I See Red - Part II

Savoir Faire is back from what seemed like Mao's Long March in China! A very hectic 12 days with lots of ground covered, and of course lots of red!

Just a short post tonight with some of the red that I encountered! When one has fully recovered from completely changing time zones. more detailed posts will follow!

In the meantime enjoy seeing red!

Zai Jian!

I will see you all in about 2 weeks or so. Shall miss everyone's blogs, and hope I can do my vacation justice with some new posts when I return

Jetting There with Savoir Faire

Some of you know that I am an Airliner nerd and some of you know now!

As thoughts this week lead to flying this Friday, I am always drawn to what is commonly known as one of the “golden ages” of travel, that of the early 60’s. Jet travel by Boeing airliner or jets from other manufacturers on both sides of the Atlantic was capturing the public’s imagination. Images of exotic locations speed and luxury tantalised the travelling public. It was also the heyday of the graphic artist.



However, when it comes to the manufacture and marketing of new jets it seems that the Europeans had a bit more Savoir Faire and imagination when naming their latest products. Whereas the Americans were sticking to a nomenclature based on a numerical system such as Boeing 707 and DC8 the Europeans were firing up the public’s imaginations with names such as Comet, Viscount and Trident.



One incredibly stylish offering from the Europeans was Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle, which entered service with mainly European Airlines in the late 50’s. The name was devised from a highly maneuverable sailing ship called a Caravel developed in the 15th century by the Portuguese. Radical in its design, the Caravelle established the aft-mounted-engine, clean-wing design that which portrayed a futuristic elegance. Also another unique feature was that passengers could also board the aircraft via a set of air stairs that descended from the tail of the aircraft. A futuristic elegance was portrayed with the whole design.



Ok, technicalities aside, Airlines took advantage of this new aircraft and advertised the use of it heavily. Not only did the public have a choice of which airline it would travel with, but also by a choice of aircraft. By no means the fastest or the biggest, it was however one of the most stylish!



Graphic artists of the era did a wonderful job in illustrating this. Stylistic representations of the aircraft both humorous and serious adorned travel agent walls and magazine pages.








Personally I think I would rather fly by Caravelle instead of an A380 which really does not do much for the imagination.

I See Red

I will be seeing red over the next week or so. Enjoy!

Toggled Savoir Faire

I am a traditionalist of sorts. Give me a classic piece of clothing that never dates any day! This is especially true when it comes to outerwear. These are investment pieces that are meant to last, and never go out of style. The Duffle coat is one of these. Usually where the classics are concerned I am a purist and do not like designers or manufacturers to mess too much with the original design. However lately I have been seeing some modern interpretations of this British classic which I am particularly warming to. With the number of designers that are featuring them in their collections I am glad to see that it is here to stay in one form or another.

A duffle coat, or duffel coat, is a coat made from duffle, a coarse, thick, woolen material. The name derives from Duffel, a town in the province of Antwerp in Belgium where the material originates. Duffle bags were originally made from the same material. They have several distinct features that set them apart and are usually characterised as being a hooded coat with distinctive toggle fastenings.

The duffle coat owes its popularity to the British Royal Navy, who issued a camel-coloured variant of it as an item of warm clothing during World War I. The design of the coat was modified slightly and widely issued during World War II. Field Marshal Montgomery was a famous wearer of the coat, as a means of identifying himself with his troops, leading to another nickname, the "Monty coat". Large stocks of post-war military surplus coats available at reasonable prices to the general public meant that these coats became a ubiquitous and popular item of clothing in the 1950s and 1960s. The British firm Gloverall purchased surplus military supplies of the coats after World War II and have continued to still make the Monty ever since and in 1954 started producing their own version of the Duffle coat.

Every Duffle coat you see today in the classic style is a copy of the original made by Gloverall. Now being redesigned with a more fitted silhouette it is a perfect style to adopt if you want something with classic appeal but with a modern edge. New lines, lengths, proportions and hardware are seeing a resurgence of the coat with the fashionably hip.

Colours are no longer restricted to the dark and dreary, and we are seeing bright primary colours with other bold shades, to ensure that one is in no mood to let the winter grays get you down. Rich Tweeds and careful tailoring ensure that you are not wearing the equivalent of a box.

Wooden toggle-fastenings were made to be easily fastened and unfastened while wearing gloves in cold weather at sea. Toggles are now coming in variations of shapes, sizes, designs and materials, to give the coat a more modern updated look.

I know that winter is almost over for some of us and just starting for some so if you still have time embrace this quintessential winter solution.