Transcript
Speaker: Free audio post-production. By our Phonic dot com. I think a rule that people should try to live by is. Welcome to the Fashion Geek Podcast, the show that helps you learn more about men's fashion and get some tips to help you dress your best.
Speaker: This is Reg Ferguson, Fashion Geek number one, and I'm a men's fashion consultant here in New York City, born and raised. My mission is to help you learn more about men's fashion so you can become fashion confident.
Speaker: Have you ever been to the tropics? Like on vacation? Did you like it? What was the climate like? The weather? Did you like it?
Speaker: Was it hot? Sticky? Too hot and sticky? Did you wish you could step into a shower every five minutes? Or is it your favorite type of weather?
Speaker: How did you dress for it? T-shirt, shorts, sneakers, sandals? Now, what would you do if you decided to rock classic menswear in that environment every day?
Speaker: What adjustments would you have to make? What fabric choices would you have to select? Could you pull it off? Or would you be sweating your balls off in misery?
Speaker: My guest Nicholas Whittle is here on the show because he lives in the tropics and he works in the tropics. He's originally from England, home of some cold and dreary temperatures.
Speaker: He had to make a 180 degree change in his approach to classic menswear. So if you had to make a change like that, would you be fashion confused?
Speaker: What the heck am I doing? Am I going to get heat stroke? Or would you be fashion confident? I got this. had to make some wholesale changes, but I got this.
Speaker: Got a towel. Hey, if you ever found yourself staring at the closet, not knowing what to wear, if the idea of shopping for clothes makes you feel physically ill, wait till the end of the show and I have something for you.
Speaker: But for now, let's get to the show. So today we're gonna talk with Nicholas Whittle, who is a graduate of Columbia Business School and is a chairman and corporate advisor in the clean energy sector in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Speaker: He's lived there for 30 years. Holy cow.
Speaker: Nick, how are you, sir? Morning. I'm very well. Good morning, Rich. How's Brooklyn this morning? Brooklyn is super. And ah good evening in Jakarta. Yeah, Jakarta, we're already already dark, we're already in the evening, but some you know you and I have been shouting regularly for several years now. It's a pleasure to finally be able to sit down. um
Speaker: you know We've been threatening to do this for a very long time. to finally get the chance to to have a proper chat with you is going to be a ah really fun event. Well, thank you.
Speaker: So we're going to talk about something that I think the everyday man will be interested in. What what are the challenges of wearing classic menswear in a tropical environment?
Speaker: So before we even go into our topic, I kind of did a lead in. Please tell us, Nick. So what do you do? So what do you do?
Speaker: Well, as you kind of mentioned earlier, I've been in Southeast Asia now for pretty much my whole career. I'm chairman of a MongoG investment company here. We're listed on the end of the business in Stockard Strong.
Speaker: I'm an author. I'm a translator. um i'm an alsoa i'm a trans slave sir
Speaker: I obviously speak fluent in Indonesia, having been an official woman. you general I'm an aficionado or a commentator, mother of dressing room and all the things that go along with that.
Speaker: They need watches, accessories, the whole schmoo, particularly the clubs.
Speaker: And, you know, there are challenges about what you now blessing considers agreement but and classic, and it's not, and it translates about it to the environment where temperature, humidity is challenging.
Speaker: So I think that's pretty much who I am and that's kind of the basis of what we're going to be chatting about recently. Yeah, dead on. So, you know, I only recently found out that you've lived in Asia more than half your life. You're originally from the UK.
Speaker: I am English. Now I'm from the north of England. on
Speaker: I wouldn't say that you can get, you know, it's it it's not sort of a climate that's diametrically opposite to living in the tropics, but it's pretty far off. Yeah.
Speaker: I'm pretty sure that if you have if you have listeners or or clients who are you know up in the Great White North or Minnesota or New Hampshire, places like that, they'll probably be jumping up and down and saying, you know, it's tougher for us guys to translate ourselves to hot climates. But so yeah, I i am originally from from the north of I was educated in the U.T.A.L.
Speaker: Came here after a couple of years of working in London.
Speaker: Apart, really, from the time I spent out in New York City to do my MBA at Columbia, this is where I live. This is where I live.
Speaker: My wife is in Dundin, my daughter. and often losing our family shop, business so um this is all.
Speaker: So you, from your birth, you represent a cultural center for classic menswear, right? Yes.
Speaker: Right. And due to the climate, you guys are heavy in the wool game. So, you know, this is what I'm finding interesting. Right. And and we know from an American standpoint, there are aficionados of the British style of tailoring.
Speaker: Right. I've always I've always just been kind of want one open to anything. So I've never subscribed to a particular school organization. certainly more European just based on my build.
Speaker: But I never went, you know, Viva Britannia. Maybe that's just the American in me. But all jokes aside, you know, you grew up in an environment in which, you know, wool is a rugged, you know, component to clothing.
Speaker: And then i think you make 180 degree turn, you know, by moving to Asia in which you have humidity that is north of 90 percent on average every day.
Speaker: And like you said, it's tropical. Right. So it's it's heat and it's humidity. It's deep moisture. So since you've lived there so long, like I said, I didn't know that.
Speaker: um So I want to take you back.
Speaker: What was your initial recollection of landing in Jakarta and going, oh, I think I'm going have to change some clothes.
Speaker: Well, I think, you know, I mean, you're sat in the book and as we've explained in this meeting. i now I know New York City very well.
Speaker: I'll start the book.
Speaker: I think voloon the easiest way for us to look at them the sort temperature, humidity thing is to think of, you like the worst kind of summer's day in New York City on, say, DC.
Speaker: Like the muggiest, nastiest, you know, you walk out, you walk out the door out of an air-conditioned building or an air-conditioned car and and In 15 seconds, we're sure to have spoken to the back kind of.
Speaker: Yeah. Humidity. um And that's what we have all year round. I guess that's the difference. We don't...
Speaker: And maybe if you've got people listening to this podcast who are, say, Florida or Southern states, um they can they can really appreciate what I'm saying because that's a very similar out that issue. um We really don't have seasons.
Speaker: yeah um And to put it into some context, we are Right now I'm sat in Jakarta, the capital city of Undo Nusio, and Jakarta is about six degrees off the equator, just to the center of the equator.
Speaker: So we have basically 12 hours of sunlight, 12 hours of darkness, and we really don't have seasons. I mean, we have six months that a bit wetter than the other six months, but we've got sunshine, rain, everything in both periods.
Speaker: It really doesn't change very much. So, yeah, you mentioned, you mentioned, say, well, I think, I think, you know, one of the, one of the really key factors for translating and classic men's wear to a challenging human target um is you've got to avoid man-made fire you have to rely on wool copper linen silk as well but you'll be man-made fire and
Speaker: You know, the suits that I but they are tropical wigs.
Speaker: well So very light gauge. um behind If you try to wear something that would be... So the kind of suitem that you might wear in spring or fall New York or London or Paris, it's generally going to be too popular.
Speaker: and the weave that you're looking at in that cloth, because of the weight that that weaver, it's going to be two dots. It's at least one to be that weight of cloth is too much.
Speaker: So you try to work with... um much lighter tropical white boots, but natural fiber.
Speaker: so The real key to wearing good clothing in a challenging climate like this is everything has to be able to breathe.
Speaker: Now, I know you and I talked about the way that good clothing should be able to breathe to maintain itself as well. that And that really is the key part, you know, regardless.
Speaker: And that's really what you're looking for. So, you know, I would wear a light undershirt, I or would usually be only be half-lined as well. So the lining of the suit would be what a tailor would call a half-lined suit.
Speaker: Half-lined across the back at the shoulders and sleeve-lined. That would be a ah classic half-line on a jacket.
Speaker: And that really would be
Speaker: sort of the optimal way to work on it. So if you, before we were based on this, I a Western style of classic menswear.
Speaker: So when you first moved to Jakarta, am I to assume that you came with a wardrobe? Yes? Yeah, nickels and it was a entirely wrong.
Speaker: How did that? Well, I mean, you learn very quickly. yeah
Speaker: Yeah, you learn very quickly after you kind of ruin the suit, you know, in the day by basically sweating the daylight sounds and stuff. So,
Speaker: Yeah, you're going to have to make the changes to how do you do things.
Speaker: So what was, again, I'm taking you back in time, and I didn't mean to cut you off.
Speaker: What was the very first change? What was the very first move you did? Like you said, you brought your clothes, you went, uh-oh. So what was the first thing you did?
Speaker: Go back in time. Well,
Speaker: Well,
Speaker: one of the nice things about being here, in this respect, I'm talking about the concert, but i it's probably more well-known in the sense of places like Hong Kong.
Speaker: or Singapore or Mappacoff. um We have great teams. yeah We have really, really first boss people.
Speaker: um so So getting clothes made is
Speaker: it's it's not the extravagance that people might think getting a bespoke suit or bespoke clothes made in Europe or the United States. There's always ah so always is a sense, often quite justified, that bespoke Timberland, the you know, major vast cities like the San Francisco virus is out of reach of a great bit of it. It's something, you know, you're dropping a very significant chunk church on the Spoketone and you're going to be buried.
Speaker: well made, very delightful piece of clothing out of the deal, but still it's not sponsored for things. um
Speaker: It's certainly more affordable to do that in Asia. um Even in, you know, one day before we lobby, most of our for alcohol to take down the credit record.
Speaker: You have to see it a lot for this role in the lobby of the public, you know, the rights of the
Speaker: within two or three hours, just turn it on three seats. Well, that's actually not that far from reality. well You really can't turn your seats around in a day. Wow. want to do it. Right,
Speaker: So, you know, going back to the point you made, you know, what you're doing, well, basically, you've got
Speaker: yeah what you brought with three bottles, bottles for a sequence, and go out and get some new clothes, essentially, watch the results with clients.
Speaker: You do have to dress for clients. I want to be once it's from New York.
Speaker: the The advantage of course that you have in a city like York is you got seasons. So you can have a a seasonal morning, as it were.
Speaker: You can own heavier worsted suits for full winter, certainlyly put all you the warmer months, the hotter months of the year.
Speaker: um basically, you just end up with the summer white clothes and nothing else. Now, of course, you then get into the situation that your original stuff does have use, it does have value, but it's for when you're traveling, it's when you're outside your new home or city.
Speaker: It's not about sort of send them it's not a bo you know, don't look them up at the front the room. Definitely have a new squad forward.
Speaker: But day-to-day here, Singapore has to be the worst climate that we've ever wanted to be once.
Speaker: Because basically, it sits almost exactly on the border. So it's even more, you know, hotter and faster than it is here.
Speaker: You've got to have your cloth according, I suppose, it's is the term that one must use for this.
Speaker: And of course, you can also take quantos from the people involved in our lives, because they know how to do it.
Speaker: a big diagnostic order. I said, well, there are ways to do that.
Speaker: Explore something. So I do a certain boat trip on the soldier.
Speaker: Do you have an alternative to tailoring? Meaning, are there stores in Jakarta, you know, in Indonesia overall that are focused on Western taste?
Speaker: So meaning, can you go to a store and get a ready-to-wear suit or it's strictly... using the services of a tail word for classic handswear.
Speaker: Yeah. I mean, really, when I first arrived here, I'm not It's not been a while, so I had a bit of... When I first arrived here, I'd say that you didn't have much of an opportunity to off the rack.
Speaker: um That would be particularly true for... so but mike gogan your both why ah those about but say height we ah five qualiti that I at that time was nigh the possible.
Speaker: But really, there weren't really the opportunities to do have been um well be The Indonesians themselves would would would be tailored.
Speaker: then would They would buy their clothes from a tailor. They would select cloth, they would basically buy the South border. um That's changed now.
Speaker: You know, we have a lot of motivation. China is a great example that most of South African soldiers is equal its respect.
Speaker: You know, we have but major brands for the major, major lingerie brands. So the opportunity to buy ready-to-wear is much greater than the devil was when I first arrived.
Speaker: Nice. and i was The economy is a global have the full rivers.
Speaker: so um forward li element particularly as a model classes, it's been exploding.
Speaker: It's been so ah
Speaker: much greater than retail options for when I was first year. you know In terms of what you and I consider
Speaker: certainly classic, and there are areas
Speaker: where we're not certain, we're a lot of sentiment deficient, it's just not that. And for instance,
Speaker: um it It's been really interesting over the past year or so, ah here in Jakarta, we've started to see a lot of thrifting markets, thrifting markets, thrifting events starting to pop up.
Speaker: one which is something that we never have. That was something that was really a part of how I built a wardrobe of quality.
Speaker: When I was younger, I was never the starter. And that's something that's only really a period over the last 20, 18 months. but My daughter is a senior teacher. She wants, you know, to know how to do policies like that. so And I encourage her because, you know, it's something that I do.
Speaker: So I think that's great. You know, that's sort of...
Speaker: actually put a breakup about the arc, the lifeline of Croats.
Speaker: For the, you know, the virus, it's raining, it's going to last you a long time, if it's a well-known piece of clothing, and there's the chance that that will be passed on to somebody else, so somebody else can enjoy it.
Speaker: are further down the line. And that's something good. You know, New York is great for that. London is great for that. Paris is great for that. You know, moving around with places have found and finding
Speaker: was labels, amazing pieces of clothing, design clothing. On a soft basis, a soft-line basis, it is an absolute joy.
Speaker: absolutely a little off-piece stuff. But, you know, anyone who sort of started out with a little interesting culture absolutely trying to find second-hand pieces of real quality. ah It's a great one to build up an eclectic, personal order that so you know, for very little output, much more limited output.
Speaker: and I don't even do it still. I do it still if I'm back in the UFO, I'm visiting the UK, it's still something that do.
Speaker: It's a wonderful book to pick up on.
Speaker: you know, workmanship and equality that's, you're never going to able to find it in other circumstances.
Speaker: What's the situation? Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cut you off. Go on. What's the situation in terms of shoes in Jakarta?
Speaker: Oh, good. Oh, great question. Wow. not Great question. It's bloody awful.
Speaker: It's the short accent. And you're biased because you're from that you're from the north of in England. that's right. Yeah, yeah, let me let yeah. Let me add, let me add that.
Speaker: We have a couple of bad bodies. One of the bad bodies. One of the bad bodies is that we have a strong servant. ah And for a particular style of shoe, which was the Australian elastic side the Chelsea boot, the
Speaker: best man would be Arnold Williams, would be the best man of the probably, the classic Australian boot. Yeah, that's not an issue.
Speaker: Not that issue, but not that's not for us. Yeah.
Speaker: Imported footwear here, and again, size is an issue. That's the real problem. Imported footwear here tends to be um tend to be from Italy, some from Spain.
Speaker: I'm not a great fan of it. I think what I've seen here that's available is neither class or more durable, more durable, at his end box.
Speaker: Then you have, and this is when life gets really quite interesting indeed, there's a couple of guys, Indonesian guys, who make bespoke for you and make absolutely
Speaker: glorious, incredibly well
Speaker: It was incredibly unpolated by the two of these. Beautiful.
Speaker: Justin Fitzpatrick. at me Yeah, Justin. And Emil, one of his brand was called Winston. went to the city called Daniel.
Speaker: about 100 miles south of the city. Oh, well done. um my name I know that Justin Bates has worked very well.
Speaker: When someone's on Instagram, for instance, or people can search about silly the city, the kinds of things that always produce a book. Great value for outstanding good quality.
Speaker: Sure. But it, yeah, the big cavalos, of course, I'm not, is,
Speaker: it's a really niche film. You've got to be, you've got to be a person like you or I that fits the patterns to make the performance, to find them.
Speaker: Right. And, you know, getting hold of them and getting stuff done with them is, nowadays, it's it's pretty straightforward. but oh
Speaker: Really lovely. Really, really high quality.
Speaker: A real craftsmanship aspect of things. So, it is possible, but it's a... I mean, I only came across it a couple of years ago.
Speaker: to be both of the ones. hi Prior to to that, I had...
Speaker: I had always bought my shoes on visits about some new... Right. In which you have so many options based on where you grew up.
Speaker: I've seen those tours. I've seen those maps. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I... Crazy. I...
Speaker: I think a lot of my shoes were for churches in Northampton. And again, we're getting a little off piece, you know im um the point it's from the point of view of ah you wanting to support the development of really high quality craftsmanship, I want to know that you can do it. I'm delighted that a guy like Amelia and I tell us where to go of this. And I know a lot of but Most of his clients are into recent,
Speaker: but the positions, business or waterless or the law, etc.
Speaker: so He's really going to create niche for himself and he makes track him out on Instagram. and I'll make sure I know Justin has followed him for so many years, actually.
Speaker: He's very trustworthy. I value him. ah ah tell me as you do, I find we just seem to be here. He's the guy that wants this stuff.
Speaker: I just wear the thumbs up. He can take it apart and tell you whether they're worth the money on it. He really knows his stuff about this stuff.
Speaker: If he says the guy's good, that's good enough. Yeah, I agree. I'm actually big shout out to Justin Fitzpatrick and the shoe snob blog.
Speaker: And of course, J Fitzpatrick shoes. I'm going to check him out ah this weekend with a friend of mine for his annual sample sale. I know he's waiting for me.
Speaker: I'm not going to get anything. My boy probably will. but Well, and it's still, it's a pleasure. The guy is just, as you know, my wife thought I found it was fun. I don't choose to subscribe open as well. It's just, it's great to see you as enthusiastic.
Speaker: It's a lot fun.
Speaker: Yeah, absolutely. friend ah Friend of the pod. I want to make a transition, particularly in the interest of time. We've been talking about everything Western through classic menswear.
Speaker: yeah But you live in a country ah that is deemed indigenous. and And we're talking about Western blokes and how they dress.
Speaker: But I'd like to really discuss the transition that you have made, pardon me, for living in Indonesia and dressing appropriately for the local populace there.
Speaker: Yeah. Well, listen, I mean, i this is, well, this kind of comes back to chats we've on offline.
Speaker: Yes. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah, so we can't talk to about, you know, sexually wearing a suit, a towel, or shoes, or a tropical flower.
Speaker: Well, course, there's an alternative. ah And not just in Indonesia, but there's a number of countries where you can see this.
Speaker: I'll come back to the one I call Nasa, which is in Indonesia, but we've got the guy above all. The planet real obstacle is a broad example of this.
Speaker: A shirt that could be both casual, both formal, for weddings, for events. The Philippines have something very similar, the economic dialogue, which again is like an overshort Again, it can be born in an informal setting when required, but it doesn't have to be. It can be born as an alternative to a business suit for meetings or for just going into an office.
Speaker: You could even stretch it further. You could say...
Speaker: some West Africa, Pajillo, Sambal, Daunum, Kamuro, the dashiki, which some other people brought on, which again could be a very informal way of dressing, very comfortable with dressing, but also certain types of dashiki, certain colors are, say, for wedding.
Speaker: Purple dashiki, for instance, would be normally a wedding dress.
Speaker: Here in Indonesia, we have the batik. The batik. Now, the batik is really a style of decorated cloth.
Speaker: It's a wax. If you apply it to the cloth, tie-dye to separate colors, et cetera, et cetera, you do this. That's it. Right.
Speaker: And we're talking about the the Asian interpretation of batik because we know there is an African yeah interpretation of batik. And in actual fact is fact, that's a very interesting point because there's been a historically, there's a lot of trade in Indonesia batik to West Africa.
Speaker: I have heard this. Obviously. And particularly in Nigeria, Cameroon, Senegal, they they make themselves. Obviously, they don't. Historically, and to this day, there's a lot of batting cloth that's coming from the museum to West Africa for shirts, for women's clothing as well, for both sides of it.
Speaker: So, yeah, very well-known in African sense as well. um
Speaker: If I I wear better shirts. I don't know that as often as a lot of other Westerners do, there's nothing wrong with Western wear.
Speaker: I think when you talk about wearing local dress, this is when you get into something that's
Speaker: you have to have a bit of knowledge, you have to be a bit ready.
Speaker: There are places like Indonesia where there's absolutely no difference who you are to be wearing local dress or batting shirt. And equally, I would not wear Arabic boss in the Middle East. I don't think it would be appropriate for me to do something.
Speaker: Here, to wear what is essentially the local dress, no problem at all. um often I mean for events say for a movement event or dinner or cocktail the the dress code of the reputation plan will be outstated so those are equally weighted they're both equally in
Speaker: Equally acceptable. Business price, evening events, wedding weddings, I normally wear a bat-tooth, I would not wear a suit.
Speaker: Pretty much I do, maybe, would be very bad too. But weddings are a good deal.
Speaker: There are regional variations, particularly from sort of the big saints who are driving, ah which you can, as you learn about that, you can see because of the style of for ah of the you can generally say where that button is originally from.
Speaker: Wow, that's and i internal Yeah, hope it's very cool. um For instance, my wife is is from a city in central Delhi, Somalia.
Speaker: Somalia is historically, honestly, a very high percentage of Catholic Chinese population.
Speaker: So, Somalia is not very well done, but a lot of its no tubes are actually Chinese no tubes. as opposed to more nature-based or more materials that you've got from other places.
Speaker: um To kind of help people out with this idea, a batting shirt is basically quite a loose-fitting garment.
Speaker: ah that you but you're not tucked into the top of the tractor. And was outside the tractor. You can get short sleeve bottoms. I think it's an operation that's everything that is right to do.
Speaker: For me, a bottom should be one sleeve. Okay. If you want a short sleeve, they roll the sleeves up.
Speaker: They can they could be soaked. They are more genuinely popping around the good quality batteries, particularly have particularly sort of what you would have loaded as a silk battery truck, should be hand printed, not machine printed.
Speaker: So it's been made by somebody calling wax on it, printing it themselves. There's a particular sort of It's funny, I haven't seen it for a while, it used to be very popular. It's a style of that tube which is called Prada, where the design itself, I've got one in a golly,
Speaker: um either gold thread or sort of gold leaf mux that is poured if not, one's a thund. So it's a very high-end of that tube.
Speaker: to possibly potentially be a niche, but it does exist. um I mean,
Speaker: a good batik starts from a high-pringed batik off, usually not so fully line, is going to run you
Speaker: If you're getting it done properly, you're getting it done by a tailor from an imprinted cloth. It's a service-bill call. hey took proper. It's, you know, I mean, we talk about classic names being an investment.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, understand. I just didn't expect It's, um, you know, if you're doing it properly in the battery world, then I know, you know, that's for a battery check.
Speaker: I know if you were to go to the Philippines and buy the smoke at the home tomorrow, um, my quality bespoke to you, that's a serious serious person.
Speaker: Don't change your own, they can move that. Because they're like so long, embroidery and embroidered. yeah but awful long time our work has been put into those pieces of art. So most of these things really, you know, the challenges we really start to wrap up.
Speaker: But, you know, it's interesting because everyone noticed it. There was a fashion ah fashion problem is still the result but new whole fifteen twenty yearsal where ah chi mile wealthy was word and It I their own back to you.
Speaker: Oh, wow. it would specially designed for that. That would be restricted to their use. So that was a trump for a while. I'm sure it still goes off, but it was a bit more high profile.
Speaker: It's a massive, massive thing. It's a huge, massive thing. It's a huge part of culture in.
Speaker: You have to learn how to wear them as well.
Speaker: The basic rule would be when I got a batik shirt. If people think of batik shirt as being ah essentially a very
Speaker: very colorful, very decorative. We don't necessarily feel that powerful in the design. If we sort of generalize and say it's generally got a few colors, it's got design, its motifs, etc.
Speaker: um You could almost think of it in comparison terms say even like the Hawaiian shirts, with thoughtless people or something without a visual light.
Speaker: I mean, one of the rules that you should abide by is the trouser should always be the darkest part. Oh.
Speaker: Because then the balance of
Speaker: And the brighter colors of the lighter colors it about two short um um lusty sort of from a darker background than, you know, one's only the way through.
Speaker: So you're seeing the two of them.
Speaker: They're best light.
Speaker: So they're nice. I mean, they're very confident to run.
Speaker: If only I am, like, should a good one should be mine? I gather more to protect the shirt than it is to you for I always remember a long time of the basis on wholequach i mean the me that the best thing that anyone should ever do is the New York.
Speaker: of what's that, as it's true, it's a certain extent.
Speaker: Well, that's one would with high quality, much to that as well.
Speaker: I set it I think a rule that people should try to live by is buy best that you're going for.
Speaker: At what stage you are in your life, if you're going to buy a piece of gold, buy a good piece of gold. Buy the best that you can you can afford at that point. I'm not sure you've got to sit this room.
Speaker: rest shirts, suits, on shoot, buy good stuff, it's gonna last you way longer with a different input than belong to it, and you're going to be quite safe, so is really a um a lovely, lovely thing.
Speaker: I think it has lots of parallels with Western philosophy.
Speaker: It is something that is developed. It's developed out of function. When we talk about classic things, the great majority of what we consider classic lost in those worlds is something that is developed into function. That's why you see so many pieces of classic ones where they're promoted to the military, promoted different sports, for instance.
Speaker: right It's something that was developed for a particular function. and then got adopted in different ways and has been turned forward. And I think that that fits into Black Bottom really perfectly.
Speaker: It's become
Speaker: a very kind of statement piece of clothing that are examples that I've known here for individual fashion designers that I think are just out of this world.
Speaker: Taking the hy idea of falling away from ah sort of the more traditional motives and developments into much more much more radical, these whole radical ideas with different cloths, different
Speaker: uses of, I've said, taking the ordinary work with it do it against it. It's, you know, I think that's but certainly a great sum of probably thought umship um but it's those functions.
Speaker: People are continually trying to reinvent because it's just It's just such a staple piece of art.
Speaker: Many small trips.
Speaker: Well, I've liked that we've kind of delved into two worlds, right? The Western and the Eastern. So now we're going to go to the lightning round, Nick.
Speaker: Why is fashion important?
Speaker: Because it tells people who you are. It tells people that you... that you respect yourself and that you respect others. it
Speaker: Nice. What difference is fashion made in your life?
Speaker: It's open doors. Absolutely, it's open doors. all of
Speaker: You know, people there's there's this sort of apocryphal thing that people say about about Englishman, the way that when you meet an Englishman, the first thing he does is sleep is that he looks at your shoes.
Speaker: And why um I'm here to tell you that's absolutely true. he to Really? it Because it says a lot. I agree. really says a lot.
Speaker: yeah know um So answering your question, yes. Why would you not dress not only to the best level that you can, but to the level that makes you most comfortable and most confident?
Speaker: That's what gray clothing does. I love that. If you can... If...
Speaker: Walking out the door and feeling that you're well-dressed gives you the confidence to not want to do other things. When that cornerback is absolutely all for itself, it's hard to do.
Speaker: Totally agree. What's a top fashion tip you would give the everyday man to look his best?
Speaker: I think we've touched on it. Oh, I know we have. Yeah. ah You know, by buy the best quality that you can for what you can afford, whatever stage you are and want.
Speaker: If I could expand on that a little bit, Absolutely look at second-hand. Absolutely well look at thriftware, eBay, all these prices. Find that.
Speaker: My tip would be if you do that. Firstly, you should do that because you've got to put up pieces that you couldn't afford on.
Speaker: But if you do do that, size that's like a size above what you are, and take it to a tailor and get it fitted.
Speaker: Get it adjusted to you. Make it work for you. Take the extra effort and then put relatively small extra spots.
Speaker: we
Speaker: Take it to a tailor, local tailor, whatever, whatever. and get them to the button to adjust the pace to monitor it. We'll place buttons, prepare the buttons.
Speaker: I like that. but so It has got chin buttons, put good form. Yeah, hell yeah. Never. yeah and spend Spend a couple of dollars for the incredible interest.
Speaker: Yeah, we could have a whole episode on buttons. I got a button guy. Oh, we could have an episode on buttons, Oh, I'm coming on that episode as well.
Speaker: Last but not least, Mr. Whittle, what does Always Be Fly mean to you?
Speaker: that level of confidence that you get from fooling that you are addressing your boss. Because you know we talk about classic menswear and we've focused on certain things in this conversation.
Speaker: um s It can mean other things as well. It could mean ah great pair of boots. you know, ah really well cut pair of jeans and a great, handsome puffer jacket.
Speaker: You know, that's, that's as classic as, as it comes. Absolutely. That's as classic as it comes. I mean, one thing is to say sort of the, you know, British take on things or Italian French take on things, which, which we've kind of focused on equally.
Speaker: you know, so the hip-hop, I know, you know, this is sort of writes up writes out your algorithm right alley, right there. The hip-hop take on things, hey man, that's just classic as well.
Speaker: Absolutely. ah but if you But if you do it, you've got to do it well. That's the key. Right. Well, that's the thing.
Speaker: It doesn't work with knock-offs. It doesn't work half-hour tune. You've got to do it well. If you do it well,
Speaker: Lookability dollars. Absolutely lookability dollars. Whether it's a seven-year suit or it's a pair of Timberlands or Puzzle Jacket.
Speaker: And if you do it well and we can pull it off, that's fun. That's the principle.
Speaker: That's the mic drop. Thank you, Nick, for showing the range. And thank you for giving this perspective that I never would have understood if I hadn't, you know, become friends with you a few years ago ah through Clubhouse.
Speaker: So and this has been a long time coming. um Thank you so much. Stay dry in the wettest climate I know outside of New York.
Speaker: Hey, listen, it's been an absolute pleasure. You know, we've been threatening to do this for a long time, but to finally get the chance to do it, it's been really cool. Thank you.
Speaker: It's been a fun. My pleasure as well.
Speaker: So, you learn from Nick the significant changes one has to make when you move to a tropical environment. Your wardrobe collection and selection has to change significantly and you may even adapt to some indigenous wardrobe options.
Speaker: You can find Nicholas Whittle on Instagram at Nicholas underscore Whittle.
Speaker: If you wanna level up your tropical heat fashion game, then let's make it happen. Take initiative and become fashion confident in 30 days. All you have to do is email me at reg at nyfashiongeek.com for a consultation.
Speaker: Well, that's a wrap. To my team of interns, past and present, who have helped make the Fashion Geek Podcast what it is today, I thank Always be fly.
Speaker: Free audio post-production. by alphonic dot com
