Whatever happened to white canvas brogues for hot weather wear?

In a recent post I mentioned white leather-soled brogues. This reminded me that years ago I bought a pair of vintage canvas brogues from an antiques market in Chelsea, London (unfortunately they never fitted properly). They were ex-Royal Navy - part of a tropical whites uniform.

Photo Denhams Auctioneers

In these days of grubby Converse shoes and trainers we could reintroduce a bit of summer style by reinventing the canvas leather-soled brogue. Any shoemakers out there up for this? I suppose that a drawback of white canvas is the difficulty of keeping it clean. I remember having this problem as a child when most cricket boots were canvas. The modern naval equivalents have leather uppers (see below). They can be found at Silvermans, military clothing sellers in the UK.

Photo eBay

Blazers - Mr Porter video

Here's yet another helpful video from Mr Porter about that staple of any man of style's wardrobe, the blazer. Often the term is used loosely nowadays to describe any dark jacket, rather than the traditional navy or yachting-inspired dark blue coat with shiny buttons.

I try to avoid being a fashion policeman, but please don't go for a look designed to make others think you've just stepped off your private yacht. It's a bit sad to have a blazer with a badge on the breast pocket and fake rank stripes round the cuffs (unless you're a real naval officer or an official at the Royal Yacht Squadron). I joke not, there's one leading men's fashion site selling just an abomination as we speak.

Incidentally, I love the word blazer - it's thought to have been named after HMS Blazer, whose crew was rigged out in jaunty blue and white jackets by a proud captain in the days before Royal Navy uniforms were standardised. Anyway, blazers have moved on from the shapeless polyester sacks with horrid fake-brass buttons we bought in the eighties. Richard James has some calm and invaluable advice for you here.

Vintage watches 2 - military diving watches for men of style

There's something very satisfying wearing a watch with a history. Vintage military watches have been designed to be worn in demanding situations, where robustness and accuracy can be vital. Diving watches, in particular, need to be totally reliable in military use, as the accurate timing of a dive is a life-preserving necessity.

One of the most desirable military diving watches is the Rolex Submariner which was issued by the Royal Navy - but you're looking at a price of at least £30,000 and possibly twice that if you want an original example whose provenance has been established by Rolex UK.

Photo courtesy of The Old Watch Shop

A considerably cheaper alternative is the Tudor Submariner used by the French Navy, an example of which I was able to examine and photograph recently.  It came in different guises (pictured below) and is best bought with the decommissioning papers, as shown here.  The main difference between the Rolex and Tudor Submariners (both were made by the same company) was that the Tudor did not use an in-house Rolex movement.

French Navy Tudor Sub with "snowflake" hands. Forum a Montres.

Vintage work clothes 2 - the classic duffel coat

In middle age why shouldn't a man look to classic and even vintage clothing in the search for personal style?

In my last vintage post I looked at an old submariner's jumper.  Here is another classic - a veteran duffel coat, the influence behind the recent resurgence in duffel, or duffle, coats in the fashion world.

And here it is in its modern reincarnation (Barbour) -

Barbour

Named after the Dutch town of Duffel, where a heavy wool fabric was made, they were used by the Royal Navy in both World Wars and before.  They were worn over layers of uniform and sweaters to keep warm those on watch on deck.  Before the widespread use of radar, warships had draughty and cold open bridges to ensure good all-round vision.

Here is my old R.N. duffel coat, bought from Oxfam; it is heavy and huge in size, designed to fit over layers of uniform jacket and jumpers.

Grey Fox

Grey Fox

Grey Fox

Grey Fox

Vintage Royal Navy work clothes - submariner's jumper

There's a growing interest in vintage work clothes which influences many designers' work. They acknowledge the quality, robustness and sheer practicability of the originals when they base their collections on classic working clothes. I admire the work of designers such as Nigel Cabourn who has used military and, in particular, naval clothing as influences in their work.

It's always interesting to search for the originals of the clothes which influence such designers. Last year I found an old Royal Navy submariner's jumper on eBay. They used also to be called coastal forces jumpers and they had a role in all branches arms of the Royal Navy, where warm and robust jumpers were needed in the days before fleeces and down gilets. They would be worn under wool serge uniforms or large Duffel coats. Until the fifties most naval vessels had open bridges, which, while essential for good visibility, were perishingly cold on long winter nights' watches.

As can be seen from the photos, this jersey still has its original owner's name and service number.  It's in excellent condition and is really warm to wear. Reproductions are available from companies such as North Sea Clothing - have a Google.