know if there is enough extra cloth to move the buttons or sew in an extra panel to actually get them closed. Just a tip. Anyway, I love them. They are more comfortable than they look, and I feel amazing all day when I wear them.

Not only do they look cool, and show off a buxom figure, as pointed out by River Song, but they are the official trousers of adventure. It's true. All adventurous activities used to be done in jodhpurs - riding, fighting, flying... not underwater exploring, but pretty much everything else. And one does look extra adventurous in them, even just standing around:

Raoul Lufbery looking quite dashing,

Amelia Earhart looking snazzy as well,

Frank Luke, not looking too happy, because his wingman was killed during that battle, but the wreckage of the balloon behind him is pretty impressive.

Charles Lindbergh, with the Spirit of Saint Louis...

...and working on the engine.

Now, it may be that the adventurousness of these people has more to do with the planes behind them than with their attire, but what about when your adventure goes slightly awry?




Or lions try to nom you?

(ok, so those lions are his pets, but I think that makes Lufbery even more adventurous!)

And, if you needed more proof, here you go:



In part 2, I will demonstrate the fact that any activity, if done wearing jodhpurs, becomes more adventurous. But it will be a while, so back to the randomness for a few posts...

Wikipedia is dead to me.....

....and it's quite sad (and probably temporary - what can I say? I'm an addict). I was trying to look up various hats in order to comment on my brother's blog post. I needed to make sure that my instinct about the appropriate hat to wear with tweeds in the country was correct. I thought it was probably a fedora or a trilby but I wasn't sure if a homburg was actually the one I meant (but homburgs are more formal - like a banker or prime minister might wear). This may not seem very important, but there is always the possibility that some chappish troll might challenge my choice of lid, and an ugly incident like this might occur (ridiculous argument in those comments - akubra my foot. It's obviously a fedora).

Anyway, where does wikipedia come into this story? Well, naturally I looked there first. I searched men's hats, as I have done many times in the past, and eventually came to this "list of headgear". Well, it was a start. I found the hats I wanted, read the pitifully short articles, and then found the answers I needed on artofmanliness.com.

The problem is this: Look at the headings for the list of hats. It starts out by showing all the kinds of hats that aren't worn anymore, then a bit of a list of hats, then more hats that aren't worn anymore (which is a trend that needs to stop). Then it goes into specialty hats. But this is not how wikipedia used to handle hats. Before they had, in almost every entry on men's hats, a discussion of how formal they were, giving good, meaningful comparisons across class, era, setting, and time of day. It was very helpful to know that a homburg is between a top hat and a fedora, but top hats are rarely worn during the day except at weddings and Ascot (morning dress occasions). It was helpful to me to know Morning Dress is the equivalent of White Tie, and Stroller is the equivalaent of Black Tie. But what if one is in the country? In the daytime? The evening? What would one go Bunburying off to a country manor in, while driving a Bentley and guzzling Grey Poupon? (It is awesome that it accepts "Bunburying" as a word without underlining it in red)

Wikipedia used to run down every possible combo. It was lovely, as a writer who likes dandyish characters, to be able to pinpoint the exact level of rakishness I needed. Now it's all dumbed down. Lame. The article for Stroller style still has a bit of what I was looking for.

Hmm. It occurs to me that a tweed flat cap might not be amiss...... What would the 11th Doctor wear? No, never mind - that would be a fez.

Some steampunkery I have been making

So, all of you who have been hanging on my every post have probably been wondering, where is this series on my growing steampunk collection I promised way back when? Something about jodhpurs? Well, the jodhpurs article has spiraled out of control, and needs an entire spring break to get it done. This always happens to me. In the meantime, heres some steampunk stuff I've been working on.

I've been working on top hats for a while, making them the right size for ladies, covering them in luxurious fabrics, etc. My friend, who's a belly dancer, commissioned some for her troupe, and they are quite fancy! This is probably my favorite:

They are fun to wear, and I've finally gotten them to stay put perched elegantly on top of the head. (The secret of how they did it in Victorian time??? Hair Extensions! No kidding. Not for everyday wear, necessarily, but the big fancy hair? Yep. Fake.) They look like this when you wear them:

A couple of weeks ago I made a fascinator too. It was really easy, except for getting the feathers to all point the right way....

Currently, I'm working on a totally new type of hat!!! I'll get pics up soon.

Genuinely Old and Steampunk!

Greetings and salutations, everyone. I've decided to occasionally write a series on here about steampunk clothing that I have. Ideally, I'd like to focus on items that are genuinely old, from the age of steam, but that would make it a very short series, as I have only two such items. So I'll pad it with other random things from my growing collection. Who knows, if I get a real job and eBay fortune smiles on me, I may soon have more actually old steampunky goodness.

For this first installment in the series, I would like to present . . . Cinder Goggles! (circa 1850)

These are the oldest things I have in my house, being older even than my Edison phonograph cylinders! They come from a time when trains did not have windows on all the cars, and they prevented hot cinders from blowing into your eyes. Believe me, when that happens, it is not pleasant. To try it out, take the Durango-Silverton or Cumbres-Toltec railroads, or any of the steam railroads that are scattered around still. It's a truly steampunk experience.

But I digress. I like these goggles because they are small and ladylike. They even came in a handy tin case to slip in your purse. However, they also have a distinct mad science look to

them, as seen here. I want to play with the lighting to get both lenses to glow, but I already love the way the old glass creates a nice even shine with no details like an actual reflection. Out of all the goggles I have, these are my favorites, and the only ones I am not going to modify in any way, except maybe clean up the ends of the string.

Stayed tuned for an article on jodhpurs, the official trousers of adventure!