A tailor in the documentary O'Mast

A.M. writes:

As style is a recurring topic at your salon, and traditionalism the dominant one, the documentary O’Mast may be of interest. If the trailer is any guide, there is much to admire in it. The video raises my doubt in the notion of America as relatively ‘conservative,’ and the nations of Europe as relatively ‘progressive.’ Not that the film is representative of anything but its niche subject, but, as a general matter, Europe seems abler at preserving the beauty of generations past, and perhaps even at cultivating it for the present and future. 

The trailer calls to mind a topic of especial interest: taste in traditionalism. I often find myself estranged from supposed conservatives, because they are often slovenly in appearance and manner. Their tastes are low and vulgar. For some reason, this is invariably a conservative bona fide: “I’m not one of those snooty liberals.” No longer do the people at large (ahem) carry themselves with dignity. And the conservative mainstream seems resolutely deaf to any sophistication in the arts – to wit, National Review’s list of “The Best Conservative Movies.”

Laura writes:

Here is an excellent interview with Gianluca Migliarotti, the director of the film. He is interviewed by a writer named Derek at the mens’ style website Put This On.

The film does not have full financial backing yet but is finished and, according to Put This On, is being aired at New York University’s Department of Italian Studies on Nov. 30. I would love to see it someday.

Laura adds:

On the same subject of men’s clothing, here is an interesting interview in Monday’s Wall Street Journal with the men’s fashion writer, G. Bruce Boyer, a former literature professor who began to write about fashion in the 1970s. He says:

It is both delusional and stupid to think that clothes don’t really matter and we should all wear whatever we want. Most people don’t take clothing seriously enough, but whether we should or not, clothes do talk to us and we make decisions based on people’s appearances.

On the other hand, there are people, particularly in the fashion industry, who take clothing too seriously. We aren’t doing biomedical research or working on some nuclear collider. Clothing is not everything in life and it won’t solve problems of famine and overpopulation. It’s a fine balance you have to strike and that’s what I try to do.

Overpopulation? No, but perhaps better clothing could help solve our problem of underpopulation.  

G. Bruce Boyer

Please follow and like us: