Getting The Wardrobe Ready For The Autumn Convention Season

Well, as I am having to be patient as I wait for my 28mm ECW to arrive from the painter, and as I am planning for the Autumnal campaigning season, it seems like the perfect time to continue with my raising of the sartorial standard at shows.

To this end I have purchased a few items that will, I feel bring a touch of elegance and style to the hazy days of gold and brown.

First up were a couple of casual 'weekend' shirts, one in a nice crisp cotton with blue and white stripes and the other a rather racier cotton flannel in a rather fetching gold and burgundy country check. They are from Samuel Windsor who make the most excellent moleskins, shoes and casual shirts. I've not tried their formal shirting, because frankly I am something of a snob in that regard  and  prefer T.M Lewin for my French cuffed formal shirts, which I'd generally not wear to a convention.




Now, I know we traditionally see a lot of waistcoats at conventions, but these have in most cases (and there are some excellently tailored exceptions, like a chap at Vapnartak this year who was sporting a rather wonderful moleskin number) have been of the cheapish hippy variety or just poorly worn with a T-shirt or other such unsuitable under-attire which looks awful. As a youth I did this and know I know the pain it causes to a more sensitive sartorial sensibilities.

Anyway, I decided that whilst it's nice to have a 3-pice suit which allows for the waistcoat to be detached as a solo piece, I wanted a bit more variety. You'll have seen the rather nice number I was sporting for Partizan, well I was so impressed I tracked down a couple more by the same chaps.

One is a very sober, dark blue tweed whilst the other is a wool flannel in charcoal great with a very nice ochre and burgundy check.



And then on Friday, it was a last minute dash to my tailors (Ted Williams of London Road Sheffield - Look them up) to collect my newly finished 3 piece Donegal tweeds which are a lot lighter and probably softer than my Yorkshire tweed suit they delivered at the back end of last year.

Some nice details such as the lapelled waistcoat and buttonhole together with a more contemporary cut which retains the classic turn-up on the trousers, make this a very pleasing suit to look at.


The swapping of the waistcoat for the blue tweed one above gives this suit a lot of possibilities and the addition of a pink paisley pocket square and a T.M Lewin white shirt with pink and blue check and French cuffs will really make it pop.

And so there you have it, my campaign for better dressed wargamers continues apace.

Now if only this damned hot spell would come to an end...

TTFN

Comments

Post a Comment

Leave your praise and vitriolic commentary here...

Popular posts from this blog

How, Over 40 Years Ago, A Guy Called Andy Changed My Life With 5 Words, And Other Reminiscences...

Image
 Of late I have been having long and vivid dreams wherein, I am often walking or travelling with people I have known, some living, some passed, talking over things we had done or said. I confess that it's been eerie but also very liberating. These coversations have been so real that I have awoken in the morning (more usually, half way through the night) and been confused at my surroundings.  Last night I was speaking with Dave Hoyles  - very much alive and kicking - of Q.T Models/Museum Miniatures. The only thing I have noticed is that is often been snowing heavily in these dreams. One of my latest dreams was of the late Ian Smith, another the comic book artist Paul Green - who, thankfully is still with us. This pattern began a few years ago when I had a similar experience with the recently deceased Pete 'Greblord' Armstrong. It was a very cathartic experience for me, as I had much which needed to be said. I may have written of this before, but this particular dream was d...
Read more

A Serious Post And Another Obituary But With Some More Positive Stuff At The End

Image
 I am at an age where I would expect the odd death of someone I know, but I am starting to realise that it's the younger end of the line which is getting culled.  This week I found out through a good friend that another friend in the hobby from the old days had taken his own life, bringing the total friends lost to 5 and drom that number the number lost to suicide in the last few years to 2. Now, I've been close to that I think, three times, but I've been lucky enough to be able to turn my illogical brain around and decide that the world and my enemies will not be happy if I thrive and stay alive. So, that has been my stated mission, to live long and be hated that much longer. The first time I was taken with thoughts of suicide, was when I was banned from Games Workshop Sheffield in the 80s (see my book or earlier posts) and my so-called friends allowed themselves to be bought off, trading silence as to what a set-up it was in return for part time jobs at the store. That wa...
Read more

The Passing Of A British Wargaming Legend

Image
It is with genuine sadness and heavy heart that I must record the passing of Sheffield Wargames Society founder member and long time Chairman, Steve Roberts.    I was 13 when I first met Steve (some 43 years ago, now). It was a chance meeting. I'd been playing Dungeons & Dragons for about a year and had taken some Citadel FTZ Zombies back to my Junior school to show my headteacher there, who'd always encouraged the creative arts in pupils.    He was impressed (as you'd expect) and told me that a wargames club met at the school now, on Monday nights run by a chap called Steve Roberts.    Well, of course I was interested, and together with my friend Alan Staniforth, I attended the club, to find there was no D&D...   What there was however were historical games, played by local kids with 'Big Steve' the only adult. But he ran that club like a champion, providing all the models and simple rules, which was just what you needed to hook kids in. ...
Read more