I just want to make a little note on the subject of dressing British, since that is half the title of this blog.
Dressing British is, historically speaking, dressing Jewish.
Since at least 1850, London's garment trade was largely Jewish. Jews dominated the cap-making trade in London and Manchester. According to this web site, one out of seven male Jewish immigrant worked in garment factories in in London's East end in the early 20th century. Jews also made up a large part of the custom-made tailoring trade, and later moved into the retail garment trade.
So when you see an classic English City Gent, in his Oxford shoes, dark suit, rolled umbrella, and bowler hat, there is a very good chance you are seeing someone wearing clothes tailored and sold by Jewish artisans and merchants. When you see a British mod, in bold colored casual clothes or dapper Italian suits, you're seeing a movement that largely started with Jewish youths who had access to the clothes wholesale, thanks to family connections in the garment trade. When you see British punks, you are seeing a movement that got its start with producer Malcolm McLaren, who owned a music and fashion store in West London, and whose mother was a Jewish woman whose family was in the diamond business, and whose stepfather was in the rag trade.
This may mean more to me than to most people, as I lived in England as a boy and am a bit English myself, biologically speaking. But still, it's always nice to know that no matter how goyish my fashion choices might sometimes be, I'm always secretly dressing Jewish.
