Wednesday, August 15, 2012

DO YOU REMEMBER THE ITALIAN COAST?

EARLY 2000'S COAST SHIRT FROM THE COLLECTION OF DEANNA LITTELL.

   

Women or men -- which do you think gets most misted up about the paisley motif?  I think it is men with their tender remembrances of 70s and 80s decades past, often when they link very specific shirts and ties with important events. If they are from the Financial District, maybe the emotion is right now, tonight, with the comforting custom-made silk paisley dressing gowns that they run home to, accessorized by cigars and antique Waterford stemware filled with reserve scotch liqueurs.

Then, of course, as a separate category there is the Coast shirt of the early 2000s, not from the west coast of the U.S. but from Italy by way of Paris boutiques.  Sold as teammates to Weber pants and Anhaus knits,  all three labels were designed by Remo Ruffini, the man who is now CEO of the Moncler Group.  Bergdorf''s Men's Store seems to have been the HQ for Coast shirts in New York and recently a BG salesman predicted that the shirts will be staging a comeback.

Coast shirts are  known for their wearable patterns, usually touched with black.  They are a soft cotton not meant to be ironed, as in,"I just woke up early on the yacht and didn't want to disturb anybody."  The shirts work with jeans and white pants and, because they are fitted, women have been known to like wearing them also.  JP