Paul Wilmot

The fashion designer John Weitz (brilliant guy who never designed much but was a master of licensing a la Pierre Cardin) used to have a great catch phrase, “A gentleman should wear only one “fancy”" which was an arcane way of saying that a real guy shouldn’t get all duded up if he was going to be well dressed.

So, if he had a bright tie on he wore it with a plain, say gray suit, he looked good and you saw the tie and that was it. If he wore a white linen jacket, he might pair it with a plain silk knit tie and a white shirt and the suit made all the statement he needed to make to appear confidently well dressed. Got it?

Years ago the late great Jerry Zipkin (a character on whom I could easily do three blogs and not run out of anecdotes) was on Eleanor Lambert’s International Best Dressed List committee, until she died and willed it to three esteemed Vanity Fair editors, this was a scrappy little group of people she knew who would convene in her Upper East Side Fifth Avenue living room annually and pick ten men and ten women as the “best dressed” for that year. Then there would be a listing of the hall of fame…those people who had been on the list enough times that they would get elevated to that rank and never appear on the list again. Now don’t ask why, but I made the list for a couple of years and guess around 1995 or so, I was named to the hall of fame. (The also late and fabulous Nan Kempner who was in it too called it the “hall of the forgotten”…shit I miss that bird). I digress…Anyway, I was always a salaried guy from a nice family who made my own way in life and know that this recognition was just a couple of people trying to be nice to me, but truly, I like clothes.

I can’t abide anything that looks sartorial…hate patterns, checks and the like. I seek for myself and admire in others simplicity, some things of quality, “one fancy” like a good watch or a pocket square from Charvet, JM Weston shoes (always stored in trees, always shined, always with even heels and soles)…like that.

Now, along comes the recession and what do you do to maintain without ignoring that this is a different time than we’ve ever lived in before? A couple of things; first I took three watches that I never wore into Aaron Faber, the watch gallery here in New York and I horse traded them with a little bit of more money and got the most beautiful Patek Philippe I have ever seen. I have it on now and am leaving it to a pal in my will.

Next, I went through my closet and donated four suits, five jackets and a bunch of sweaters, ties and pants to Housing Works here on 17th Street in Manhattan. Then I made a list of what I really need and through the coming months, I am going to make some wise investments, a suit here… jacket there. I’m going to get what I need and imagine now that the purchases will certainly be more considered.

But here’s my point, it’s not going to get me down. I am not going to sacrifice quality or some idea of my own style. I’ll be careful, but dammit, some people treated me like a nice guy years ago and I am not going to go shabby chic. If I use my brain, I can keep up appearances and still be frugal.

PW