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Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette! In today's interview, I have Aleksandar Cvetkovic
from Britain, who is a young, stylish writer. Aleks, welcome to the interview!
AC: Thank you so much for having me! This is really cool, this is awesome! I'm glad
to be here.
SRS: Fantastic, you could make time. So just to give a little introduction to our viewers,
you are a young lad who loves literature, art and craftsmanship. Just tell us more about
yourself.
AC: Gosh! I mean, yes, I'm 22 years old. I live in Hertfordshire which is just north
of London. I work in London and as you say, I do love literature, I love reading, I love
theater and drama but my main passion as you say is classic style. I've never really figured
out where it came from, interestingly.
SRS: Funny. Well. let's figure it out today!
AC: Let's do that. I can't put my finger on it. Well, I've always been passionate since
I was a lot younger, I should say. I've been passionate about how things are made and things
that have a genuine kind of artistry and a genuine beauty about them because I think
those things are quite rare. When you find them, you do know. I guess many people watching
will know that it's a really special feeling when you discover something that someone has
actually put a bit of themselves into crafting and creating.
Sometimes you come across things, whether it be a tie or a suit or a pair of shoes and
you just know that it's more than the sum of its parts. It's more than some cloth that's
been worked with a nylon and needle, it's more than a few pieces of leather that have
been stitched together. You get a sense of the person behind. I think that's special
and that's what I, as much as possible, what I like to write about.
SRS: So you mentioned writing, so you started originally with a blog and so how did you
get into blogging, like how did that evolve?
AC: Again, loses track of how all these things happen. I started a blog called the STUDENT
TAILOR in my first year in University, the summer of my first year which off the top
my head, I think is 2011 at that point so a few years ago.
SRS: So, how old were you then?
AC: I was, again, you're testing me. I think I was 18 and that may or may not add up. I'm
hopeless at math that's why I'm a writer.
SRS: (laughs) Don't worry about it. That's alright.
AC: I was around 17 or 18 and I had been becoming increasingly interested in men's style and
in tailoring in particular and I just decided I wanted to do something to be more involved,
I wanted to find a way of learning more and connecting with different craftspeople. I
was studying English Literature at Uni and I was doing a hell of a lot of writing for
my academic work, for essays and all the rest of it and I kind of thought, I might as well
do a bit more about something I enjoy and just see what happens. I've never done any
creative writing or any journalistic writing but I just got on Google Blogger and that
was the first Student tailor Mark one. Just a basic little blogger platform with some
awful photography on it and my scribblings and it kind of went from there. I've changed
the name since so it's now called THE SARTORIAL JOURNAL. When it was the Student Tailor, I
always felt a little bit awkward because I wasn't actually a tailor.
SRS: Exactly, like that would be the first association I would have like you're an aspiring
tailor or you're learning the craft of tailoring but that was never actually what you did.
You were at a University studying literature, right?
AC: Yes, indeed. It was a sticking point but it kind of works. I wanted to learn about
the craft anyway and I thought it was nice to sort of give a hint of the fact that I
was a student.
SRS: Absolutely, which now changed hence the name change, I suppose.
AC: Yeah and it got to the point where I sort of been a graduate for 6 months and I thought
"This can't go on, it's got to change."
SRS: How would you describe your profession today? You can also walk us through university
and what you did there and how you became what you are today?
AC: Okay, well at the moment, I am very very lucky, very privileged to be a part of THE
RAKE magazine, part of the team, part of the rake's editorial team. I got that, I guess
through the blog because obviously I started the blog during my first year at university
and it was just intended to be as I said sort of a wauy of connecting with different brands
and I had my first kind of experience in buying good shirts or looking at good clothes and
learning about what made good clothes. I wrote it up, I wrote it up and the blog slowly grew
as I went through university and I put more and more time into it and Im fortunate that
the people picking up on it on social media got bigger and bigger and so forth and I got
to the point where I had some really good relationships with a couple of brands on Savile
Row and one of which was CHESTER BARRIE, and interstingly, this is Chester Barrie that
I'm wearing. I got to know the designer CHRIS MODOO very well. He's a great guy and he invited
me along to his London collection's Men's show that was exhibiting spring/summer '14,
I believe.
SRS: So fairly recently.
AC: Fairly recent and at the show, I was kind of, I think that was the second London Collection's
Men show that I've ever been to, I was completely inexperienced, I didn't know what I wanted
to do and I couldn't quite figure out what I wanted to be and I never planned on being
a journalist, at all which is a funny thing.
SRS: That is funny, indeed. So is that what you would call yourself right now? A journalist?
AC: Yeah, that'swhat I'm trying to be, anyway. I'm trying to.
SRS: Well, I think you're quite well. What do you think is the current state of men's
print journalism?
AC: Yeah, that's an interesting one. Again, I guess, cos I've only been in the industry
20 months so I have a lot of different thoughts on this. I can never quite figure out which
way it is.
SRS: Walk us through, that's interesting.
AC: The interesting thing is, my personal view is that although print media, generally
speaking, is often, one way or another struggling, I think that you know, the fact that we're
sitting here talking about classic style and a passion for things that have good quality
and integrity means that a beautiful print media, there will always be a market for it.
I think it gets to the point where a magazine in itself, just as an object, becomes a very
appealing thing.
SRS: Like a tactile feeling..
AC: I would say this cos I'm biased, but it's slightly different between reading something
on your kindle and the touch and feel of a beautiful book that you've had for years,
you've read 5 times and that you know back to front and that you really love. There's
something about a really beautifully constructed and put together magazine that has inherant
quality and I think guys that appreciate quality will always want to have that and so, I'm
not too woried, yeah, I'm not too worried for us.
SRS: So, what would be your advise for people who are maybe at a university, in college
and they're about to graduate and they have a passion and they'd like to find work in
that field similar to you but would you have some advice for them?
AC: You know, no one's ever asked me that so that's an interesting one. I would say
one thing I've learned to do and still learning to do is take your time, first of all.
SRS: What do you mean by that?
AC: Well, if you feel that you need to take 6 months to see whether you could make a go
of something or you feel that you need to take 6 months just to, I don't know, get some
experience or to explore different things or to explore the industry that you think
you're going in to, take that time. I remember being in my last year at university and it
was completely drummed in to us, you have to get this grade, you have to get this grade
or you won't be employed, you have to get this grade! and I realized since I came out
that if your academic degree doesn't necessarily go according to planned, it's not the end
of the world. There's always a way through but sometimes that means just stepping back
a little bit, taking time to re-assess, taking time to plan and also, this will be my second
piece of advice. Take some time to put yourself out there because if I didn't have my blog
and if I didn't commit to just trying to meet people for my own enjoyment, I won't be sat
here today, talking to you.
SRS: I think that's a very goood piece of advice, put yourself out there and a blog
is a very good instrument to do so because it's relatively affordable and I think the
biggest challenge there is probably consistency and persistence. Wouldn't you say?
AC: I agree. Just keep on going, keep on going, keep trying to meet people, keeo trying to
communicate with people, keep trying to engage with peopla and don't be put off because there
are always people that do not want to commnicate with you, there will always be stumbling blocks.
Particularly, blogging, it's so hard to grow your following and it really takes a lot of
time and a lot of effort and you kind of have to treat it like a part time job as well as
whatever else you're doing.If you just keep going, it does pay dividends.
SRS: Lately, especially in the online world, there are like many blogs out there, more
and more that talk about bespoke and sometimes, it's not very transparent of what the material
relationship is, you know sometimes people get suits free and in return they write about
it. Sometimes, they get paid to write about stuff, so what's your take on that whole sponsored
posts? How do you make that work?
AC: I think it's a grey area.It's not something I've ever done. Personally, I don't think
that that, it's not really for me to say but I think, it's important that one is reviewing
an experience and reviewing a suit and reviewing a tailor in a completely unbiiased fashion.
You know, some bloggers have arrangements with craftspeople and write about them regularly
or whatever, whatever. Even if they are having a suit made for cost price or for whatever,
thay're still honest and they're doing that because they're genuinely passionate about
the tailor's work, that's fine. The tricky thing is knowing when someone is literally
just sort of plugging someone because it's free.
SRS: I think it's a matter of disclosure, right? I firmly believe that somebody can
give you a free suit and pay you $5000 to write about it and you can still be very honest
for integrity. The question is, should it be disclosed, what was going on? Or should
it not be disclosed? I think online sometimes and even in print, it's just not disclosed
then it becomes awkward in a way because you just don't know what is it. The reader can
make up their own mind what they think. Once you've built a reputation and people either
trust you or they don't but I still think it's helpful if people can actually see what
the basis is of it. I think in Europe, the whole online game is just so new that there
are no regulations and there's abig grey, area.
AC: Yeah, I'd agree. Grey area's probably the best way of describing it. The flip side
of it is, it's very easy to condemn someone and just dismiss their views because they've
come to an arrangement with a craftsperson but actually, a lot of the time, it's still
perfectly valid. They're writing with integrity, they're writing what they honestly believe
and it's just a kind of the nature, the way it works but it's difficult to know who those
people are and then we might not be that person so I think actually, you're right. It does
come down to disclosure, I suppose.
SRS: The next question I have here on my list, where did you draw inspiration from in the
way you dress?
AC: Right. Now this is, sort of trying to figure out where this interest in men's wear
comes from. AAs I've mentioned briefly earlier, I love art deco men's wear, I love the 1910s,
20s, 30s. i connect with that period because when you look at the history of tailoring
and of classic style, really, it's coming out of the 1890s, men start to experiment
with suit for the first time and people start perceiving the suit as a uniform and they
start looking at it and going to know what I'm going to have that mad checked fabric,
I'm going to put a turn up on my trousers and I'm goig to wear pleats and the legs are
going to get bigger, I want big shoulders and big lapels and guys start expressing their
personality through clothing for the first time, I think. That's my personal take on
it, I just think that kind of social liberation in relation to tailoring is really powerful
and really exciting. My favorite thing to look at is 1930s fashion place, by a mile.
My pinterest is just full of old illustrations because the men just look immaculate and guys
are having fun with their clothes and that's just a really cool thing.
SRS: Yeah, there's so much different things to do and you're like "Oh, I like this outfit!"
and I've seen sometimes people taking 1930s fashion illustrations and trying to create
that same look, same shirt, same tie, same suit which is actually rather difficult because
finding the right fabrics and patterns is difficult.
AC: The key I think is to take the essence of the style and just sharpen it up a little
bit for the modern age, that's what I try to do generally. Maybe keep the architectural
lines on the suit but just opt for a different fabric or keep the shirt underneath a little
bit simple, I think there are ways around it.
SRS: You're not striving for a vintage look, you're looking for a 2016 look with 1930s
influence, is that right?
AC: Awesome, yeah!
SRS: Similar to the way I do it. i don't want to look like a period costume and it's more
like, I want to have my style and I just draw inspiration from them.
AC: Take the essence of it. That's what I find, yeah!
SRS: You're British. So, what would be your definition of the English gentleman?
AC: Now I find this, the concept of the gentleman an interesting one because I think there are
a lot of people that see it as something quite antiquated and I think that the notion of
the gentleman is more relevant than ever in today's society. Interestingly, it's not about
the way he dresses, I think a lot of people, equate gentlemanliness with what they're wearing
and actually, more than ever, I think it's an attitude, it's about displaying intellect
and tolerance and generosity and common courtesy and all these values that I think can be really
easily lost in just the hustle and bustle of modern life. I mean, getting on the tube
everyday, is just so frustrating and it's very, very easy just to turn into an absolute
rottweiler and just hate everyone around you and be anti-social and really rude and I find
myself consciously trying to actually just understand that everyone else in that carriage
is also going to work and is also shattered and is also in a bad mood. It's about going
that extra mile to think about where you're at in the environment you're in. That's what
a gentleman I think ought to be doing in today's world.
SRS: Great definition! It's way beyond the clothes, it's all about the mindset and I
think, you know definitions are different for each person so I just wanted to hear your
take on it.
AC: Again, the flipside of that is, of course the clothes are or could be an important element
because another thing that I think a gentleman has to have is self-respect. If you don't
have respect for yourself then fundamentally, I think it becomes more difficult to respect
others. Having sel-respect is presenting oneself in a certain way and that's the value of taking
care of your appearance and appreciating quality and of dressing in a dignified fashion and
dressing in a tailored fashion, that's sort of about having a positive self image and
respect for yourself and that's where the clothes come into it, for me, personally.
SRS: Alright, that's a good take. If you would have to define your style in one sentence
or few words, how would you break it down?
AC: Attempting to be raised a sharp and almost inveitably failing.
SRS: (laughs)
AC: Trying to be sharp and then I end up adding a flower or a pochette that's too much or
wear a bright paisley tie, more than sharp, monochromatic style that I aspire to. I never
quite manage it.
SRS: Well, you know the result can still be great. Maybe it's not what you pictured...
AC: I'm stuck in the 30s. I don't think I'm ever going to leave, that's it!
SRS: Who would you say are your style icons? Are they also 1930s people or are they modern
day people? What would you say?
AC: I tend to find actually a great source of inspiration in vintage material and in
vintage illustrations and archives, that's where I go to first. There are a lot of men
that stand out for me. I love jazz music so the old jazz musicians and big band leaders,
the RATPACK's an obvious one, a lot of musicians of the 60s, guys that are connected to the
world of jazz inevitably have really cool sense of personal style. I also have to say,
I absolutely adore MICHAEL CANE in the 60s the young Michael Cane. The original Get Carter's
one of my favorite movies and I just think that blue three piece that he wears, that
with the shotgun, that's what it's all about.
SRS: Let's get back to the fashion illustrations because I'm on the same page with you. I love
fashion illustrations and I think they can be very helpful even in today's day and age
so do you just refer to any 1930s illustrations or do you have like, the cutter and tailor,
do you have specific magazines?
AC: One of the things I said to myself I was going to start doing this year but I haven't
done is actually just building up my own little archive of old materials for myself, I haven't
done that. I use PINTEREST a lot and I find a lot of cool stuff on pinterest, I love the
old KUPPENHEIMER images, I think those illustrations capture a real sense of romance. I love the
exaggerated lines on the suit, the long coats and the really kind of chesty suits and the
poise of the lapels and the warm colors, they're my absolute favorite.
SRS: What are your style pet peeves?
AC: Tie knots. Yours is beautiful.
SRS: (laughs) Thank you. Anything else would've stopped the interview right now.
AC: Honsetly, so many guys wear a tie everyday and it's this big, huge, loose unshapely thing
that isn't up against the collar and it has no poise or shape to it at all and I think
guys often miss the fact that a know, it has to be tight, you have to really pull that
tight and really get a nice, small, neat, clean knot that sits on your collar properly
and I just don't know how after so may hundreds of years wearing neckties, men haven't got
it yet. It drives me mad.
SRS: So do you personally like the smaller tie knots, ties with like thin interlinings,
Prince Charles wears it a lot. Is that the look you go for or more...
AC: I don't like them too small but I like ties to make FOUR IN HAND KNOT with one tie
dimple. Two dimples is also wonderful, just some dimples, any dimples but I tend to wear
one cos I like to have that symmetry there and it just needs to be a relatively, neat,
tight knot. A proper knot, not just a loose things that's been folded together. Doesn't
have to be tiny, just needs to be tight.
SRS: That's great advice and because I made a lot of videos, not just how to make tie
knots but how to get a dimple in your tie reliably every single time because people
don't know sometimes and it happens to be there once and not the other time and if you
know how to do it, it's not that difficult.
AC: Yeah, Indeed.
SRS: Oxford or Derby? AC: Oxford
SRS: Flannel or worsted? AC: Flannel, I like the softness of it.I like
the luxury of a flannel. SRS: Neck tie or bow tie?
AC: Necktie. A little bit more contemporary. SRS: Belt or suspenders?
AC: Always braces, never belt. SRS: Barrel cuff or French cuff?
AC: French cuff. SRS: Undershirt or no undershirt?
AC: No undershirts for me. SRS: Off the rack or custom?
AC: Depends. Good ready to wear over bad made to measure.
SRS: Okay, that's a very good hint or tip. Bespoke always seems glorious but if it's
done not so well or if you don't stand the right way, the result can actually be quite
terrible. AC: Yeah, you got to be careful where you
go.
SRS: Exactly, I would totally agree. So what can we expect to see from The Sartorial Journal
in the next few years?
AC: I would love to have a big relaunch and I would like to improve the quality of my
photography and I would like to keep telling the same kind of stories. I've got this big
list of ideas that I have in the back of my head and I make note whenevr I come up with
an idea for an article, I note it down.
SRS: That's good you should write them down so It's easier...
AC: There are a lot of tailors that I want to visit. the blog is almost only focused
on British men's wear to date and over the last couple of years, I've got to know quite
a lot of French and Italian brands so I would like to bring that to the blog and start telling
their stories, as well.
SRS: Just expand a little bit more. Where do you see yourself by the time you're 30?
AC: I have no idea.
SRS: That's good, that's totally fine.
AC: I want to keep doing what I'm doing. I want to keep telling the stories across people
in what capacity I'll be doing that, who knows?
SRS: Okay, well, Thank you so much Aleks for a wonderful interview. I really enjoyed it
and thanks for joining us.
AC: Welcome and I have to thank you because it's been a real pleasure to be able to share
these views and it's a pleasure to be involved, it's very much appreciated.