William Grenfell, 1st Baron Desborough (1855 - 1945)
athlete, sportsman, fashion statement
Vanity Fair, 1890

An email arrives the other day from my dear friend Nick with the heading "Finally" and a link to The Sartorialist which, in case you are just emerging from a coma and therefore out of touch regarding the really important matters in this world, happens to be the sine plus ultra blog devoted to the exceptionally and wonderfully and interestingly well-dressed so if your picture shows up there you have definitely achieved something worth telling your friends about.  And because I am one of those bloggers with integrity who only swipes images from the public domain and does not simply drag and paste from other people's sites, you are simply going to have to follow the link above and look for "On the Street - Club Collar Milano" to see what and who I'm talking about.  You'll need to scroll down for a ways, but I think you'll agree it is worth the efffort. 

As you can imagine I am delighted for my talented and fashionable friend.  There was a time long ago when my dream was to appear in a Dewar's ad, specifically the campaign in which noteworthy people were depicted against a black background with a witty quip or remarkable observation on life superimposed on the page and within easy reaching distance of a bottle of scotch.  I didn't drink Dewar's but I was sure I could acquire the taste and more to the point come up with something very clever to say about it.  As things turned out, however, Fate had made other plans. 

Sartor Resartus, (1832), trans. lit. 'the tailor re-tailored.' 
The designer redesigned.  The club collar reconsidered.  A look re-invented.

Does anyone read Thomas Carlyle anymore?  I suspect Lady Desborough did.  She was an avid reader and cultivated writers and encouraged others to read as well.  "Look at this extraordinary little book which Lady Desborough says I ought to read," the famously and impeccably dressed Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII and after his abdication the Duke of Windsor) once said to his friend Alan Lascelles.  "Have you heard of it?"

The 'extraordinary little book' was Jane Eyre.  (Davenport-Hines, Ettie, 2008, p. 319).