Bel-Canto

Bel-Canto


Use of a light tone in the higher registers

Agile technique capable of dispatching ornate embellishments

Ability to execute fast & accurate divisions

A pleasing, well-focused timbre

A clean attack

Graceful phrasing rooted in a complete mastery of control

Rome in Manhattan

Dinner at Bocca on a humid Rome-like night. This was parked outside...


If only this were going on inside.

Puccini Chicken

(click on image to enlarge)

The Surreal Gourmet was published in 1992 and written By Bob Blummer. A favorite cook book and Glazed Italian Chicken is my favorite recipe. Blummer suggests the pairing of this Italian chicken with the playing of Puccini hence my dubbing it Puccini Chicken. It's a bit of a mess but simple and fun to do.

A slight modification to the menu. Don't beat your chicken. Certainly not in front of your dinner date. Instead, slice the chicken breast across or just buy thin sliced breasts. Or, you can let your date beat your chicken. The point is to crank the Puccini up, uncork a dry Umbrian white and pretend your Italian and a chef with a Moto Guzzi outside.

Milan: Victors & Victims

(click image to enlarge)

Fare Figura & A History of Men's Fashion

A highly recommended addition to the serious sartorial library.


Written by Farid Chenoune & translated by Deke Dusinberre

" Italians have never understood the the major principle behind civilized stylishness, which should appear unconscious." Jean-Francois Revel

Fare Figura: To cut a figure, to keep up appearances, to swagger in a society where men are habitually addressed by their professional title, such as Dottore or Ingeniere. A History of Men's Fashion

I'm always intrigued by men and their devotion to a 'type' of dress. I assume these are brand loyal guys who stick with a cigarette, cigar, scotch, gin or breakfast cereal their entire lives while running around on their wives.

Monogamy has it's place but it ain't in clothing. I love Italian clothes and they love me. At just under 5'9, the Brioni jacket has always fit well. Borrelli linen trousers are cut large enough for my waist but are tapered through the leg and are the most flattering pant I own. And while you've heard it a million times, fit is everything, it's different for everyone. It must suit you.

Ivy, Trad, Prep, NAG (North American Gentile), whatever you want to call it - is known for it's casual fit, rumpled appearance and whiff of, "I don't give a shit." Give any man a gray sack suit, a button down and rep tie and that man can pull off a decent and classic look.

From A History of Men's Fashion (1993), " ...Italians tend to be more attired than dressed, a distinction that led to disapproval, in the name of British understatement, of this penchant for preening. Igor Margovitch could thus deplore, in 1946, the Italians' lack of naturalness in their love of "newness," leading them to "prefer changing often rather than pay dearer for finer quality... This is completely different from the English taste for garments that are so broken in that they wind up an outer skin." Igor Margovitch, Made in Italy, Lausanne, 1946

I take what fits and always try for calm. Mixing Italian clothing that fits with English or even Ivy shirts and ties takes some effort. Is it worth it? It is to me. Fall and Winter speak to American and English wools, tweeds, tattersalls, hacking pockets and Polo coats worn for protection and warmth. Summer and Spring are made for the Italians with paper thin sweaters, brightly colored ties and bright jackets light in color and weight and certainly in swagger.

Ciao, Tony!

I always wanted to be Italian. I took these of my best friend driving my Fiat in 1980 shortly after getting out of the Army. We'd drive around the town square in St Augustine, FL with the top down speaking in ersatz Italian. "Johnny, pasta fulgoo mini chink a minta?" "Si, Davide. Bueno pechi all goozoora." all while rolling our 'r's'. Our definition (to this day) of all things we love Italian - -"Ciao, Tony!"

Off My Back: E. Crew & Ecru

"Every man should have at least one ecru shirt in his closet." So said the men at Herzfeld. If you want a shopping experience close to what it must have been like in the glory days of the 1930s then Herzfeld may be the only place left. At least in NYC.

I haven't owned an ecru shirt since I worked at Brooks Brothers in the 80s. It was a "Makers" button down and it paired well with a wool tie of hunter green mixed with red and yellow pheasant or horse and rider. It was quiet and elegant and looked good on anyone.

This Hausammann + Moos double cuff shirt is too formal for a wool club tie but the ecru still works understatement by calming down what would be too much contrast with a white shirt. I like to think of this as Trad Italian since the jacket and tie are both from Italy. Many of you know that pocket squares bother me but since this is an Italian effort... Well, when in Rome.

I was thinking about the old J Crew catalogs from the early 90s and how each one seemed to tell a story. Lots of normal looking kids huddled around a beat up Land Cruiser with a Wire Fox Terrier in the foreground and grey haired parents in the background with a beautiful vacation pile on a pine tree encircled lake in Maine. Maybe it was Wisconsin. They kinda look the same.

J Crew isn't going away. Herzfeld might. So I had this idea of J Crew creating a new brand of top shelf apparel. Stuff made in France, Italy, England and the US with a focus on quality but at a not too dear price negotiated by J Crew's huge orders. I'd call it E. Crew, short for Ed, who was the dad in those catalogs years ago. The dad who lost the squared inseam / waist 15 years ago but knows quality and value when he sees it.

E. Crew would offer side vent jackets made from butter-like wool from Italy. Thick English silk ties with matching boxers instead of matching pocket squares. French gloves in gold calf with cashmere linings in Tiffany blue. Maine button downs with unlined collars and 12 oz khakis made in Brooklyn. Heirloom goods that speak to the elegance of the past and worn with the comfortable thought that this stuff may very well out live you. E. Crew. That's my fantasy store.

The Friday Belt: Mille Miglia

Don't need to be rich to drink this wine...

although it would help to own this car

Banging 12 on my aesthetic meter - Lancia Aurelia Coupe

This lanyard is screaming to be made into a belt

Mille Miglia cook book (good luck finding it)

Banjo steering wheel

I wanna marry her

Cabbage, percorino cheese and milk? Is anyone in Umbria lactose intolerant?

I love that 1952 Lancia Aurelia Coupe. Red like the color of the Propriera Sperino Rose.

Can anything nail all the aesthetic senses like the Mille Miglia? It's Italian. It's a race (sort of). Lots of beautiful cars. And bars. And restaurants. And Italian food. And Italian girls. Even a beautiful Italian cook book. It's an over saturation of style and fun. But they don't have a belt. Gotta have a belt. That lanyard would make a beautiful ribbon number with black leather bridle and red canvas backing ala The Leather Man. Maybe needlepoint?

When I'm thinking about the Mille Miglia it helps to have a chilled Italian Rose. This stuff is on sale ($16) at Moore Brothers (NJ, DE, NYC) and it's a lot like the Castello di Ama Rose...A big wine unlike a lot of rose that reminds me of Bud Lite. It'll stand up to a grilled steak and works great with an Italian glazed chicken.

So take the Brioni off and put the Puccini on. Crumble off a hunk of parmesan reggiano. A little crusty bread, olive oil and some prosciutto. I take a cold sip of Rose and dream of driving the Mille Miglia in a Lancia. Maybe change my name to Tony. Just to hear an Italian woman say, "Ciao, Tony! Buena fortuna!"

The Ethnics of Antonio Ciongoli

Terra cotta basket weave cardigan - $595 Pine/white with navy deco gingham spread collar shirt - $225 Pine/terra cotta medallion printed open weave silk tie - $150

Inspiration for our Duomo scarves and ties

Brick "Duomo" wool challis scarf - $175

Terra cotta/pine/stone gun check sportcoat - $995

Various ties in the pine/terra cotta stone story, including prints inspired by Medici family shield and Ghiberti's bronze panels for bapistry doors - all $150

Pine donegal "Medici" rolleck sweater inspired by the diamond windowgrates of Michelangelo's Capella Medici in San Lozenzo - $595

Terra cotta casentino wool maremanna jacket - $995

Terra cotta Italian chamois work shirt popover - $250

White/terra cotta/pine bold tattersall twill spread collar shirt - $225

Navy/white/lavender japanese flannel spread collar shirt - $225 & Gray knit toggle vest with suede trim - $595

White/charcoal stripe Japanese cotton tab collar shirt - $225 Fatigue green knit toggle vest with suede trim - $595 & Fatigue green/charcoal shepherd's check belted peacoat - $995

Cashmere blend crewneck with wool "guild shield" embroidery - $650  - The shields  represent the Florentine tailors and shoe makers guild as well as the Medici family coat of arms

Shearling asymmetrical peacoat - $2995 & Brick "Duomo" wool challis scarf - $175

"...he might hear a young grandson being greeted

at the Cosenza train station by packs of jubilant relatives

who would make the boy feel like a McArthur returned, or 

a kind of Latin Lindbergh in a ticker tape parade -

except instead of confetti, the boy would be showered

with wet kisses from endless uncles, aunts, and cousins who

could not understand a word of English.

With an 8mm movie camera, the boy would begin to 

click off scenes of these relatives…Perhaps these films

would later be shown in a kitchen back in Brooklyn

where a bedsheet, serving as a projection screen,

would be tacked up to the flowered wallpaper.

And when the lights would go on in this 

Brooklyn kitchen, tears would be seen in the eyes 

of some older folks." 

The Ethnics of Frank Costello by Gay Talese

Esquire Magazine, Sep. 1961

A few years ago Antonio Ciongoli introduced me to Gay Talese.  A meeting was set up at Gay's home and we talked for a couple hours.  I brought up the excerpt from the Costello cover story in Esquire and while  Talese remembered the story he couldn't remember his unusual but beautiful meandering off subject and loaded with remembrance and nostalgia.  I told Talese how much it moved me and he smiled, his eyes narrowing into slits, and said with some surprise that he should probably revisit the story if only to see it if it was worth republishing.

New York Fashion Week is a cold slog through mostly forgettable designers who are all trying too hard.  Throw in the pushing and shoving by remarkably nasty attendees and it's a scene light years from what I envisioned when I attended my first show in what would be Bryant Park's last.

I've cut back on shows and a lot of shows have cut back on me.  Probably as it should be since I'm not a fashion guy.  But like Talese, I love storia and especially the kind that connects to something completely foreign and unknown.  Only in this way is it possible to continue to misspell people's names.

Antonio Ciongoli of Isaia's Eidos showed me his new line for Fall / Winter 2020.  The show room is still in the understated quiet of Elizabeth Taylor's townhouse on West 56th.  If you're quiet,  you can almost hear the walls talk as Anthony Perkins gets drunk and Richard Burton orgasms.  Antonio has had a lot to do with educating me in Italian apparel.  But I still think, as a whole, the Italians are too studied.

If American sportswear is about being relaxed and casual, then the Italians have taken that and extruded it through endless and needless details: scarves in July, wrist dental floss, double monks and now triple.  Pitti is all you need consider to get my point.  I like the billowing sail of an oxford button down over a man's alligator belt -- Antonio prefers a more fitted silhouette…over an alligator belt.   Seems there's always something to agree on.

I'm not writing for anyone but me so what you see here is what I like.  I love green and don't think anyone uses it enough.  It's everywhere in this collection along with my appreciation for the even rarer color I call, 'dried blood' or what Antonio calls, 'terra cotta." If you cut yourself shaving a lot then this is a no brainer for you.  Even the chamois pop over comes from another place but the roots are so American.  What you do with Eidos is your business…tang it up all you like --  Or, just leave it alone and let it speak for itself.

Update: Following are retailers for Eidos Napoli.  

For spring, it will be available online via Carson street clothiers, CHCM, The Armoury, Haberdash (Chicago) and Lawrence Covell (Denver). All of these stores will also carry in store as well as Charles Speigel (Pittsburgh), Boyd's(Philadelphia), Pockets (Dallas), Sy Devore (LA area), Carriere (LA Area), Steven Giles (Oklahoma city) Scoop (East Hampton and Brentwood), Syd Jerome (Chicago), Mr. Sid (Boston area), J3 (Cleveland area), AK Rikks (Grand Rapids), Butch Blum (Seattle), Shaia's (Homewood, AL), Oak Hall (Memphis) and Got Style (Toronto).