Wool Suits Aid Climb to Top of Everest

Famous mountaineer Conrad Anker, who discovered the body of George Mallory at 2000 feet below the top of Mount Everest in 1999, became the best dressed man on Everest in 2007. No, it wasn't some odd fashion publicity stunt, Conrad Anker was re-enacting the 1924 climb of George Mallory. Renowned British climber George Mallory, famously attempted the first ascent of Everest, only to fall and die on the mountain. Cambridge educated, Mallory was the toast of 1920's British society. His disappearance at the top of Everest, led to speculation that he might have made it to the summit, before disappearing without a trace.

This past summer Anker and a partner recreated Mallory's climb wearing authentic 1920's gear including cotton long johns, silk shirts, hand-knit wool jumpers, Burberry top suit, coat, and trousers, glass goggles, leather mask, and fur-lined leather motorcycle helmets. The reproduction clothes performed remarkably well by repelling water and keeping them warm up to the last part of the climb. The climbers found the woolen tweed clothes to perform almost as well as modern synthetic climbing gear.

While Anker and partner changed into down climbing suits to finish the final dash to the top, they proved that Mallory and Irvine could have completed the climb in the gear of their day. It was only the fatal fall that prevented them from beating Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing NorGay to the top in 1958.

A statement from the Altitude Everest Expedition noted that by removing artificial aids and free climbing: "the climbers confronted the Second Step very much as Mallory and Irvine might have done 83 years ago. Their success at the summit, without the use of the ladder, adds weight to the theory that George Mallory and Sandy Irvine may have made it to the summit."

Both climber's from the 2007 climb noted that they were rather uncomfortable at the highest elevations of the climb. Perhaps a good reason to avoid mountains while dressed in your favorite suit, and limit your sojourns to the city and the country side.

How Cary Grant Built his Hollywood Career with Suits and Style

Book Review: Cary Grant a Celebration of Style.

Cary Grant's early life and long Hollywood career reveal how his popularity and success grew from a suave personal style, both on screen and in his everyday life. Journalist Richard Torregrossa follows Grant, real name Archie Leach, from his humble beginnings in England and early career in New York City as an acrobat at age 16, to his early struggle to establish himself in plays and films. With little education, no skills and no contacts, the teenage Cary Grant was truly on his own in the United States.

As he struggled to create an acting style and persona, Cary Grant initially copied the style of well-dressed actors like Noel Coward and Douglas Fairbanks. Cary Grant came to be seen by movie goers as handsome and perfect, but his early career was a struggle to conceal his physical flaws as Archie Leach and become the stylish and constantly well dressed Cary Grant. After moving to Hollywood and failing his first screen test he worked at minimizing his flaws by making adjustments in his wardrobe. Grant gradually adopted well made suits, lost his British accent, and often wore a shirt and tie to conceal his overly muscular neck.

In the 1930's and '40's, the film studios often had the actors wear their own clothing. As he became a better actor, Grant began to wear custom made suits both on-screen and off. As he continued to create his own style, Grant began wearing custom made shirts and custom suits from Saville Row tailors in London.

Cary Grant A Celebration of Style is illustrated with photos from Cary Grant's early film career through his final days. Richard Torregrossa's well researched book shows how Cary Grant continually learned from his mistakes and continually shaped his image to become one of Hollywood's most glamorous and successful leading men. The lessons learned from this biography of style can be applied to creating your own style for business or your personal life.

Do Women Prefer You With a Tie?

Do women prefer the way you look with a tie or without the tie? A recent survey conducted in early October by HCD Research, showed people faceless pictures of a man with a tie versus a man with a white shirt and open collar.

The study reveals that a neatly dressed man without a tie is viewed more positively by women than by men. The differences between the sexes are very interesting. The women viewed the neatly dressed man without the tie as more fun with some even thinking the dressed down man might be more adventurous or sexy.

More men in the study seemed to trust a man who wears a tie. They tended to view the man with the tie as dependable, maybe older, probably a manager or even some one who makes more money. More men also indicated that they would prefer the practical dressed up man with the tie as a friend or colleague at work.

As for bow ties, an earlier survey found that most people thought the bow tie wearer was more likely to be brainy or dull, older or dull, or conservative or dull. Those were the good comments.

Some people, especially women, thought the bow tie wearer might be boring, quirky or fidgety.

So, how does this help you? The regular neck tie is perceived as more positive than the bow tie. Perhaps the bow tie will only work for you if you want to fit in with an older group of people, or you want to be seen as smart in an academic setting or among a conservative group.

The regular neck tie would be a good choice to fit in among men in an office setting. The necktie would also be the better choice for a job interview. But for making friends or dating with women, you'll make a better impression with a neat outfit with an open collar.

Ultimately you have to find your own style, but it helps to be able to fine tune your outfit for the audience you'll be dealing with.

You can read more about the studies at: http://www.mediacurves.com/press_releases/PressRelease.cfm?PressReleaseID=96

Brooks Brothers Slim Fit Shirts - Shirt review

Corey Bostick is a well-informed and helpful salesman at Brooks Brothers downtown Atlanta store at Peachtree Center. When I told him that most ready to wear shirts are a poor fit for my tall and slim build, he suggested the Brooks Brothers Slim-fit shirts. Corey was careful to measure and help me to find the correctly sized shirts.

I have too many button down shirts and decided to get some spread collars and french cuffs. Brooks Brothers offers a medium spread collar called the Ainsley and a wider spread collar called the Londoner. The Ainsley suited me, so I chose a white French cuff, a white with wide blue Bengal stripes, and an ecru shirt with a point collar.

The blue stripe and ecru shirts had a near perfect fit in the neck, sleeves and body of the shirt. However, unlike custom or made to measure shirts, there is less of a selection in fabrics and collars. At half the price of a custom shirt, it is possible to get a superbly fitting shirt, at the cost of some compromise. The trade off is that you are limited to the collars and styles available. There were no shoulder pleats, only the standard box pleat, there are no textures in the fabrics such as a herringbone, and the colors are limited in range. The spread collars have a very appealing shape and the button down collar has a good looking curve when buttoned. This is rare in most off the rack shirts.

Still, at only $79 for a dress shirt with a superb fit, this is a rather good deal. The 3 shirt package is a good deal, but make sure you try on the shirts for proper fit and appearance. No price is low enough for a shirt that doesn't fit.

The only disappointment was the white non-iron shirt with French cuffs; the thin material of the shirt shows my tan quite easily through the shirt fabric. There's no other way to say it, it just looks cheap. How long could such thin-looking cotton fabric last? Surely not for long. So the white shirt went back to be exchanged for a thicker fabric in blue with the spread collar. Next time, I'll check all the shirts, before I leave the store.

Overall the Slim fit non-iron shirts did very well. They actually look neat and unwrinkled if you take them out of the dryer and hang them immediately. This is good for an all cotton shirt. If you left the shirt in the dryer too long, producing wrinkles, you could always use a steamer or an iron for a quick touch-up. These shirts could be great for your business travels.

The Brooks Brother Slim fit is a ready to wear shirt, not custom. It's not fair to compare the Slim fit shirts to a custom shirt. While not offering the control over pockets and shirt fabrics, the Slim fit shirts do offer an affordable alternative for those who need a slimmer dress shirt, without paying custom shirt prices.

If you prefer softer and thicker fabrics, textured shirt fabrics or a greater variety of colors and patterns, you would be happier with a custom shirt maker. Brooks Brothers also offers custom shirts.