My Personal Style - A 30s Look

A few weeks back I responded to a tweet forwarded by fellow photographer Tigz Rice from Melissa Love Design asking for Men to help out by standing around in suits modelling for a Burlesque themed photo shoot they were organising at the beginning of February. The shoot happened to be at the Proud Brighton Ballroom which is round the corner from my house and I do love dressing up in a suit so I thought "why not!".

So last Tuesday (7th Feb) I headed out to be a male model for the day.



It was a really fun experience; as a photographer it's very rare to be in front of the camera and even more so when you don't really like having your photo taken like me - I got to learn what it's like to be directed and some tips on how I can better direct my subjects in future.

More importantly though I got to get a whole bunch of pictures of myself wearing a nice suit. Unfortunately when I arrived I discovered that all that was provided for me to wear was a dinner suit and bow tie but only a standard white shirt... naturally I offered to head home and add a few personal touches to the outfit.

I discarded the white shirt and grabbed my bib-fronted dress shirt with French cuffs, added a red Edwardian style waist-coat, chain cuff-links and a pocket-watch and chain and finished it off with my Black & White correspondent shoes. I'd also offered to grab a change of outfit for the second half of the afternoon so I got to wear an outfit - more on that later.

Here's the first outfit:

A 1935 Rolls Royce 20/25 Saloon Car (oh and me)

Myself and the lovely Meredith Hepner

The suit was a bespoke dinner suit from Gresham Blake, modern fitting though which spoils the look slightly (would have gone for bigger trousers and a wider lapel myself).
Waistcoat from Armstrong's Vintage Emporium via eBay.
Shoes from Alfred Sergeant.
M&S shirt (from about 10 years ago).
Vintage 40s chain cuff-links from eBay.

Photos courtesy of Jess Glass Photography

Now to the second outfit:

How you doing?

Believe it or not it's -3 deg

Please can I stay in the car?

For these shots I'm wearing:

Vintage fabric Gab jacket from Heyday!
Brown pin-stripe trousers made from an original 40s pattern by Lynn aka qbiffa via eBay.
Brown and cream correspondent shoes from Skye shoes.
A grandad shirt from Loneflower adapted to be a detachable collared shirt (see my "How to" here) with an Arundal style collar from Fogey Unlimited via eBay.
Brown vintage 30s tie from a charity shop (15 years ago - my first vintage purchase).
Vintage tweed waistcoat from Armstrong's via eBay.
Vintage 40s chain cuff-links from eBay.
Herringbone 8-panel newsboy cap by Brixton Hats.

Photos courtesy of Jo Rutherford, Ellie Bastin & Emmest Photography