Monday, March 22, 2010

Archival Gamekeepers

This Vivienne Westwood Paris Match photo has been in my collection of print ad ephemera for many years. I love Westwood's refab Rules of the Game look. My main edit would be to substitute her waxed Barbour Tarras game bag for something sturdier and more stylish (see insert below).

Christine in Rules of the Game (Renoir 1939)

Here are a few historical gamekeepers who might have inspired Westwood's ensemble.


Found Gamekeeper



Schumacher in Rules of the Game (Renoir 1939)



Dressing from the present:

Tweed Inverness Cape (ventile lined)



Haggarts tweed plus twos


A better game bag (Brady Sandringham)

4 comments:

Archie said...

Great post from a wonderful blog I always enjoy!

Growing up in the English countryside I'm a little surprised to see gamekeepers feted as fashion icons! To me, they remain siniter, shadowy figures spying on you from the woods. There was one in particular who threatened to shoot our (wayward) Staffordshire Bull Terrier if she ever again wandered into the woods and disturbed his prize peasants.

That said, I see your point. These keepers do sport a top archival look!

www.thearchblog.com

Horrible Old Man said...

I've been eyeing that brady bag for a while now... but would it fit a woodchuck?

Afeman said...

He kept peasants?

While I've heard that class distinctions have died hard over there, I confess I'm surprised to learn of this.

Frankie C. Kane said...

hi there, the cape you showed is called an 'Ulster', it's similar to an Inverness coat or cape from Scotland.
You might like to see some pics of an old brady fishing bag I have on my blog here: http://prolepulp.blogspot.com/2010/02/critical-condition-brady-fishing-bag.html

all the best, and keep up the good work!
Frankie.