Ladies and gentlemen
It is my great pleasure to present today’s interview to you. I’ve been following Mr. Joseph and his extraordinary products for many years – so I’m pleased that he answered a few questions for this article.
At this point I would like to emphasize that – as always with the Gentleman Club blog – there was no compensation whatsoever.
- recently I was talking to someone about doing an interview with you. My acquaintance said “…ah, the one with the red shoes”. How did you and the red shoes find each other?
Oh, this is an old story. But I’ll tell it again. In my youth cricket, our national game, was played wearing “whites”, that is entirely white trousers, shirt and even boots. Cricketers were the style icons of our age just like many athletes in other sports are today. So I wanted to dress smart like the best on the pitch and in the pavilion (that is the club house). In order to impress my mates with my daring and originality, not only as a bowler during a match but off the pitch, I painted my white boots the same color as the ball I had to hurl at the batsman– bright red. It cost me a thrashing by my father who had to respect my mother’s anger that expensive cricket boots had been rendered useless by red shoe polish. However it only strengthened my conviction that to be in style one has to be willing to go into the red.
- you worked in the hotel industry for a long time – do you think this helps you to understand people’s wishes?
Certainly. I decided to make my shirts to satisfy the kinds of customers we had. I was disappointed at the quality of clothing many travellers found underway. You know shirts are just the most basic universal item of men’s attire. A poor shirt spoils everything. So I could only believe that making the best shirt for the kind of customers I knew was the best way to apply what I had learned in the hospitality trade.
- your shirts have exciting colours – do you think that business outfits will become more colourful in the future?
I surely hope not! A business outfit is not a clown suit. Exciting colours only make sense in a discrete context. The exciting colours are intended to transmit the excitement of the wearer but not overwhelm those with whom he is doing business.
- you are from Sri Lanka and you once said that your soul is still there. How did it feel for that soul when you saw the colourless European shirts for the first time?
I once read that a certain renowned French shirtmaker had fabrics with at least a hundred different shades of white. I have never considered European shirts colourless. The Italians streamlined English style with lighter materials and less rigid cuts. The colours they introduced softened the contrast between cotton and worsted. Sri Lanka taught me that temperature and even humidity are no obstacles to complete dress. My father and grandfather never would appear in public wearing a tee-shirt and sandals, not because they were insensitive to the heat, it just was not done. The colour of Asian clothes was due to the easy availability of dyes that were traditionally very expensive in Europe (at least before synthetics). The English abhored ostentation– partly as Puritan reaction to the opulence of the Stuarts and the French– a fine shirt had to be understated. I am not English, I do not have to be understated, just polite.
- how can a man recognise a good shirt?
Fabric and stitching. The best stitching alone won’t hold together shoddy cloth. The best cloth won’t look like more than a tent if the sewing is sloppy.
- your shirts have brought a looseness to the way shirts are cut – what made you think shirts are not quite so stiff?
The upper torso, the breast, is the centre of everything human. The Neo-Confucianists refer to the “heart-mind”, emotions and intellect are concentrated in the heart, not divided between heart and brain. A shirt was never intended to be armor. It was originally an undergarment. It had to be flexible, unlike the breast plate. All I have done is maintain the shirt’s core function– to insulate the heart-mind. My shirts are not loose, they are flexible. They admit the virtues of the tee-shirt without the aesthetic compromise.
- in the last few years you see more and more shirts without ties – what do you think about this trend?
Neckwear was not always a fashion. It derives from protective garments. When it’s truly hot and discipline is needed, then the tie will be loosened but not removed. In cooler climates its temperate qualities are often underestimated.
- i know some people who appreciate your shirts – what do you think makes your shirts so special?
My shirts are limited editions. The fabrics– with the exception of an occasional classic white– change every season. Hence when two people meet who happen to wear my shirts, they are almost never dressed identically. A bespoke shirt is individual in the fitting. My shirts rely upon the individual taste of the wearer.
- do you think that “Made in Europe” will be a mark of quality in the long term?
As long as Europeans continue to make things here.
- what do you think about the breast pocket – should a shirt have one?
Working shirts need pockets. The breast pocket was introduced for the office worker. Shirtwearers for the better part of the 20th century were office or clerical workers. The Americans had to introduce the breast pocket because they practically abolished the waistcoat. Only the liberal professions continued for a while after the last world war to wear waistcoats– which had all the pockets one could possibly need. Never mind that before the end of World War II, appearing in one’s shirtsleeves was considered vulgar unless one was engaged in manual labour. If someone needs a breast pocket, I imagine even I can supply one.
- what do you think is the best place for the monogram?
A monogram is actually an elevated laundry mark. It is like a friend of mine told me about his London club, they do not have club ties because members do not need a tie to recognise each other. Don’t get me wrong. I am not mocking the personalization of garments. It is a matter of taste. However, if one considers the original purpose then it is clear that a monogram is not for public display. It can be put any place the laundry can recognise it.
- suppose a fairy godmother appeared to you and you had three style wishes – (e.g. things you could change or something that men should wear more in future ….) what would you wish for?
For years I have said, there is no self from the shelf– not even from fairies. I am grateful for sincere dressing, respect for the artisans who make these garments and accessories, and continued patronage. If gentlemen and ladies do not buy, wear and use the products of artisans they will disappear and no fairies can restore them to us.
- let’s imagine a young gentleman asked you for advice – what three pieces of advice would you give him?
Observe and listen all the time but do not be seduced by all you see or hear. Remember that humans are animals– living beings endowed with a soul– one should dress the soul and not just the surface of the body. Finally, with any luck all young gentlemen can live to become old gentlemen: don’t do anything you would regret when you get to be old.
- what advice do you have for the members of the GentlemanClub?
Any good club thrives through fellowship, generosity and mutual curiosity.
Mehr von Ign. Joseph finden Sie hier: www.ign-joseph.com
Immer einen Blick wert: die “Lexikon Reihe”
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