ShowBoats International — April 2017

APRIL 2017

PHOTOGRAPHS: GETTY IMAGES; CHRISTOPHE COLLECTION

BOAT LIFE

here are some things that every man should

have in his wardrobe – let’s call them

cornerstone pieces. I’d nominate a great

navy blazer, white shirts, a sturdy overcoat,

a cashmere crew neck, a stout pair of brogues... and so

on. Then there are those items that for the cognoscenti

possess a special allure on account of their claim to

being “the original”. My list here would include the

Burberry trench coat, the Belstaff Trialmaster

motorcycle jacket, Levi’s 501s and the Kent & Curwen

cricket sweater. Where the cornerstones and originals

meet, intersecting in a type of sartorial Venn diagram,

we have a very sweet spot indeed.

The Henry Poole tuxedo is such a piece. The origins

of the tuxedo are somewhat convoluted. However, it all

seems to lead back to Henry Poole and a jacket the

Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) commissioned

from his tailor – said Mr Poole of London’s Savile Row

• in 1865. The future king wanted a short blue evening
  coat that he could wear at Sandringham, the royal
  country retreat, for informal dinners. One of his guests,

Fit for a king

Peter Howarth traces the history of the

Henry Poole tuxedo – the first and best

American James Brown Potter, had another made for

a royal invitation to Sandringham and exported it back

to the States, where he wore it to a ball at the Tuxedo

Club, a private country club in New York state, in 1886,

hence the name we tend to know it by today.

That first jacket was, according to Henry Poole

today, made in “celestial blue”, and that color echoes

down the years in the form of the contemporary

midnight blue tux. While black is the usual color of

choice for the style, midnight blue is a stylish variation:

when we first meet Sean Connery’s James Bond in

1962’s Dr No, he is wearing a midnight blue tuxedo at

the chemin de fer table at a London casino.

Bond’s first screen tux had a shawl lapel. Some say a

peak lapel flatters the shape of the torso by accentuating

the top half, complementing the shoulder line.

At Henry Poole, tailoring is bespoke so you can have

pretty much whatever stylistic variations you desire.

And by choosing to get this cornerstone of the male

wardrobe made by the people who created the original

model, you’ll be in good hands, joining a client list that

has included Frank Lloyd Wright, Jean Cocteau,

Robert Mitchum, Edward Fox, Serge Diaghilev and,

of course, King Edward VII. henrypoole.com

Tux types (top

to bottom): the

future Edward VII,

Wright, Cocteau,

Bond, Mitchum

Nautical but nice

Like their famous silk scarves, Hermès’ beach towels

stand apart in quality and design. New for spring, the marine

flag print signals smooth sailing, on board or at the beach.

Flags in the Wind beach towel, $600, hermes.com

T

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