I’ve been hesitating about this guy. I mean, I love him and his movies, but his style is not my style. However, he is here for a straightforward reason: Sordi represents - like perhaps nobody else - the average Italian, or the “Mario Rossi”, if you will (Average Joe). To be even more precise, Sordi is the quintessential Modern Roman Gentleman.
For those of you who have never heard of him: Sordi is regarded in Italy, and especially among Romans, as some sort of popular hero. His movies have entered the collective imagination of modern Italian culture and many of his famous quotes are an integral part of idiomatic Italiano. Italian comedian and director Carlo Verdone, with whom Sordi was very close, once stated during an interview that his mentor was some sort of “Radical Catholic”. He was probably hinting at the fact that Sordi was a true believer, but nevertheless, no exactly what you call your average Catholic. To give you an idea of his personality, here’s a famous quote. Sordi was once asked why he wasn’t married and he answered: “Me, Married? Do you really expect me to put a stranger in my home?”
Alberto Sordi was not just an extremely prolific actor (200 movies circa), but also an accomplished director and, most importantly, he was made a “Knight of Grand Cross” of the Italian Republic and that’s an incredible accomplishment. He also received many official recognitions for his work - for example, seven “David di Donatello” film award, among others. But some say that the most important achievement of his career was the unconditional love of his fellow Roman citizens. When he passed away following a heart attack back in 2003, a crowd of almost a million people gathered at the Basilica of St. John Lateran to say goodbye. Some claim that when Pope John Paul the Second gave up his ghost two years later, the piazza wasn’t as crowded.
However, we are here to discuss Sordi’s style. And the only reason why I spent a few extra-words for his bio is because I miss him. I feel sorry for all the people that will never be able to enjoy one of his movies, because they can’t really understand Italian. But, as I said, Sordi style is not exactly my cup of tea. There was too much London in his outfits. One may think that one can never be too British when it comes to dressing well, but I would object. You see? If you were born and raised in Italy, then you must act and dress like an Italian, it isn’t a question of choice: it’s imperative. National identity being crucial for personal development and cultural identity. An healthy fascination with foreign cultures is auspicabile in a gentleman (especially with Anglo-Saxon culture), but excess is never a good thing. “In medio stat virtus”, the ancient Romans used to say: virtue is to be found in the balance between too much and too little of anything.
This is the reason why I picked this outfit for Sordi: it is simple, classical, well put-together, timeless. Camel jackets are perfect in wintertime, they are somewhat hydro-repellant and they can easily keep moisture and cold winds at bay. Style must be functional, remember? Add a camel jacket to your wardrobe and you will always have something to wear in wintertime. Some modern Men’s Style websites and self-proclaimed style gurus would want you to pair a light-brown camel jacket with black pants. Don’t do that! Black and brown NEVER go well together. Go for Navy blue, instead. The muted color of the jacket would still pop-out, but you’ll be safe from the sarcastic remarks of the usual connoisseur that always lurks around the corner when you decide to go for the “personal” style approach, and that would be me: God forgives, John Cravatta doesn't. Remember, you aren’t a trend-setter, the Duke of Windsor or even Gianni Agnelli: play safe.
Notice how, Sordi being a Roman, he effortlessly understands the brown-with-blue rule: his madder tie is also simple and works perfectly with the ensemble. Also, notice how well he tied his necktie. That’s an half-Windsor know, correct: Sordi loved Windsors and half-Windsors, that’s one of the main reasons why I don’t like his style. The “fighetta” (little pussy), is there and it is perfect. Huh, pardon: that would be the dimple. Romans sometimes can be quite rude. There’s another thing or two to point out about the necktie and about how Sordi understands style quite effortlessly: that’s an English-spread collar you see on that shirt, which means that the choice of an half-Windsor knot is quite appropriate indeed: bravo, Alberto!
The other thing being: the slope! The necktie doesn’t look like a dying roadkill on the chest, but it’s lively instead. Consider also geometry: look at how the cuts of the collar form a continuum with the lapels on the jacket and go well with the knot as well. On this point, come to think about it: here’s the problem with the ensemble: the necktie is too thin for those lapels. However, the color of the shirt is appropriate (notice there are cufflinks, instead of buttons) and the choice of the wristwatch too. So, we’ll forgive Alberto this minor mistake.
A “perfetto” gentleman, as well as a Knight of Grand Cross, the late Vittorio Gassman was one of the greatest Italian actors of all times. The son of a German engineer and of a Jewish woman from Pisa, he was born in Genoa, in 1922.
Apart from other important prizes and recognitions, he also received the Order of Merit from the Italian Republic. Most importantly, though, Gassman was blessed by God with both beauty and talent. Italians will always remember him for his role in “L’Armata Brancaleone” (“For Love and Gold”), one of the best movies of all times. The colorized picture you see here is probably seventy years old, but, as we all know, style is timeless. This magnificent tweed jacket in forest green, with notch lapels, is finished with a houndstooth pattern, quintessentially British in its nature. It goes extremely well with that white cotton shirt: it’s a great combination of textures and colors. The polka-dots on the black necktie are a shade of light mauve. The outfit works because the dots are considerably bigger than the houndstooth patterns of the jacket. Now: obviously we can’t see the pants, but how about a pair of dockers in cachi? And for the shoes, I’d go for a nice pair of chocolate brown suede brogues.
The combo would be great for an evening cocktail party in front of a crackling fireplace, surrounded by interesting people, jazz music, good stories, Scotch whisky and Cuban cigars. Thoughts?
I was hibernated many, many years ago, during the “Age of Style”. I have no idea who did that to me and why, although I think the culprit might be a very well-known Romanian vampire… but to you this doesn’t really matter. The fact is: somebody woke me up not so long ago and what matter is: I am a style dinosaur, the last of the Mohicans, a testimony of good, old-fashioned style. My morals are obnoxiously conservative, at least as much as my outward look. I don’t advocate for gay rights, I’m not an animalise, I don’t think humans should try and save the word and I regard liberals individuals and ideas with much suspicion. Also, I love the smell of un-refined gasoline and I truly believe that the internal combustion engine is a divine invention which saved the world. I don’t like Pagans and I think that women are very different from men and they should attempt to become soldiers and they should indulge in any other manly occupation, either. I think that what you call “feminism” (I’m guessing you are referring to the Suffragette Movement…) is despicable and utterly anti-women. Feminism is so anti-women that actually negates femininity. I also despise Yoga, because I want nothing to do with the God Brahman, I’m not dying and I am not a Hindu. Much in the same fashion, Vegans give me the goose bumps. Meat is good for you.
But there is one thing I love and that is: style. And since, in order to win my bread I must do publicity for a reknown brand of neckties in the capital of Italy I’ve also came to love neckties. Here’s why I love them… In a sense, we own the existence of contemporary neckties and bowties to the Habsburg Monarchy. Why? Well, it’s because they were the ones who founded the Croats or Crabats or Crabatten, if you wish. You see where I’m going? Yes, it’s the “Cravat”. Modesty apart, I was born with a cravat and therefore I believe I’m entitled to talk about this, also given the fact that my name is John Cravatta. In the beginning, it was the cravat. But who were the Crabats? you might ask. Well, they were 17th century men-at-arms recruited from all over Eastern Europe. They were Croatians, Hungarians, Serbs, Albanians, Transylvanians, Poles, Cossacks, Walachians and Tatars. They were many, they fought well and hard. For example: they took part in in the 1623 Battle of Stadtlohn as well as in the Thirty Years' War, but most importantly they fought with style. In fact, they use to wear a neckband, apparently made of linen, which served them for hygienic purposes, but maybe also as some sort of psychological protection.
Now, that’s why the origin of the modern tie could be traced back in the 1600s; That was definitively a bloody century, some called it “the century of the soldier” in fact. The term “cravat” itself was originally used by the French to describe somebody from Croatia. Anyway, sometimes good things come from bad things and like most gentlemen's styles sandwiched between the 17th century and the First World War, also the cravat came from the martial society. Curiously enough, even though the modern descendant of the Crabat is a businessman and doesn’t go around killing people, he still needs a “cravat”. Right, cravat history 101 ends here, you get an “A+”, but what is a contemporary necktie or bowtie and why do we need it? Good question. My educated answer would be something along the lines of “a tie” is a piece of art, because, like any other artwork, it does not have any practical function. It’s an aesthetic tinsel, hanging from a suit. It was Charles II of England, who gave the first modern definition of a necktie in 1660:
“A cravatte is another kind of adornment for the neck being nothing else but a long towel put about the Collar, and so tyed before with a Bow Knott; this is the original of all such Wearings; but now by the Art and Inventions of the seamsters, there is so many new ways of making them, that it would be a task to name, much more to describe them”.
Even before that: the very first known picture of a man wearing a cravat comes from 1622 and it depicts the Croatian-born baroque poet Ivan Gundulić.
It was is more like a scarf than a necktie, and it was white and probably made of linen, but still: it was rather dandy. Notice how that simple white muffler tied loosely around his neck adds style to the figure of this ancient gentleman. Gundulić, likewise known as “Gianfrancesco Gondola”, was probably the most well-known Croatian Baroque poet. He was a Roman-Catholic and utterly against the Lutheran reformation and he was also opposed to what he used to call “the vanity of this world”. How ironic, right? Anyways, we would like to remember him for his sense of style. Gundulić's most celebrated play was a pastoral called “Dubravka”, written in 1628, here’s a passage.
“Fair liberty, beloved liberty, liberty sweetly avowed,
thou are the treasured gift that God to us endowed,
all our glory is thy true creation,
to our Home thou are all the decoration,
no silver nor gold, not life itself could replace
the reward of thy pure and sublime grace.”
Mr. Gundulić might have been a stylish poet, but you have a chance to be a stylish gentleman, which in my humble opinion, is even better. And remember: style is what you do while no one is watching. So choose your cravats well and don't ask your wife about colours! Ask me, instead. At your service.
