Jacob
Rees-Mogg: This Is Not How A Real Gentleman Wears His Suit
Making
Sense Of Jacob Rees-Mogg's Extremely Wide Suit
Prime
Ministerial material? What poppycock!
BY MURRAY CLARK
BY MURRAY CLARK
29/05/2018
Jacob
Rees-Mogg has long styled himself as the veritable gentleman of the
Conservative Party - a harmless throwback to the days of yore when men held the
door open for fair ladies and opened bottles of Krug with nothing but the
family sword. Well: we say harmless, until you inspect his draconian anti-gay
voting record or antiquated views on abortion.
Look a
little closer, however, and the MP for North East Somerset doesn't even dress
the part properly. Yes, he opts for nothing but a double-breasted navy suit,
but it isn't the right one. Nor is it the right fit.
We refer
you to his most recent jaunt to the BBC studios. The 49-year-old has smothered
a willowy frame in an oversized suit, with cuffs extending far beyond what's
expected of a proper suit for a proper gentleman. What's more, billowing
trouser legs pool past the ankle, creating the unflattering shape of a
12-year-old at a wedding.
The remedy?
Cinch it in. Fabrics should skim your frame, not drown it. Understand that
different suits complement different builds too, and a double-breasted option
is more befitting of a wider, robust body type.
Of course,
an Old Etonian Oxbridge grad should know all of this - especially one that uses
the 16th century courtier vibe as a smokescreen for some pretty troubling
policies.
Politicians
who dress to rule
Tim Newark
looks into the links between Savile Row and the country’s political elite
I recently
hosted a casual lunch for rising political star Jacob Rees-Mogg MP and, as it
was a parliamentary recess, I thought the famously immaculately dressed
politician might adopt a slightly more relaxed attire. How wrong could I be? He
arrived in his impeccable double-breasted suit with shirt and tie and was a
model of English charm and self-deprecating humour.
Rees-Mogg
wore a light blue shirt, not a white shirt “as I rarely wear them other than
for funerals”. He later told me that he wears his trademark suits out of sheer
“idleness” so he doesn’t have to “worry about what I have to put on in the
morning”, but I wonder if that is really true?
Some of our
most successful political figures, past and present, have created popular
personas for themselves by adopting stylish items of clothing that express
their inner character and political philosophy, much more effectively than any
speech or manifesto can.
Who can
forget newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair sauntering into No 10 Downing
Street in 1997 wearing chinos and open-neck shirt? Modernity had arrived in
government and soon top businessmen and other politicians were ditching the tie
to share in the Cool Britannia vibe.
Fortunately
for Savile Row and more traditional clothing makers, the suit and tie has made
a resounding comeback and remains a powerful political weapon. Certainly it is
true for Rees-Mogg who espouses a return to traditional Conservative values.
If Chuka
Umunna had not withdrawn from the leadership race against Jeremy Corbyn, then
we might have had a Labour Party leader better known for his penchant for
bespoke suits made on Savile Row than the scruffy Islingtonian once voted worst
dressed man in the UK. Former PM David Cameron once told Corbyn in the House of
Commons to “put on a proper suit, do up your tie” and some fashion experts have
noticed a certain smartening of his appearance since his surprising rise in the
polls, but Savile Row tailors are not making a slot available in their fitting
diaries quite yet.
“There is
nothing quite as convincing as a good suit, a crisp, bold French-cuffed shirt
and co-ordinated tie to make a leader, be it political or corporate,” says Dr
Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, an expert on leadership and distantly related to
his US president namesake. “Politicians are, as a lot, rather baggy and unkempt
so when someone cuts a good cloth and appears dapper – if not overdone or too
slick – it draws loads of attention.”
Malloch,
recently touted as a possible ambassador within the Trump administration, has
subsequently had to consider his own political look when appearing on the BBC’s
Newsnight and other current affairs TV shows. “I do the majority of my own
shopping on Jermyn Street in London,” he says. “It is the essence of British
class and quality and something too many Americans altogether lack. I prefer
Turnbull & Asser for custom shirts, Harvie & Hudson for bespoke suits,
three piece or wide stripped, and Crocket & Jones or Church’s for the best
shoes, from Northampton, of course!”
Recognition
is a key currency in becoming a successful politician and an accessory or a
distinctive piece of clothing can help identify exactly where you are coming
from. Where would Margaret Thatcher have been without her black leather
handbag? Famous for her non-nonsense “handbagging” approach to government, her
favourite brand of bag came from Launer, also much liked by the Queen.
“There is a
great deal of noise made around Made in Britain these days,” says Gerald
Bodmer, CEO of Launer London, “which we are a great advocate of as all our
product is made in our factory in Walsall with traditional British handmade
techniques. Baroness Thatcher really understood the ethos of Launer and this is
something she wanted to be associated with.”
Nigel
Farage, one-time leader of UKIP, had his covert coat. With its dark collar and
tan colour, it originated in the later 19th century as a riding coat for
gentlemen but its horse racing association saw it evolve into the uniform of
working class men on the make, as worn by TV characters Arthur Daley in Minder
and Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses. It manages to combine quintessential
Britishness with countryside conservatism and working class aggression—all in
all a good message to put out for the great Brexiteer grabbing a pint in a pub.
There could
be no more iconic image of a British politician than Winston Churchill in 1940
in the midst of World War Two, defiant in a pinstripe suit, spotted bowtie,
cigar clenched between his teeth and a Tommy gun in his hands. Even Hitler was
shocked by the brazen image and had the “gangster” look reproduced in Nazi
propaganda leaflets, but it was a triumph showing how Churchill was putting
himself on the frontline too.
Churchill
was a great patron of Savile Row and his photograph can be seen on the walls of
several leading tailoring shops, such as Henry Poole & Co. There, he was
fitted for a uniform at the age of 19 and the tailor had to work hard to
enlarge his chest and shoulders. Sometimes he spent a little too much money on
Savile Row and even during the war, while leading the nation to victory, he was
struggling to pay his shirt-maker’s bills.
A stickler
for wearing the appropriate clothing at grand events, Churchill could be
critical of others. When he spied Labour politician Aneurin Bevan wearing a
simple blue serge suit at a State Ball at Buckingham Palace, he said “I think
that at least on this occasion you might have taken the trouble to dress
properly.” Bevan glanced down at the Prime Minister’s trousers and stated
flatly “your fly buttons are undone”.
Churchill was not altogether good news for Savile Row, however, with one
tailor telling me: “Upon his death, he left quite a considerable account unpaid
at one of the Row’s tailors …”
Churchill’s
successor as PM was Anthony Eden, a man with film-star looks who cut a real
dash. He knew how to wear a well-cut suit and shaped his manly look by pairing
a double-breasted waistcoat with a single-breasted jacket with wide lapels
creating the perfect silhouette. When he became the youngest Foreign Secretary
since Pitt the Younger, his youthful fashion sense caught the eye of an
American reporter who noted his “pin-stripe trousers, modish short jacket and
swank black felt hat”.
That swank
hat was the black Homburg – a stiff felt hat with a dent in the middle – that
Eden turned into a fashion icon, so much so that it was simply known as the
“Eden” in Savile Row. It knocked out the old-fashioned bowler hat as the
headwear of choice for diplomats and civil servants.
Some critics
thought his elegant fashion sense belied political toughness, but his hardline
attitude towards Hitler won him the support of Churchill. Writer AN Wilson
called him “easily the best-looking individual, of ether sex” to become Prime
Minister in the 20th century and he had an impressive reputation as a ladies’
man.
When Eden’s
glittering political career came crashing to an end in the wake of the Suez
debacle, so did his fashion style – including the hat – and it was seen by many
as a turning point in popular culture as the 1950s gave way to the more
rebellious youth look of the 1960s, but the Savile Row suit is eternal.
“Politicians
should always invest in a good suit,” says tailor Del Smith of Kilgour, but
it’s not just a case of getting a suit made. “Anyone can do that, it helps to
be in shape too. David Cameron looked good in a suit, wore it well, but then he
did cycling and jogging to keep fit.”
Kilgour
equipped Tony Blair and David Miliband with bespoke suits that gave them both a
youthful and professional look that can very much impress the voters. “You’ve
got be a breath of fresh air and a well-tailored suit can enhance that,” added
Smith. A good lesson for all aspiring leaders …
Tim Newark
is an historian and political commentator, contributing to the Daily Express,
Telegraph and Sunday Times. He is the author of “Protest Vote: how politicians
lost the plot”.
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