Material swagger, bow-ties and Monsieur Jean-Yves

Félix Moati monsieur Jean-Yves fait son cinéma, Paris 2011

artistic direction Garlone Jadoul, photography Markus Lambert

How can the tie, that little bit of fancy folie for men, be up-dated 

into a fashion-art statement? 

Monsieur Jean-Yves has found the way. He has taken that object of lesser affection, the bow-tie, and with the artistry of his knots and the exclusiveness of his specially made fabrics, he is on the edge of a sartorial revolution. The bow-tie - noeud papillon - has the zest of the outsider who wins us over. Those who chose the bow-tie in the recent past were always a little on the renegade side. The problem is, they weren't always as well-dressed as they wanted to be.  Lack of quality? There's no excuse anymore.

all photos: Monsieur Jean-Yves

Monsieur Jean-Yves' celebration of Cannes

The glory of fabric is key

a subdued peacock

authentic fine feathers

and it goes on. Really, the choice is difficult...

Contemporary Parisian dandies are not legion but they are everywhere. Up to them to peruse these haute façon accessories to find their own. Tying is optional, do-it-yourself or pre-tied, some bows will fête the most special occasions and others will add spank to a simple denim shirt.   

If you do not find your bonheur in his vast and varied collections,

Monsieur Jean-Yves also has a bespoke tie service.

Those of you who know me, know I've always liked ties and any way of celebrating the day with a bit of color and precious textile. Monsieur Jean-Yves has found the way to do so by uniting tradition and technology with the spirit of the today.

for more, Monsieur Jean-Yves

The other side of fabrics: brocade vs. lampas

Esther by John Everett Millais

"The painting depicts Esther, the Jewish wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus, as she prepares to enter the presence of her husband. As she is uninvited, she risks death, but does so to inform him of a plot against the Jews.
Millais borrowed the Yellow Jacket, a gown given to General Gordon by the Chinese emperor after his defeat of the Taiping rebellion. In order to create a culturally unspecific effect, he turned it inside out, producing the abstract patterns visible in the painting."

Wikipedia explains this intriguing detail. The source of information is
Millais, J.G.,The Life and Letters of John Everett Millais

photo Gésbi-St Tyl

A wealth of silk on the back of some Tassinari & Chatel  fabrics.

Esther's gown is brocaded, which accounts for the great expanse of yellow ground. Tiny shuttles have been worked over certain zones on the loom to form the decoration. Like embroidery, the threads appear only where there is pattern, but as this is a brocade, they are woven in.

The lampas fabrics in my photo have supplementary decorative wefts that are mostly floating on the reverse side of the cloth where they are not worked into the pattern of flowers on the front -  the reason for an entire hairy cushion of silk across the back of the fabric.

This is possible when the fabric will not have heavy use, such as with certain curtains or in a museum or other historic reconstruction. Otherwise, a lampas weave uses a binding warp which extends from selvedge to selvedge to better anchor the weft threads to the back. If the fabric had been for upholstery, the decorative wefts would have been firmly bound to the ground, making a heavier cloth.