Vocabulary to be memorized

accentuate – подчеркивать , выделять

antiquity – древность, старина

appropriation – присвоение, назначение

braiding – шнуровка

capaciously – просторно, широко

crescent – полумесяц, серп луны

charioteer – возница, наездник

cluster – кисть, пучок

coin – монета

contour – контур, очертание

corset – корсет, грация, пояс

cumbersome – нескладный, громоздкий

ceramic – керамика

drapery – мягкие складки

discern – различать

engraving – гравюра

ethnicity – этнос

exquisitely – изысканно, утонченно

elaborately – продуманно, изысканно

fade – блеклый

feature – изображать, рисовать

fez – феска

feather - перо, плюмаж

furnishings – украшения

heraldic – геральдический

hoop – обруч

hem – рубец, кайма, кромка

knight – рыцарь

monk – монах

medieval – средневековый

manifest – ясно показан

mill – мельница, фабрика

peasant – крестьянин

pleat – складка

prevail – одержать победу, торжествовать

purple – фиолетовый

rust – ржавый

source – источник, начало

sumptuous – роскошный, великолепный

subtle – тонкий, нежный, утонченный, искусный

trim – наряд, украшение, отделка

wool – шерсть

wear (wore, worn) – носить (одежду)

yarn – пряжа, нить

Text X Bohemian suits

Before the Second World War Cecil Beaton had enjoyed a sensation with his theatrical demeanour, exaggerated by dramatic hats and flowing neck scarves. By the 1960s, it became acceptable – and even rather expected – for those involved in the arts to assume an unconventional appearance. British photographers provide a good example of this: Angus McBean favoured tweed all-in-one suits; Lord Patrick Lichfield masqueraded as a Russian Cossack, attired in velvet tunics and heavy boots. Norman Parkinson was truly eclectic in his dress, embracing traditional tweed suits as well as Indian-style silk tunics, accessorized with headwear selected from his impressive collection of Kashmiri wedding hats.

The Bohemian center of London had moved from Soho to Chelsea in the mid-1950s (it has moved back again in Soho in recent years). This transition was paralleled by an increased interest in style. Simon Hodgson, Robert Jacobs and most notably Christopher Gibbs, were aristocratic and Bohemian style leaders. Gibbs wore elaborate double-breasted waistcoats, velvet ties, striped Turkish shirts and cravats. Jane Ormsby-Gore was very much part of this scene, working as Christopher Gibb’s assistant in the Camden-based antique shop that he opened in 1959. This group spawned the much spotlighted ‘Chelsea Set’ of the 1960s, which included style leaders Michael Rainey, Tara Browne, Mark Palmer and David Mlinaric.

In the early 1960s the Parisian tailor Gilbert Feruch introduced jackets with Mao collars into fashionable western tailoring. In Britain, it became known as the Nehru (or Rajah) style – reflecting a pacifist rather than revolutionary image – and was to become a mainstay of male Bohemian fashion. This jacket is slim in cut and buttons at the neck with s neat, stand collar, thus negating the need for the formal, starched shirt and tie conventionally worn with a suit.

A new generation of extrovert tailors was emerging. Key figures such as Tommy Nutter led by example and commercialized their own distinctive styles. In 1968 a collarless suit, buttoning to the neck, was designed and worn by Rupert Lycett Green, the designer-owner of Blades. It combines historical and ethnic references with traditional western tailoring. The cream silk jacquard, hand-loomed in a Lyon silk mill in 1953, resembles a mid-nineteenth-century design. Rupert Lycett Green also designed a cream silk crepe shirt, with an eighteenth-century style stock, to wear with the suit.

The extravagant and perfect suit was made by Just Men in the up-to-minute style of wide lapels, pocket flaps and narrow trousers. A large brown silk tie, arranged with a double Windsor knot, was worn with a white shirt from Turnbull & Asser. Brown leather boots, with elastic sides, completed the ensemble. Sir Roy Strong ceased wearing this outfit in about 1974, when the vogue for decorative evening dressing petered out.

Beautifully laundered, white linen and pristine cream wool suits have long been the prerogative of the dandy. Traditionally, they had associations with colonial dress, picnics by the river and croquet. By the late 1960s, in exaggerated styling, they were much favoured by pop stars. This three-pieces cream wool suit, with broad lapels and flared trousers by Tommy Nutter, reflects this latter mood.

In the 1990s Favourbook of Jermyn Street cater for men and women with Bogemian leanings. They specialise in Nehru jackets, decorative waistcoats, frock coats and velvet smoking jackets, with matching accessories. Many of the fabrics are inspired by historical designs. A Favourbook black cotton velvet Nehru jacket from 1996 is embellished with silver silk embroidery, reminiscent of Iranian floral designs of a type seen on carpets and ceramics.

Men who are conservative in their dress occasionally indulge a Bohemian taste the exotic at home. Opulent, brocaded silk dressing gowns, for example, have assumed an air of languid decadence since Noel Coward wore them with great panache, on stage, for his 1924 play The Vortex. Georgina von Etzdorf has perpetuated this trend in the 1990s with her deeply coloured, abstractly patterned, velvet dressing gown.