APRIL WRAP UP 

Is this Kiran? My favourite booktuber?

The Humble Pocket. I love it!! I HAVE to have a dress with pockets. And yeah, pockets were a masculine aspect. This is SO interesting! The first kind of formal dress I ever had , from Anthropologie, that had pockets made me feel so much different than without pockets, you know?

first, love the shirt. second, a whole book about pockets???? You've intrigued me... third, I do love a sword

Your comments on the book, “Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close”, caught my attention, specifically with regard to the origins of the three-piece suit for men, which the author, Hannah Carlson, attributes to the fashions of the Turks and Persians. Not that I’m any sort of expert on the history of fashion, but it’s always been my understanding that the present-day three-piece suit can be traced back to European costume of the 1650s to 1660s. By that time, you had the basic men’s ensemble of the shirt, the breeches with stockings, the waistcoat, and the knee-length coat with wide cuffs. From the latter 17th though the 18th century, men’s shirts remained about the same, but knee-breeches became more form-fitting, and the waistcoat likewise fit more snugly. The coat became less full-fitting with narrower sleeves and turnback cuffs that grew smaller and eventually disappeared. There’s a RU-vid video that demonstrates how the typical 18th gentleman of fashion would get up and get dressed in the morning. There’s no mention of any Turkish or Persian influence in men’s apparel of the time, though the narrator of the video did say that the loose-fitting ankle length nightshirt that gentlemen wore to bed was called a banyan and modelled after an Indian design, while the voluminous garment called a wrapper that was put on over the banyan upon getting out of bed was adapted from the Japanese kimono. As far as pockets are concerned, both the breeches and the waistcoat had pockets on either side, though they appear rather small and shallow. Looking through one of my elder daughter’s books on the history of fashion (“Fashion: The Definitive History of Costume and Style”, published by the Smithsonian Institute), I find a brief account of Beau Brummell and his role in dictating men’s fashion in England during the early 19th century. It was Brummell who swept aside the frills and fussiness of 18th century men’s clothing “in favor of somber-colored, elegant restraint.” Thus, we arrived at the standard men’s uniform of white shirt; fitted, pale-coloured waistcoat; black or dark blue short-fronted, double-breasted, swallow-tailed woolen coat; light-coloured pantaloon pants or stirrup trousers in place of knee-breeches; topped off with a flowing white cravat. “This type of outfit had become standard by the 1820s and 30s, and what Brummell popularized with his pants-jacket-flamboyant neckwear combination was none other than the original modern suit and tie.” I sometimes wonder what ever possessed men to abandon the high collar and neckcloth fashionably tied around the throat from the Regency era. The cravat covered up a host of blemishes such as lines, wrinkles, age-spots, wens, wattles, and supernumerary chins. If you ever watch any of John Wayne’s later westerns, you’ll notice that he always wears a bandana tied around his neck and tucked close under his chin for exactly this purpose. But getting back to men’s fashions and an Eastern connection to their design, I remember from reading the diary of Samuel Pepys last year that, in October of 1666, King Charles II of England “declared his resolution of setting a fashion for clothes, which he will never alter. It will be a vest … to teach the nobility thrift”. The King’s intent seems to have been to discourage the upper classes from squandering money on following the latest fashions from France by establishing a type of unchanging, standard uniform for wear at court and other occasions. Pepys later wrote on October 15th, “This day the King begins to put on his vest … being a long cassocke close to the body, of black cloth, and pinked with white silke under it, and a coat over it, and the legs ruffled with black riband like a pigeon’s leg; and upon the whole, I wish the King may keep it, for it is a very fine and handsome garment.” Other observers noted that the vest or cassock was long enough to reach “the calf of the leg.” I seem to recall reading elsewhere that the King hoped to stimulate England’s textile manufactures by promoting a fashionable garment with so much extra material in it. Pepys doesn’t mention any foreign influence on the design of the King’s vest, but one of his contemporaries, John Evelyn, was at court on October 18, 1666, and described the scene in his journal as follows: “It being the first time his Majesty put himself solemnly into the Eastern fashion of vest, changing doublet, stiff collar, bands and cloak, into a comely dress, after the Persian mode … resolving never to alter it, and to leave the French mode, which had hitherto obtained to our great expense and reproach”. Evelyn goes on to say that he had previously given the King a copy of a pamphlet he had written, entitled, “Tyrannus, or The Mode”, in which he had condemned the slavish practice of trying to keep up with the everchanging fashions from France, and instead had advocated for “the comeliness and usefulness of the Persian clothing”. By “usefulness”, perhaps Evelyn was referring to pockets. I found a reproduction copy of this pamphlet online, but parts of it were so smudged as to be illegible. In the pages I could read, I found no mention of Persian clothing, though that doesn’t mean the information isn’t there. Apparently, the King’s new fashion was soon out of style at court. Louis XIV scoffed at Charles’ attempt to set himself up as an arbiter of fashion, and ordered that only his servants were to wear the King of England’s new-style vests. Evelyn later recorded of the King’s new fashion: “It was a comely and manly habit, too good to hold, it being impossible for us in good earnest to leave the Monsieurs’ vanities long.” If I want to know more about Eastern influences on 17th century men’s clothing, I’ll just have to keep a lookout for Ms. Carlson’s book at my local bookstores.

I want to read Shogun. I find that period of Japanese history fascinating. That blue looks really good on you btw.

I just read a few other books on North Korea so I’m so intrigued by The Sister! Yeonmi Park’s books are great reads on the topic.

shogun is huge and i want to read it

Recommendations: Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West by Blaine Harden Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick Never knew just how brutal life in NK was/is until I read these books.

Re: literature about North Korea, I haven’t read it yet but it’s been on my TBR for a while now: “Without You, There is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea’s Elite” by Suki Kim From what I remember it’s this woman’s experience working at a North Korean boys school for the sons of North Korean elite. I listened to the author discuss it on a book podcast and it sounded incredibly intriguing! I can’t make it an official rec since I haven’t had the chance to read it yet, but it could be worth checking out for you.

Read Shogun three times. Great book. Some of James Clavell's other books are good too, Noble House, Tai-Pan and King Rat. Best wishes.

The shirt is deeply cool

The geisha concept is hit on in the book. (Separating the art of sex and performance.) It made me want to look into samurai of other cultures (including India). Pilots are basically expert navigators. They’re still used today but more for difficult areas or ports. The whole honor thing is really interesting… because you get to see how many layers there are and how deep (or not deep) honor goes. The whole 3 hearts… Interesting point in Clavell’s life… he was a POW in Japan.

also i have said how stupid it is how not all pants have pockets

didn't know there were so many issues around pockets or that there was a time when there were none also it wouldn't make any difference if the people in NK knew all three secrets the government would still have all the guns⚛😀

Hiyooooooo I got mentioned!

Keying off the pocket book, you should definitely check out Dress Codes: How the laws of fashion made history. Loads of similar really interesting info about the history of clothes, and how much dress has been used to endorse class, race, and gender power dynamics!