One of the things that I love about the wonderful slide into autumn and winter is the emergence of wool fabrics and in particular, tweeds. Tweed is a coarsely woven wool fabric, in a plain or twill pattern and it’s the patterns that I like the best – here are some of the tweed fabrics now gracing coats, jackets, skirts and suits at Circa.

Firstly – here are some houndstooths. Houndstooth has been selling very quickly at Circa lately, and this post was inspired by a lovely pair of classic black and white high waisted ’50s pants and a gold lame ’60s straight skirt. I’ve never seen a gold lame houndstooth before! Unfortunately they both sold yesterday so I can’t show them to you now but out there, are sure to be two happy houndstooth loving ladies.

Houndstooth must be the elegant tweed because most of these are ladies garments, from the ’60s, the height of houndstooth’s popularity. The grey one on the right is from a Harris Tweed jacket.

Now, onto the houndstooth’s royal cousin, the Prince of Wales check – originally known as the Glen Urquhart check or Glen plaid for short – it was popularised during the 1930s by Edward VIII when he was the Prince of Wales. These are all from jackets: two mens, two ladies. The fabric is finer for the ladies styles.

Herringbone tweed is a personal favourite of mine: it can be strong or it can be subtle depending on the colours used. The first is a ’60s ladies jacket, the second is a Harris Tweed jacket from the ’50s (note the knotted leather button), the third is a mens coat also from the ’50s and the last is a ladies trench coat from the ’40s, complete with bakelite buttons.

Herringbone tweed apparently gets it’s name from the herring fish skeleton. Not having ever seen one, I’ll take their word on that.

Had enough of tweed yet? Thought you might like some pin stripes – these are all from mens suits, so the fabric is a finer worsted wool than a tweed, and they’re from the ’30s to the late ’70s. Like anything, pin stripes go in and out of fashion and the main eras seem to be the ’30s-’40s and then again in the ’60s-70s. For many of us, they never go out of style.

It’s easy to tell the older suiting fabrics from the newer ones, because as they said in the classics: “feel the quality”. The older ones are thicker and heavier. You know you’re wearing a suit when you wear a pre’60s suit.

As always, you can click on an image to bring it up in full and then click again to see it full size.

Were we still fortunate enough to have him with us, Fred Astaire would be 110 years old today.

A true gentleman and always immaculately dressed, Fred was an entertainer from the old world – a professional dancer from the age of 6, he sang, danced and acted his way into the hearts of movie lovers around the world during the ’30s to the ’70s.

I once saw him on Parkinson: he sat at the piano and pulled out sheets of music handwritten for him by Ira Gershwin. Many of the songs we now consider “standards” were originally written for Fred to sing – “Night and Day” by Cole Porter, “Top Hat” by Irving Berlin and of course the Gershwin brothers with “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” and others.

We play a lot of Fred’s music at Circa – not bad for a man who claimed that he “couldn’t sing”. By the back door is a life-sized poster of Fred and Ginger Rogers. Every morning I open up, I meet his gleaming eye and glance at Ginger, reclining in his arms – she looks like the luckiest woman in the world. Yep, they sure don’t make them like they used to.

Happy birthday Fred!

Fred and Ginger: Too Hot to Handle (1935).

Fred: Puttin’ On the Ritz (Blue Skies 1946).

At Circa, we love our tweeds and the stylish chaps who wear them – so for like minded folk, may I present the London Tweed Run, held in a suitably cold English January.

Now why can’t we have wonderful events like this here? Trust the Brits to start something like this. Here are the details taken from the London Fixed-Gear and Single Speed:

Ladies. Gentlemen. Announcing the first LFGSS Winter Dress Club Run: a social ride with a bit of style.

Be sure to dress with a bit of panache, there will be prizes awarded.
Tally ho!

Circa’s menswear and a nice frilly blouse worn Dandy style, was highlighted recently in an article in Cherrie Mag:

Photos courtesy Cherrie Magazine.

Bianca Christoff writes:
It is simply not necessary to spend a fortune on looking fantastic if you have the right awareness of style, rather than fashion. With an ever increasing demand by the consumer, as well as designers, to create ethically, it is no surprise that the resurgence of vintage and recycled clothing is more evident now than ever before.

For the style conscious, vintage and second-hand clothing stores are quickly becoming the Mecca of fashion shopping.

You can read the full article here.