Tom Stubbs - Thomas Stubbs

THE SHARPENER
Tom Stubbs
à la mod
Playful interpretations of the
summer parka are giving 1960s
style new edge, says Tom Stubbs
l This spring is the fourth season
of The Gigi, the menswear label
founded by brothers Pierluigi (Gigi)
and Mario Boglioli after they sold their
eponymous label. Cracking pieces for
summer include the Ziggy doublebreasted blazer (£510, pictured right),
an unstructured take on a naval jacket
in striped cotton piqué or muted
seersucker; the Shedir seersucker shirt
(£165) in cream with black polka dots,
or in deep washed blue; and the Devon
linen/cotton trousers (£230, pictured
right). A brand worth discovering.
+309-517 685; www.ieye.it/thegigi and
see Trunk, 8 Chiltern St, London W1 (0207486 2357; www.trunkclothiers.com).
I
ride a GS scooter with my hair cut
neat. Wear my wartime coat in
the wind and sleet,” sang Roger
Daltrey in The Who’s 1973 hit
I’ve Had Enough, a track that later
appeared in the band’s mod opera
Quadrophenia. By wartime coat,
Daltrey was referring to an item of army
surplus kit: the US Army M1951 fishtail
parka with a drawstring waist and hood
that was adopted by the early-1960s
mod movement, being ideal for
keeping both warm and dry(ish) while
riding scooters and protecting their
precious Italian-style mohair tailoring.
While websites dedicated to M1951s
now see mint-condition examples,
complete with fur trim and silk lining,
change hands for in excess of £500,
new takes on the classic are fuelling a
cool summer trend.
Some, like Margaret Howell’s olive and
navy Ventile parkas (£875), with flank
pockets (just where the drawstring toggles
Clockwise from left:
Joseph cotton poplin
Camden parka, £595.
Brioni nylon parka, £1,820.
Corneliani cotton/nylon
trench, £2,300. Nudie Jeans
nylon Elliot parka, £230
Japanese mills are making nylons
to rival their mastery of denim
Clockwise from above left:
Berluti cotton/linen parka,
£3,100. E Tautz wool/nylon
parka, £995. Phil Daniels in
Quadrophenia. Christopher
Raeburn cotton MMAC
mac, £395. Z Zegna nylon
kite parka, £515
example, Nudie Jeans’s Elliot parka
in muted camouflage (£270), or
special forces-style black Japanese
nylon (£230, pictured far right),
which has a matte, waxy quality.
Other über-light fabrics include
parachute-like materials, which evoke
1980s-era Katharine Hamnett tops.
Joseph’s midnight-blue or optic-white
drawstring Camden parkas (£595,
pictured right of centre) come in
almost papery cotton-poplins, giving a
new-age feel to the mod look. Brioni’s
extraordinary high-tech nylon parkas
(£1,820, pictured second from top far
right) in aqua, jade or grey (some with
dashes of orange), with asymmetric
panels and brushstroke-like markings,
have a diaphanous membrane quality,
while Z Zegna’s pale-grey kite parka
(£515, pictured far left) in performance
nylon has a sports feel.
At E Tautz the navy or cherry summer
parka (£995, pictured second from top
far left) comes in Loro Piana’s Rain
System fabric, a high-tech wool/nylon
mix that drapes beautifully, cinches in at
howtospendit.com
the back to accentuate the fishtail and
has a great swing to it. The poppers, zip,
buttons and drawstring toggles are all
in futuristic-looking polished steel.
This is a really special remodelling
of the original parka.
While E Tautz keeps most of the
original features, some designers have
pared back or tweaked the format. Take
Corneliani, which has an extra-long,
muted-cornflower cotton/nylon trench
(£2,300, pictured top far right) with no
hood; or rejuvenated brand Pal Zileri,
which has a luxury parka (£846) in
graphic maroon jacquard nylon.
Further takes on parkas mix in
elements from other classic outerwear,
such as Berluti’s navy cotton/linen
parka (£3,100, pictured top far left),
which borrows from sports jackets
with nubuck button stands and pocket
trims and a lining with taped seams,
and from trenches with a storm yolk
on the back. Even Sting’s character
from Quadrophenia, Ace Face, might
have been tempted to give up his black
leather trench for that. ✦
howtospendit.com
l Orlebar Brown’s photo-printed swim shorts of beach and summery scenes
have been so popular that this month the brand is launching a new SnapShorts
service, which allows buyers to feature their own photos on three styles of
shorts – the long-cut Dane, mid-length Bulldog or short Setter (example
pictured above, £395) – using the SnapShort app. Delivery time is three weeks.
206 Westbourne Grove, London W1 (020-3441 6289; www.orlebarbrown.co.uk).
PARKA LIFE
Berluti, 43 Conduit St, London W1 (020-7437
1740; www.berluti.com). Brioni, 32 Bruton St,
London W1 (020-7491 2101; www.brioni.co.uk).
Christopher Raeburn, 020-3609 8449; www.
christopherraeburn.co.uk and see Selfridges.
Corneliani, 131 New Bond St, London W1 (0207493 7921; www.corneliani.com). E Tautz, 71
Duke St, London W1 (020-7629 8809; www.
etautz.com). Joseph, 2 Savile Row, London W1
(020-7439 8444; www.joseph-fashion.com).
Margaret Howell, 34 Wigmore St, London W1
(020-7009 9009; www.margarethowell.co.uk).
Nudie Jeans, 29 D’Arblay St, London W1 (0207494 3655; www.nudiejeans.com). Pal Zileri,
125 New Bond St, London W1 (020-7493 9711;
www.palzileri.com). Selfridges, 400 Oxford St,
London W1 (0800-123 400; www.selfridges.com).
Z Zegna, 124-125 New Bond St, London W1 (0207495 8260; www.zegna.com).
QUADROPHENIA (1979), © THE KOBAL COLLECTION/CURBISHLEY-BAIRD
cinch in) and steel zips and poppers,
are faithful in design to the original
M1951, but I’m particularly taken by
the fresh interpretations – from those
in futuristic super-light fabrics to
military-inspired formal cuts.
Christopher Raeburn’s collections
are always military in feel, and
experimentations with parkas in his
Remade collection include a lime
ultra-lightweight mac version (£395,
pictured near right) in Korean cotton.
Japanese mills are now making
really top-notch nylons – to rival their
mastery of denim – which are helping
give parkas a new edge. Take, for
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OUT AND ABOUT
l Cutting-edge retailer Hostem
has moved round the corner from
east London’s hip Redchurch Street
to a former art gallery on Old Nichol
Street, where clothes hang from an
oversized picture frame. Alongside
established brands such as Rick
Owens and Yohji Yamamoto are some
emerging labels with covetable
pieces: the forest-green, rough-edged
Wysman jacket (£1,275) and trousers
(£485) by Monad; Nicholas Daley’s
tailored workwear in Halley Stevens
cotton (jacket, £385, trousers, £355,
and waistcoat, £230, pictured left);
Jeffrey Jonathan Smith organic cotton
shirts (£280); and handwoven silk
scarves (£485) by Atelier Bâba.
28 Old Nichol St, London E2 (0207739 9733; www.hostem.co.uk).
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