STYLE : FASHION : The Bucks Stop Here
Any man who wants to look up-to-date this season should have no problem. Except money.
Consider the ensemble in the window of Giorgio Armani on Rodeo Drive a few weeks ago. The wool suit was $2,000, while the cotton-and-viscose shirt was $380. The shoes were $425; the belt, $175. The sunglasses dangling from the suit’s breast pocket were $210. Total: $3,190.
There’s got to be a cheaper way. After all, fashion magazines are always telling women that just the right scarf or belt will perk up last year’s fashions. Isn’t the same true for men?
Sven Dagones, assistant manager of the men’s department at Armani, smiled indulgently when I posed that question. But he said, no, such an approach really wouldn’t be suitable at his store, where the object is to achieve the “calm elegance” of the total look.
“Maybe you could mention our leather accessories,” he offered.
But a $220 billfold wasn’t really what I had in mind. Instead, I moved on to Jay Wolf, the fashionable retailer a stone’s throw from the fashionable eatery Mortons in West Hollywood. What with the disappointing summer box-office returns, perhaps some of his customers might have slightly smaller clothing budgets this fall.
“Sure,” said Wolf. “If someone came in with $500 to spend, I could probably help him out.”
“But what if he wanted to spend only $100?” I asked.
“I’d tell him to buy a new tie and some socks, and he’d be done.”
Still, Wolf did offer some advice: “A denim shirt, as far as I’m concerned, is the most indispensable men’s clothing item--for at least another year.”
Undeterred, I called San Francisco to speak with Ray Wills, men’s fashion director for Macy’s West and Bullock’s, who said he thought men have always extended their wardrobes with accessories--more, in fact, than women.
Wills predicted that the most noticeable change in men’s accessories this year will be in ties. Count on creative striping to replace florals and fancy patterns. “At the Olympics,” he said, “Bob Costas was wearing all the new colorations in his ties”--which he defined as traditional colors, such as gray and brown, worn in untraditional combinations, such as gray and brown together. A mock turtleneck in cotton or merino wool would also be a fairly inexpensive but fashionable purchase, he suggested. “People in the business often have a mock turtleneck in their car or at their office so they can change into it for evening.”
His last tip: “If you’re not into the fashion mode, you should stay in the middle of the road.”
Rick Pallack agreed. Pallack is a Sherman Oaks retailer who has provided menswear for dozens of TV stars--Costas among them--and outfitted Ted Kennedy for his wedding in July. Neatness and simplicity, he said, are the new bywords.
As for accessories, “Lace-up shoes--either in a cap toe or wing tip, in suede and leather--are a must for every man’s wardrobe, to wear with anything. Don’t wear your suspenders--suspend ‘em. Overly wild neckwear--no. Big or bold belt buckles with suits--no. Black shirts with business suits--no.”
He had just ruled out a large number of last season’s purchases, I noted. What could he recommend in the way of a cheap addition?
“A white pocket square,” he said. “In the ‘40s, every man had one. For $9.90, it’s an excellent way for a man to be elegant and charming and show a little class.”
