Friday 13th July, 2018
Clothing photos, Jackets
Sunday 8th July, 2018
Attitudes
I've added a gallery page to this site. Technically speaking, it works by randomly choosing from my photos, using a PHP script and a list of attributes stored as YAML, and then arranging the results by running David DeSandro's masonry program. You probably didn't want to know that, though if anyone's interested, I'm happy to pass on the code. But web programming aside, the gallery shows off some of the diverse designs and patterns I've come across. If you make clothes, or are looking for something different to buy, use them for inspiration. And it has another purpose, related to my Grayson Perry quote about the buttons.
Some of the jackets are women's. This pink silk, for instance. So as is the custom, they have buttons attached on the left rather than the right. In my experience though, and in contrast to Grayson Perry's fears, most men don't notice, or at least don't care enough to comment. Some women friends have, but none of them care. Of course, the shape of the jacket has to be suitable, which rules out ones curved to fit a bust. But that still leaves a lot that a man can wear, such as this smart linen blazer by Wallis.
So that's one way of finding vivid colours and interesting designs. Clothes from outside Europe are another: see the Chinese silk tops and all my Moroccan clothes. And a third is those vintage clothes that were made for men and that do happen to be colourful or otherwise interesting, such as my Falabella velvet jacket and Oakland velvet waistcoat.
So that's why my gallery page has two buttons on it:
The second button selects only the clothes that I myself wear.
And if I
can
carry them off, anyone can.