Swan Songs: Souvenirs of Paris Elegance.

 

Swan Songs: Souvenirs of Paris Elegance – October 4, 2021

by Réginald-Jérôme de Mans  (Author), voxsartoria (Author)

 

Paris: Hidden worlds of elegance, lost scenes of beauty, guarded corners of craftsmanship. In this evocative, vivid and meticulously illustrated memoir of one person's pursuit of the most exquisite custom clothing and accessories that Paris could offer, men’s style essayist Réginald-Jérôme de Mans conjures a glittering milieu now almost faded from view—from the lost palaces of men’s elegance to the small, unique workshops of proud craftspeople—revealing surprising treasures and the surviving keepers of the flame. A snapshot out of time of hidden artistry, ebbing excellence, and the vagaries of fine taste.

 

"To come to the point as quickly as possible, I can't see that another book on the great 19th, 20th, and on into the 21st Century men's outfitters of Paris -- the golden names in refined tailoring, shoemaking, and shirtmaking -- will be necessary for many years now. Swan Songs: Souvenirs of Paris Elegance is, not to put too fine a point on it, definitive. M. de Mans takes us on a sophisticated excursion through the streets and boulevards of Paris with an in-depth look at the legendary shops that catered to -- and in some cases still do -- the gentleman in us who has a great respect for Old World craftsmanship and elegance.

 

Réginald-Jérôme de Mans' erudite, witty, and highly readable study of these craftsmen of high elegance in the sartorial trades is not a shopping guide, although it may be rewardingly used that way. It's rather a history of the esteemed names in the Parisian world of masculine accoutering. Elegant writing on an elegant subject, as M. de Mans puts these addresses of men's haute couture into their proper historical, cultural, and political context. Along the way he meticulously explains how bespoke garments are laboriously made by these legendary artists of the needle and tape measure. It's a heritage he celebrates with much love, not as the oft-told myths of heritage, but as a living culture of traditional craftsmanship and artistry.

 

de Mans describes the ambience of these elegant shops and their neighborhoods in a way that makes you understand the demise of so many of them is a considerable tragedy, a way of life seemingly gone in the fragrant twilight smoke of a world where the turn of a toe cap was a distinguishing feature in a man's appearance and buttonholes were done by hand. The author has had great experience in this realm as a longtime customer of these venues and can speak of them with sureness and authority. These adresses d'or -- Charvet and Smalto, Cifonelli and Camps de Luca, Old England, Sulka, Anthony Delos, Arnys, Berluti, Pierre Corthay and the lesser known ones -- have not been written about, to my knowledge, with such detail, references to the literature, and verve before."

 

– G. Bruce Boyer, author, essayist and all-around mensch