Charlie Chaplin, 1924, the image of effortless style.
The operative word is effortless.
In truth, Chaplin’s style was only achieved through the superlative tailoring of the English Savile Row firm, Anderson & Sheppard.
As the new book, Anderson & Sheppard: A Style is Born, edited by Graydon Carter and Cullen Murphy, makes clear, the venerable British tailors shunned actors and other show-biz types as vulgarians. But soon enough, the vast wealth of Hollywood’s elite broke down the walls of class snobbery and a who’s who of male Hollywood royalty—more apt to pay their bills than the increasingly impoverished British aristocracy—became life-long Anderson & Sheppard clients.
Here are just a few of the Hollywood males who beat a path to No. 30 Savile Row for the painstaking, detailed craftmanship of this exclusive firm.
An early client, Rudolph Valentino spent a fortune on exotic cars and even more on his wardrobe.
One of the best dressed men of his generation, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., nearly outshines his wife Joan Crawford in sartorial spleandor.
Gary Cooper's aw shucks image was bolstered by the superlative Anderson & Sheppard tailors whose soft drape complimented Cooper's six-foot three-inch frame. Cooper's reference to A&S—a requirement—was the Countess di Frasso, his lover, who, after Coop, moved on to Bugsy Siegel.
Fred Astaire field-tested his clothing right in the A&S shop. The dancer would slip on his dancing shoes and then bust a few elegant if strenuous moves. If the new suit did not permit ease of movement, and if the collar did not lie perfectly flat even under the highest leaps, Astaire would send it back for alterations.
The great director Victor Fleming, a man's man who was a role model for Douglas Fairbanks Sr., and Clark Gable, looks splendid in his A&S jacket and trousers, as he directs Vivien Leigh on the set of “Gone With the Wind.” Fleming got fed up with Leigh's constant demands for rewrites and told her to take the script and shove it up her you know what.
Of course, the most elegant man in Hollywood, Cary Grant, was a devoted A&S client. With Rosalind Russell in 1942, Grant wears a beautiful and understated A&S pinstripe. Notice that the suit does not wear him.
Anderson & Sheppard were and are exclusively men's tailors. But Marlene Dietrich was having none of that and convinced her lover of the moment, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., to blaze a path to A&S as her reference. After a few brandies, the stiff-lipped British tailors agreed to work with Dietrich—as long as she ordered men's suits. Which is just what she did.
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a well-tailored and inspirational Shabbat.
Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
6 Comments
Sigh…it’s very true. Tom and Lorenzo are forever despairing at the sloppy look of most men’s suits on the red carpet. A man in a well-fitted, exquisitely tailored suit will always look incredibly handsome. It’s a tradition very much still alive amongst people with strong Anglophilic tendencies – my dad spent most of his youth/young life in Britain, and covets nothing more in life than bespoke suits and shirts. A friend’s husband (Malaysian) got a bespoke suit for his wedding, and it looked so dashing. As my boyfriend remarked to me as we watched Downton Abbey, “we look positively heathen in comparison.” While I’m not really a proponent of bringing back three outfit changes a day, there is something to be said for treating occasions with the dignity of dress they deserve. Sadly, even at 26, I find myself often overdressed for a nice event. I love dressing up and looking elegant, but it seems to be a dying attribute.
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Maya:
I was a big fan of the first season of Downton Abbey. The clothing was gloriously over-the-top but in service to a great script. This second season is awful, the plot strands are forced and almost comical. But the clothing is still great and the sole reason Karen and I continue to watch.
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What has always amused me is seeing some celebrity today walking on to Leno or Letterman wearing jeans, a T Shirt and maybe a jacket. Heck, I am better dressed than that and I am by no means a clothes horse.
Sheppard tailors whose soft drape complimented Cooper’s six-foot three-inch frame. Cooper’s reference to A&S—a requirement—was the Countess di Frasso, his lover, who, after Coop, moved on to Bugsy Siegel.
Don’t know if you have heard the interview with one of George Raft’s family in the ICONs interviews but something interesting was said in re: Gary Cooper and a Gangster’s girl friend.
He never mentioned who the gangster – or the girl friend – was but apparently Cooper was seeing the girlfriend of one and George Raft, who apparently had some unsavory connections, heard from one of his connections that Cooper was going to be on a slab very soon.
Raft apparently had a talk with Cooper and at least according to the relative, probably saved Cooper’s life.
I wonder if the lady in question was the Countess di Frasso .
Who would you say were the best-dressed actor and actress ihn classic Hollywood? My limited knowledge – but I would vote for Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.
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Best dressed in Hollywood?
Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, Adolph Menjou, Ronald Coman, Fred Astaire, Douglas Fairbank, Jr., the list is long. Hard to pick out a best. As for women, Lilyan Tashman was a style setter and Dietrich always elicited heavy sighs form men and women.
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These men (and woman) look like they were born to wear those suits but of course there was a lot of effort to get the perfect fit and look. And a classic look will always be classic. Fleming could walk into a luncheon at the country club and fit right in today. Cary Grant would be the best dressed man at any cocktail party of the last or next century.
Few of the men on the red carpet at the Golden Globes looked as good in their tuxedos as these men and Dietrich did in their suits. I’m sure the suits are not cheap but they make the wearer look like a million bucks. And for an industry town like Hollywood a look can easily be worth millions.
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Johnny:
Except for George Clooney, who wears classic and beautifully cut suits, almost all the men on today’s red carpet look like the suits are wearing them.
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