NAPOLEON MAY HAVE LOST THE Battle of Waterloo to the British, but he permanently revolutionized men's fashions across the English Channel by inventing elaborate dress at court. Having destroyed the ancien regime, the Emperor had created the trappings of his new one by assigning richly braided civil uniforms to his inner circle.
In England, nothing would do for George IV after his long years as Prince Regent but to have a coronation in 1821 every bit as resplendent as Napoleon's in 1804. This fact is one of many fascinating ones illuminated by ''Dressing the Part: Henry Poole & Company,'' an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum that chronicles the rise of one of the most influential tailors here on Savile Row.
Napoleon gave the company its start in a more direct way. As a result of the deposed Emperor's escape from Elba, a young linen draper in London named James Poole joined a volunteer corps when England began to mobilize and, as was the custom, made his own uniforms. So expertly cut and stitched were these tunics that other volunteers ordered them, prompting him to establish a tailoring emporium soon afterward on Regent Street. His son and apprentice, Henry Poole, who in 1846 inherited a thriving business, later attracted the hunting set, and the showrooms, moved to Savile Row, were soon filled with customers ordering their hunting outfits.
In another victory for the British, the company served as court tailors to Napoleon III. Ledgers at the show document the evolution of dress and social mores upheld today by Angus H. Cundey, a director of the company who represents the sixth generation of the family to run the concern.
At the exhibition, nothing speaks better than the clothes themselves, more than 30 outfits on mannequins crowded behind glass in showcases that resemble storefront windows, with their enticing suggestions of a fantasy world. The show offers a storybook view of the past in the shape of ornate uniforms, festooned with braid and shiny buttons, worn alike by the military, courtiers and household servants. It also demonstrates that the true success of the company has been to recognize the need to change with the times.Continue reading the main story
One surprise in the show is how recently (1937) an American like J. Pierpont Morgan would order velvet court dress with sparkling buttons, an outfit that came with a sword and its own metal box. He wore it only once, for by 1939 George VI had decreed that the custom was too extravagant for wartime. Court dress was replaced by the white tie and tail coat.
Although the Duke of Windsor is known for his sartorial splendor in this century, the hero of modern fashion was Edward VII, who as Prince of Wales adopted the lounge coat, or jacket, for daily wear in the 1850's and then requested his tailor to make one in black and face it with silk for a dinner jacket that was worn at men-only dinners. But the real sign of the Imperial times came when the accompanying waistcoat gave way to the cummerbund, adapted from local costume by British military officers serving in India. Who would ever have dreamed then that this outfit would end up as the favorite of young American men at senior proms?
By the same token, uniforms worn by present-day doormen originated in household livery that ''was developed to distinguish between two great families who traveled to sporting events with an entourage not unlike armies encamped on a battlefield,'' said Avril Hart, a curator of the show along with Susan North. Hunting costumes offered the greatest variety of form and color and also provided the opportunity for women to participate and order their own outfits from Henry Poole.
Fashion was a consideration, but the architecture of the clothes related more to their use than to style. One example is found in the variations of the hunt coat, which began as a cut-away and ended up as a knee-length country frock coat with waterproof linings as protection from the weather during strenuous long-distance fox hunting.
Although women, even as Master of the Hounds, may still not wear scarlet, Henry Poole recently designed a tongue-in-cheek version of a woman's hacking jacket in red wool whipcord; it will be marketed by DAKS Simpson Ltd. A challenge for custom-order tailoring today is in making suits for professional women. How to devise the multiple inside pockets that make men's suits so practical?
THE EXHIBITION DEMONSTRATES how standards are maintained in the face of new requirements. For example, with the advent of central heating, the elegant double-breasted blazer gave way to a single-breasted one. The challenge for the American market is to retain the look of popular British tweeds in lighter-weight fabrics.
Having dressed Charles Dickens in tails for his dramatic readings, Sir Winston Churchill in his black jacket and striped trousers for public life, and Charles de Gaulle in uniformed splendor to save France, Henry Poole continues to be a tailor of choice for the powerful. ''Wealthy clients still take advantage of the company's repair services to maintain the condition of their old garments by replacing buttons, linings and collars,'' said Susan North. The exhibition proves the point that the clothes were made to last.Continue reading the main story