Percieved Britishness, and British Style

 Jean Paul Gaultier A/W 2008

Reading one of my favourite blogs, Dapper Kid, I found a post about the notion of great british style. If only this had been about when i was writing my dissertation a few months ago, as it would have been great to reference! I wrote me dissertation with the title "Blood Sports and the Englishman's Image: Shooting Attire and its Application to Modern Menswear", and I looked at the notion of percieved English/British traditionalist style. Here is a snippet from my essay...


"Blood Sports and the Englishman's Image: Shooting Attire and its Application to Modern Menswear":

My studies as a fashion student specializing in menswear have led me to a very avid interest in the history, traditions and sartorial regulations of image within menswear. I’ve long held an interest in the stylistic sensibilities of the traditional huntsman, which I wanted to explore within this essay. But it is a particular young man I saw exiting Topman’s London flagship store with a pipe, a moustache and a beautiful tweed jacket that made me really consider the popularity of hunting-derived garments on the streets of modern England. This man was quite an anomaly in the extremity of his take on this sartorial style; he looked so interesting that I, along with many others, could not take my eyes off him. Though he was an extreme example of country style on the streets of modern England, he inspired me to investigate this topic in depth. I love the look of the traditional, so-called ‘English Gentleman’ and the modern derivations of this. I have a strong interest in the roots of shooting and hunting garments; they were originally developed for function and suitability to practical activities, but are yet so characteristically hardwearing and aesthetically appealing. While women have many varying and acceptable clothing styles that are derived from history and tradition, within the many limits and regulations of menswear I feel that country sporting attire is one of the few strong and recognizable stylistic genres that has survived and is still in some ways applicable to modern menswear in England.


Now thats just a segment of my essay, and if you are interested in the topic, I strongly advise you go over to read Dapper Kid's blog. His blog post about iconic British style can be found here, on his rather wonderful menswear blog...
http://dapperkid.blogspot.com/2010/05/brits-spotting.html

ta ta! xxx