News Extra

• 2013-05-09

  Mrs. Wilberforce in blue.

  

  Our popular cotton print fabric Mrs. Wilberforce is now available in a lovely petrol blue colour. It looks very well made up in our dress and smock styles. Please get in touch if you would like to be sent a cutting.

  

• 2013-05-01

  A small film.

  

  Towards the end of last year we were out on the marshes making an image for Men’s File magazine with photographer Matt Hind. His assistant Rob was fiddling about in the background and we did actually wonder what he was doing. It turns out that he was making a small film which can be seen here:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HLQRlVm4bM .

• 2013-04-21

  Designer collaboration.

  

  One hears the phrase ‘designer collaboration’ a fair bit these days and it doesn’t usually refer to Coco Chanel’s activities during World War Two.

  We’ve had a few calls lately from companies or designers wondering if we might be interested in a ‘collaboration’. Now that sounds nice, I like an interesting project but sadly their idea of collaboration runs like this;  they have the idea and they want someone to make it for them.

  Over the years we have made many items for the stage which works nicely for us because the clothes we design and make are, for the right production, deemed appropriate as costume. We are the ‘go to’ people for Chekhovian trousers don’t you know?

  Our favourite form of collaboration is when an individual customer orders something we actually offer (from the several hundred options across the styles and fabrics on our website), they pay for it, we make it. Perfect. 

  Now I’m off to the Hotel de Paris to collaborate with Gadnsk Greg the barman in the purchase and consumption of a bottle of Newcastle.

• 2013-04-12

  Miss Willey’s guide, part II.

  

  Here are a few more suggestions for places to stay in North Norfolk. Driving a motor car might be an advantage for any of these.

  Gunton Arms. Gunton Park.         

  This is a traditional pub with eight bedrooms set in a thousand acre deer park ten minutes from Cromer.  Bought in 2009 by art dealer Ivor Braka it has been extensively refurbished and now makes for a very pleasing place to stay and eat. It really is the business, mismatched dark wooden trestle or cricket tables, Windsor chairs, silver cutlery and of course the food. The menu is heavy on the venison which you might expect (most of which is cooked on the Elk room open fire) as well as interesting fish and vegetarian dishes. In the bar there is a good mixture of locals and visitors. Bar snacks include Blythburgh pork crackling with apple sauce, Yorkshire pudding with onion gravy and venison sausage rolls. You won’t be surprised to hear there isn’t a Big D peanut in sight.www. guntonarms.co.uk

  The Tower Cottage. Briningham near Holt.

  For many reasons this is a unique place to stay. You will be privileged to share the grounds of an 18th Century folly, Belle Vue Tower plus the  gardens and a ten acre bluebell wood which is also home to a colony of rooks. May is the best time to stay should you want to see the bluebells in all of their glory, but any time of the year would be a treat as it’s also a very nice cottage.www.ruralretreats.co.uk

  The Long House. Cockthorpe, North Norfolk.               

  This is a property available to rent through Living Architecture. It is a vast flint and timber architect designed house built on the edge of a small village minutes from the Stiffkey marshes. Is is light, open and spacious which could make a welcome change from a cosy flint cottage especially for large groups. The people I know who have stayed there have all been architects, designers, doctors and writers, you know, the ones who appreciate good design. There are lots of well thought out areas for group discussions and intellectual banter but  you are on holiday so if you do fancy acting the giddy goat there is also an area for playing ping pong. Personally I would be quite happy spending a few days testing the Miele appliances,  all eight of them.www.living-architecture.co.uk

  The Green Pavilion. Gresham.                     

  This is an eco friendly oak beamed house sitting right in the middle of a Norfolk meadow. You’ve got the best of both worlds here because it is also within striking distance of the coast at Cromer, Overstrand with Blakeney a little further. If it’s peace, quiet and solitude you are after with only wildlife for distraction then this is the place for you.www.greenpavilion.co.uk

  Wiveton Bell. Wiveton.                        

  I always like the idea of a pub with rooms. There is something very pleasing about food, drink and bed all within a few yards of each other. The Wiveton Bell has four letting rooms and a reputation for great food. As with many places in North Norfolk the setting is part of the charm and is located a mile inland from Blakeney overlooking Wiveton church and a few miles from Holt.www.wivetonbell.co.uk

  Martham Boat Yard. Martham, Great Yarmouth (off the map to the south east).                                     

  It may not be everyone’s cup of tea but if you fancy a few days loafing around in deck shoes and canvas trousers you might like to hire a boat from Martham Boatyard. They have a fleet of 1950’s wooden cruisers with solid wood interiors and compact green formica kitchens. Once you’ve got the hang of the steering all you have to do is glide through the reed beds and lily pads looking for a suitable spot to drop anchor. It’s all about nature and relaxing so head towards Horsey or Hickling away from the big pleasure boats.  www.marthamboats.com 

  If you need any more persuading take a look at www.broadlandmemories.co.uk. There are some tantalising pictures (mainly of men) mucking about in boats wearing fetching cream knitted sweaters. 

• 2013-04-04

  

  Paul Bommer: 

  Beth Morrison:

• 2013-04-01

  Confessions of a minor designer.

  

  The nice thing about designing and making clothes is the chance to reflect on imagery, consider current context, research historical reference and an excuse to trawl the memory archive.

  By way of illustration may I present our new jumper, the Hemsby. This is a very simple example and I can’t claim to have done any hard work here but often the process can be quite involved.

  I remember that up until the eighties John Lewis school outfitters sold jumpers with a split roll collar possibly as games kit or standard sweater for an obscure private school. It was the sort of garment one occasionally saw in old group photographs of children or sportsmen from the early twentieth century. 

  I once saw the film Death on the Nile, set in the twenties, made in the seventies (a funny decade for period costume), rather poor but a young man wore one with a knitted tie, a good look.

  A knitwear factory presented itself last year which was able to take on the job.  We liked the idea of the contrasting broad band, an idea which which might originally have come from the boxing gyms of New York. I seem to recall a Harold Lloyd silent film where he brawls with a ‘tough’ who wears such a garment. The American illustrator Charles Dana Gibson drew similar characters when not depicting haughty society beauties for which he was better known.

  Not having a technical knowledge of knitting patterns meant that reference material had to be found and eventually these images on Broadland memories website came to light.

  

  

  Drawings and measurements were done and a first sample was made which was good but too long in the body and the collar rather voluminous. A moderated version is the one we now have in stock and very pleased we are with it.

  It is cream with a navy band, the speckled grey/black variety seen here on Sonia will be along in a couple of weeks.

  Sizes:  36, 38, 40, 42, 44,. Price £140.

  

• 2013-03-27

  The long and the short.

  

  I am often asked for advice on styles and fit in relation to height and build. This can be by email, over the phone or at our shop where alterations to sleeve or trouser lengths may be taken into account. It’s a very rewarding and pleasing experience helping someone put together several outfits and quite often it’s by men who have developed an aversion to clothes shopping, but I enjoy a challenge. For anyone thinking of making a purchase but would like advice before making a decision here are my suggestions for fabrics and styles which work well together, of course other fabrics are available.

  1. Stanley Jacket

  This is the best style of three button jacket if you are in proportion and under 5’10”, put with a Straight edge waistcoat, Vauxhall trousers in engineers navy stout twill and any one of the Italian cotton shirts. An alternative jacket fabric could be khaki canvas or pantry stripe for Spring, tan cord or herringbone Harris tweed for winter.

  2. Marshalsea Jacket

  This is a jacket for  the taller or proportionally smaller gent, being a four button jacket it is longer in the body. Again it looks good in the stout twills, navy is always the first choice but also looks very fetching in grey with a pantry stripe Waistcoat and a white Italian cotton shirt. The new grey or navy flannels have been very popular in this style, Irish linens for the summer. High rise, Vauxhalls or Stove pipes would be an appropriate  trouser choice.

  3. Borough Jacket

  We call this the more ‘accommodating’ style. It is a generously cut jacket and is more suited to a broad build of any height. It’s worth mentioning the sizing, for example a 40 jacket actually measures 44”, a 42 measures 46”. It’s not meant to be an exercise in vanity sizing it just happens to be the necessary looseness for this style. Worn with High rise or Plains trousers this makes for a serviceable casual suit in cotton drills or black cotton canvas, pull it all together with a Straight edge waistcoat. It is a popular winter style in dark olive cord , navy moleskin or charcoal tweed.

• 2013-03-19

  Berets

  

  A few people have enquired about the berets worn by the models on our website, do we sell them? The answer is yes we do. Many years ago we bought  half a dozen children’s berets from a stall on Portobello Road and have been looking for a source of them ever since. A couple of months ago I stumbled across a supplier who imports them from France. We prefer the neat look of the children’s beret and because they don’t have a fixed band they stretch to fit most head sizes without inducing a nosebleed, as demonstrated by Dr Tim who is modelling our Overall jacket.

  Available in bottle green, red, marl grey and navy price £20

  

  

• 2013-03-14

  The Canvey Lady: Essex girl or feminist icon?

  

  Neither Miss Willey nor myself had been on the Underground in over twenty years but engineering work on the Norwich to London line last week meant that trains ran only as far as Ingatestone. From there a coach took us to Newbury Park on the Central Line. The trains have changed a bit in the intervening years but I thought the stations rather well kept with a great deal of attention given to heritage matters.

  Inspired, the next day I popped into the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden. There was an exhibition of posters, one of which depicted ‘The Canvey Lady’, a lovely constructivist looking navigation marker which once stood by the sea wall at Canvey in Essex.

  Later in the week we had a visiting costume student for the day at Old Town. She had Miss Willey, Beth and I fascinated by tales of her upbringing. Her mother, who had been a lesbian, met her father at a feminist group and they brought up their daughters in a commune. 

  Blimey. Communes, feminism. When was the last time one heard of them? It all felt rather quaint and nostalgic. There was a time when it was everywhere, I shared flats with people who might have described themselves as feminist. Did they win the war? Does the struggle continue? 

  We discussed it on the bus back to Cromer with our neighbour Mr. Appleton. I think we sort of agreed that the issues of equality had been all but settled when something changed, a new generation rather took for granted the hard won changes, feminism simply became unfashionable and the mood favoured the ironically girly while aping the worst aspects of traditional male behaviour. Not bad for a thirty minute bus ride, we could have spent a couple of years doing Gender Studies to get there.

  I think that feminism is due a comeback, we owe a great debt to those pioneering women of the seventies and eighties, so as a fitting tribute I propose we rebuild, by the Thames estuary, the ‘Canvey Lady’ (we’ll have to have a house meeting to settle on the precise name). She’s proud, independant, imposing and inspiring so if anyone is interested in feminism and/or carpentry please get in touch.

• 2013-03-11

  Miss Willey’s Diary. Can a waiter be a gentleman? .

  

  I took a phone call from a gentleman today, he sounded a little tetchy as he described the reason for the call. He was English, living  in Austria and was looking for staff uniforms for a restaurant he ran. My immediate thought was aprons but he wanted an English country gent look which slightly took me aback , I couldn’t think of anything else we do apart from maybe a three piece tweed suit which didn’t seem appropriate. I asked him if he had looked at the website, yes he had so I asked if he had seen any items he thought might be suitable. 

  ‘What about the shorts, can I have them with buttons so they can be worn with braces?’ 

  I hesitated and said ‘Don’t you think that will look a little like Pinocchio?’

  ‘I don’t know, I’m not a clothes designer,’ he said. 

  ‘Nor am I,’ was my reply, ‘but think about it, a waiter in shorts with braces working in Austria.’

  He was beginning to get exasperated and repeated the idea of the English country gent look. I could see the conversation was going nowhere, I think it’s always best to be honest and so I told him I didn’t think we could provide him with the look he was after, maybe he should try someone in Saville Row to which he replied he already had and they had put him in touch with us. 

  Thank you Mr Gieves, thank you Mr Hawkes.

  For anyone who is interested we do make heavy duty canvas bib and half aprons similar to the one worn by Dirk Bogart in The Servant, and he was an English gent.