‘I am 63 years old and together with my wife, Martha, own a clothing store, Plainclothes, for men and women. I have undergraduate and graduate degrees in Greek and Latin. My wife and I started our business in 1986 after working for various people in the apparel industry and deciding that Birmingham (where I was born) offered us a viable place to open a store with our particular point of view. Our tastes are extremely similar and that is reflected in the types of merchandise we have sold for 27 years. My parents were of a generation which still took clothing quite seriously and appreciated wearing the correct thing for each occasion. My father, in particular, loved clothing of fine quality and I often accompanied him on shopping trips. So my first notions of style and quality were informed by these two people.

Products from Pukimo Raivio

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

During my undergraduate years (here in Birmingham) I worked for a traditional men’s shop where my father, older brother and myself were customers. I found an immediate liking for Ivy League clothing, which was the prevalent style at the time, and I became extremely interested in both the selling and, particularly, the buying of product for that store. I watched and listened and my interest grew. Upon graduation from college I went on to graduate school and planned to pursue an academic career, but the two brothers who ran the store where I was working offered me a position if academia proved not to offer what I wanted. Consequently, in 1974, we decided to move back to Birmingham and my clothing career began. We opened our  store in 1986 with the avowed purpose of offering classic clothing for both men and women. We were able to find our niche and continue to move in the same direction 27 years later.

Within a few years I did all the buying for the store and thus was able to explore every aspect of the business. I was able to travel to New York in search of new manufacturers and the clothing world became more and more interesting. I read books about clothing styles and tailoring. I took garments apart to see how they were made. I researched the tailors of Savile Row and the history of Ivy League. I watched all the movies of my sartorial heroes, such as Fred Astaire. Perhaps most importantly, I began to meet people in the industry who share my interest in all aspects of clothing — design, style, textiles, craftsmanship, history and elegance. Many of them have shared knowledge, ideas, experience, enthusiasms and stories with me and are still doing so.

During this period menswear was in quite a turmoil, as you remember: some men were dressing Ivy league and others were wearing leisure suits. I have always found the vocabulary of Ivy League to be interesting, appealing, very American, but too narrowly defined. So, I was looking for something else where Ivy might be the starting point but not the end. In about 1976, my world changed when I began to buy what was then called Polo by Ralph Lauren. I had found that mix of Ivy League and Savile Row I’d been looking for and my deep interest in classic clothing began to take shape. I have never had any interest in the ever-changing world of “fashion”.

While working in the store and travelling to New York I again watched and listened but realized that I needed to seek more information on my own. Being an avid student of many things I began (mainly after we started our business) to accumulate a library of books about classic clothing (from the likes of Alan Flusser and others) and to collect Esquire from the 30’s and Apparel Arts. I now have all the issues but one of Esquire from 1933 through 1939, and about 60 volumes of Apparel Arts from 1932 through the 50’s. These in particular have been a constant source of inspiration. Moreover, my wife and I are both fans of movies from the 30’s and 40’s and consider Astaire, Grant, Flynn, et al our sartorial heroes.  However, even though our taste is greatly informed by these sources we are offering clothing for an individual in 2013 and not 1935! So we always work to infuse our offerings with the right dash of modernity and attempt to interpret the trends in our own way.

My personal style has always embraced trim-fitting, natural shoulder clothing and I tend, if anything, to often be a bit over-dressed. I have a great fondness for odd vests with lapels…cream and tan linen, yellow cashmere/silk and gray flannel. And like a character from P.G. Wodehouse have an exemplary sock collection. However, I strive for a certain ease in the wearing of clothes and an injection of some wit…an attitude which we try to engender in our customers. I wear primarily suits and jackets from Sartoria Partenopea in Naples (which we sell) and I have worked with Anderson&Sheppard for the bespoke pieces in my wardrobe.  Everything else I wear comes from our shop as what we sell is a clear reflection of our respective tastes.

Why would someone choose our store? The one thing we offer, which no one else can, is ourselves. My wife and I comprise the entire staff and offer our combined experience and definitive point of view to anyone who walks in our store or contacts us in any way. We have extremely close connections with many of our makers whom we are privileged to call friends. So, the range of services we can offer someone is wide.  We are a small business but we are very good at what we do.

My particular interests are cooking (we both love to eat), military history (particularly the history of the First and Second World Wars) and Pilates (which keeps our minds clear and bodies agile for the everyday demands of running a business). We also enjoy jazz, particularly from about 1920-1950 and swing music as well and we indulge ourselves by playing it in the store daily.

I tell any new customer regardless of age to find a store where he (or she) is comfortable, educate himself to the complexities of quality, build a wardrobe with care and logic and ALWAYS buy the best you can afford. I believe in the necessity of personal contact and an ongoing dialogue so I don’t think this relationship can happen as well on the Internet. We have customers for whom this conversation had been going on for some 30 years or more and it’s still meaningful to all of us.’

http://plainclothes.us/

Pictures: © Plainclothes