Just because it’s not hot enough here in Sunny CA, we’ll be hitting the East Coast in July for (capsule) New York MENS
Mister Freedom® will be showing the MFSC Fall 2011 “Apaches” Collection for the first time in the US, along with other MF® Originals…
If you own a portable fan and a large sombrero, come join us and dig the re-bop.
Safe travels to the attendees and happy summer to all,
😉
Christophe Loiron
PS: For a quality paper print of the above poster (original painting by none other than Mr. Patrick Segui), get a copy of the latest MEN’S FILE Issue 5. Cut it out & pin it on your wall, next to Miss July.
The remaining part of the magazine is a feast for the eyes.
Ohhh no reason. Just saying Hello and Thank You 😉
Send a postcard to your loved ones.
MFSC “Les Apaches” Spring 2011 Collection: Introducing the CHEMISE FANTAISIE (ie. fancy shirt)
Just in, some fancy shirting for the Apache in you 😉
Inspired by French gent garb from 1900’s to 1930’s, the chemise fantaisie will put some fancy threads on your back. The fabrics were painstakingly developped in Japan from vintage textiles swatches and turn of the century shirting samples. The pattern is based on early silhouettes and vintage prototypes, with the usual MF® creative spin and early American influence.
Detachable collar type (aka. stand collar), fancy shearing, european tailoring single needle construction, NOS glass buttons… the works.
Nice as a fancy addition to your favorite blue jeans, under a gilet de ville, or… as a better way to paint the town than the usual chambrays.
Along with other things we make, this MFSC Chemise Fantaisie “is what it is” (ie. not life style changing…) and it’s up to you to make it look good. If you are reading this, you should not have any problems doing so…
SPECS
PATTERN: An all original MFSC pattern, inspired by early European fancy shirting. Because of the back yoke shearing, the cut is a bit wider than our MFSC 645 Utility Chambrays.
FABRIC: Three options, milled in limited batch. Unwashed and un-sanforized.
* BLEU CALICO: Blue colour base, all cotton broadcloth 3.5 Oz., tightly woven brocade jacquard with subtle calico print (discharge and navy colour).
* BLANC CALICO: White colour base, all cotton broadcloth 3.5 Oz., tightly woven brocade jacquard with subtle calico print (rust colour).
* ROUGE GARANCE: Natural/beige colour base, all cotton broadcloth 3.5 Oz., printed with a madder red (aka “Turkey Red”) calico print.
BUTTONS: Authentic French 1900′s-1930′s New Old Stock glass buttons, also referred to as boutons Briare, because of their regional origin. Those buttons are RARE (you can find small quantities of them here and there, but finding enough for a whole collection was no easy task), but we even put an extra one stitched to the inside care label… Because of the very involved process of manufacturing this type of glass buttons, production has stopped in the 1940’s in France.
COLLAR: Detachable type, held by fancy metal “collar studs”. Original collar studs were usually made of bone, ivory or porcelaine for off the shelf shirting. One would get a set of fancy studs of their liking at the Haberdashery store, along with a tie clip and cuff links… You can shmEbay them.
Very often, the removable collars were lost and this type of stand collar shirts are often seen worn without them on old photographs (the charpentiers below are not Apaches, nor fancy dandies, but some of them DID lose their collars…)
 French quarrymen (Photo © Collection Roger-Viollet) DETAILS:
* Button placket extended tab, to button to your breeches waist button, so the shirt stays tucked in.
* Sheared back yoke and wrist cuffs.
* White cotton popeline button placket contrast facing.
* Passe Cravate loop in back shoulder yoke, to secure tie or scarf.
* Very high stitch count all cotton stitching.
* Extended tucked in buttoned “belly flap”.
* French style side gussets.
* Single needle tailoring construction, no chain stitch.
SIZING:
Again, labeled in French: 35 (XS), 37 (S), 39 (M), 41 (L), 45 (XL)
Click on chart below for RAW and after rinse and hang dry measurements (t.
Limited Edition, designed in California by MISTER FREEDOM®, manufactured in Japan by SUGAR CANE CO.
Available RAW (unwashed)
A) Chemise Fantaisie BLEU CALICO
Available Sizes XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL
Retail $399.95
B) Chemise Fantaisie BLANC CALICO
Available Sizes XS, S, M, L, XL
Retail $399.95
B) Chemise Fantaisie ROUGE GARANCE
Available Sizes XS, S, M, L, XL
Call (323) 653-2014 or mail sales@misterfreedom.com to get yours while they last. We ship internationally. We thank you all dearly for your support.
Mister Freedom® CASQUETTE La “Deffe”
No, I didn’t find the secret coveted stash of New Old Stock French 1920’s-30’s caps in an abandoned Parisian storage room… (where ARE those caps??? Every single gent owned at least one back then, but they are nowhere to be found today, as any vintage hound knows.)
What I did find last year was an awesome batch of NOS French wool/tweed & linings, a rare 20’s-30’s grouping of fabrics. All coming from an haberdashery manufacturer from Northern France, that had been around since the early 1920’s and closed its doors in the mid 1960’s.
We have some of the amazing clothes (mainly suiting) that came with this loot at the MF® store now. Some of which are now seen on screen (HBO Boardwalk Empire…)
So. We figured out how to make them, the same way they were made back then. The pattern is inspired by early french men’s casquettes, different from the newspaper boy cap, the US version of it.
The name “Deffe” is one of the many colourful Apache slang for headgear. Originally, a hat manufacturer called DESFOUX (located near Pont-Neuf, Paris) made silk caps favored by butchers, pimps and gangsters since 1878. ” Une Desfoux” became “une deffe” in french argot…
Some documentation can be found in the amazing 1930’s underworld studies written by Mr. Emile Chautard, who apparently spent more time in dives drinking absinthe with unorthodox characters than behind a desk sipping tea (“La vie étrange de l’Argot“, 1931). Many of Chautard insightful accounts have influenced our latest MFSC Apaches collection.
The casquette was worn slouched on the side of the head, straight was for squares. Bold fabric patterns, contrasting colours, mismatching weaves were the thing.
Calico shirt, red silk scarf, pied de poule deffe… you get the picture (or Brassaï did, when he shot la bande du Grand Albert in 1931…)
For the few who managed to read this far down, much obliged, so here are the specs of Mister Freedom® Casquette la “Deffe”!
SPECS
PATTERN: Original Mister Freedom® single panel pattern, typical of 1920’s-30’s French gents’ caps.
FABRIC: 100 year old New Old Stock (NOS) French fabrics. Variety of all wool patterns, weave and colours. Solid, tweeds, herringbone, houndstooth in very limited quantities. (See last photo for an idea of how the fabric rolls looked like when found.)
LINING: NOS 1930’s sturdy black rayon and/or moleskine, printed with Mister Freedom® original artwork.
DETAILS:
* Kangaroo leather sweatband
* Decorative crown strap, secured by 1900’s french NOS glass buttons
* Snap-up brim (vintage United Carr snap).
* All hand made in MF® Los Angeles atelier, by happy skilled artisans, while listening to good music.
SIZE: The can of worms…Few random sizes available, from about 57 cm to 60cm.
We use only one pattern, and due to variation in fabric thickness, fluctuating seam allowance, the crown size also varies sligthly +/- a few milimeters. No two casquettes are exactly the same.
57cm is close to US hat size 7 1/8
60cm is close to US hat size 7 1/2
CARE: Professional Hat cleaner Dry Cleaning ONLY, if needed. Do NOT wash.
Designed by Mister Freedom® and made in California in a limited edition.
From +/- 57 cm to +/- 60cm
Retail: $ 199.95
Call John or Jordan at (323) 653-2014 or Email sales@misterfreedom.com to get yours while they last. We ship internationally. Thank you for your support.
Courtesy of Monsieur Patrick Segui, the artist behind the paintbrush of our Apache collection boxtops artwork, check out this amazing photo of Grand-Père Segui (left) in 1931.
Photographed in “Alger-la-Blanche”, Algeria, then a French colony, this shot conveys the local street style of the Pépé le Moko generation. Deffe & all! A rare photograph of a young man who went on to join the ranks of the famed Zouaves and bravely fought his way through WW2.
Patrick’s original post here.
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