‘In the mid-fifties, Miles [Davis] took to the Ivy League Look in fashion, having his clothes made at the epicenter of preppy fashion, the Andover Shop in Cambridge’s Harvard Square, where tailor Charlie Davidson dressed him in jackets of English tweed or madras with narrow lapels and natural shoulder, woolen or chino trousers, broadcloth shirts with button-down collars, thin knit or rep ties, and Bass Weejun loafers. It was a look that redefined cool and shook those who thought they were in the know. Some, like Boston Herald columnist George Frazier, reacted badly. Calling him “the Whilom War Lord of the Weejuns,” he accused Davis of no longer being cool, but of merely showing off…in fact, of having become a “fink.” But as always with Miles, there was something extra in his clothing, something that the discerning could spot and know that he was set apart from the obvious. For one, his coats were cut with a 3/4 inch higher rise in the back so as to gracefully accommodate the slump he assumed when he played. The chest was cut close, as were the waist and back of the coat; the pockets were piped and slightly slanted; and the buttons on the sleeves buttoned and unbuttoned, allowing for freedom of movement when playing the trumpet, but also exposing their silk lining when turned back. His shirts were high-collard and sking tight, just as his trousers were slim and close, so close that some wondered aloud about his intentions, and whether those intentions could be sustained by his physique. But he had their attention.’

Products from Pukimo Raivio

Kiton, grey sports jacket, size 50EU
Ralph Lauren, Black Label suit, size 52EU

~ John Swzed in the wonderful ‘Uptown Conversation: The New Jazz Studies’