Page 49 - PROTAGONIST 117

t’s what the navy tells you to do. Peacoat, denim for trou-
sers and shirts alike, high-necked sweaters and stripy
jumpers, above all else in blue and white. Fabrics with
large weaves in which roughness is a positive trait; braids
Iand ribbing all inspired by the navy’s uniforms from the
past. Back in the days when the code was not just about honour,
but about clothing as well. The past returns to pay us a visit. Re-
interpreted and reworked, but under no circumstances can the
spirit of distant relations be “betrayed”. Chanel docet. As, for
example, in the Métiers d’Art 2017-18 Paris-Hamburg collec-
tion, Karl Lagerfeld imagined the atmosphere of Hamburg port
and the silhouettes of the merchant navy crew, before breaking
them down with the brand’s trademark modernism. Past, pres-
ent and future all intertwine, but not everyone dares do so, and
not everybody should: it takes culture and a knowledge of what
has gone before. Revisit without overhauling: Lagerfeld regains
possession of flares, sweaters and hoods and peacoats, giving
back models that are loyal to the originals. The military origins
of the peacoat are easily discerned on board Dutch navy ships in
the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The name
Chanel instantly conjures up images of Mademoiselle allowing
herself to be inspired by the history of the navy for the stripy
top and the men’s cropped coat;
today, Karl Lagerfeld is expanding } Blue blazer is the
the wardrobe to embrace men’s legacy of the uniform
and women’s wear, with the wom- which the crew
an softening the style of the trusty of the Blazer ship
“seadog”. A pure, graceful silhou-
ette, a look underscored by sailor’s donned fot
collars, more or less close-fitting Queen Victoria’s
jackets, long redingotes, mini-skirts visit in 1837
and extra-wide trousers designed
for a crew of “strong” sailors who have defied the elements.
The tweed is accompanied by soft wool cloth, cashmere and
flannel; silk crêpe and chiffon. The braided motifs draw inspi-
ration from the bricks of the buildings surrounding the port
docks and the piles of multi-coloured containers arriving in
the container vessels, whilst the buttons adopt the guise of ex-
quisite mooring posts, and the plaited wool threads are trans-
formed into ropes. Black, beige, grey, navy blue, brick, pin-
stripe, flashes of gold and red. The same red which breaks the
blue and white pattern in the striped top worn by Kirk Doug-
las playing Ned Land in Disney’s film 20,000 leagues beneath
the sea (1954), in which James Mason plays Captain Nemo,
with a turtleneck and Captain’s blazer... The peacoat is instead
worn by US Navy Signalman Buddusky, alias Jack Nicholson,
in The Last Detail. Jake Holman is the head machinist of the
gunboat San Pablo: how could we ever forget Steve McQueen
on the ship bridge, wearing a denim shirt in the film The Sand
Pebbles? With inspiration drawn from film and fashion, men’s
clothing takes us back to the docks of bygone ports. (V.C.)

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