The Look: Images and Styles That Have Influenced The Weejun

New Series

Over many years there have been certain movies, record covers, or just stills that have captured the essence of a look that has inspired the Weejun towards a better wardrobe. Inspired by some of the great posts over at Film Noir Buff I decide to start a new series with some of the elements that have inspired The Weejun look. Some of them are obvious, Miles, McQueen, Mulligan. Others less so.

One early influence is this still of Miles Davis at Newport Jazz Festival wearing a fantastic seersucker suit with drastically cut away front below the bottom button and flat front trousers.

This is from an album called Miles Davis : Directions, double LP of outakes released in 1982 on CBS. Inside the 70s era image on the front cover was this cool shot of Miles from his Ivy League style period.

This image inspired a friend of mine in 1983 to buy a seersucker suit from J Simons in a fantastic buttermilk and blue stripe. I was so envious, but the saving grace was for me that the trousers had pleats on his suit.

Nevertheless it was a quite a few years before I could find a seersucker jacket of the the style Miles shows here. I did eventually pick up a second hand Haspel that was a perfect fit. Years later the great moth plague of Crouch End caused there to be a few nibbles in the shoulder that ruined the jacket forever.

I remember one particular day around 1994 wearing the seersucker jacket with old Halrin flat front chinos with deep turnups and a pair of deadstock natural leather soled suede desert boots and a newly acquired (and long gone) Leica M6 around my neck. I caught a glimpse in a store window in Portobello Rd and thought to myself ‘Yes!’

Well, almost.

These days the Weejun has a nice Ralphy seersucker suit for those summer days, but still keeps an eye out for a vintage one like this.