17 Questions to a well-dressed man: Juhn Maing
Photo credit: Juhn Maing
Juhn Maing alias ‘’Sleevehead’’ is one of the very first menswear bloggers with which he started over 10 years ago. I’ve never stopped following him ever since and of course was most excited to read about his journey of discovery to Sicily about which he published two books so far. He has been all over Sicily to nearly every small village to find the best craftsmen of this island.
He tried many tailors, shirt makers, shoemakers and even tiemakers there and tries to support them where he can. Keeping the craft alive became one of his passions. Meanwhile he organises with his platform Sicilian Reserve for some of the Sicilian tailors Trunk Shows to the USA and perhaps in the future to other parts of the world as well. On his website Sleevehead there is still a well worth to read blog and a very exciting forum that you can become a member of to discuss craftsmanship on a deeper level.
As you can imagine Juhn is an experienced bespoke dresser and beside the Sicilian tailors he also tried tailors from London, HongKong and the USA. Enjoying his style and his knowledge on the menswear field it is an honour to ask him our ‘’17 questions to a well-dressed man’’.
What are you wearing today?
So far my dressiest look during lockdown is an olive wool jersey knit “Teba jacket” from the wonderful Barcelona shop Bel y Cia. I’m also wearing Mytailor fawn trousers in a Scabal whipcord paired with a brown/grey striped cotton shirt by a Sicilian shirtmaker and a bowtie by Palermo tiemaker Antica Cravatteria.
If you had to choose to spend money either on a suit or on a watch, what would you choose?
Since I have far more suits and jackets than watches, I would go for a watch. But I would pass on the more popular watch brands and go for a niche brand like Sinn or Stowa, a revived vintage brand like Smiths or Sewills or even a completely new micro-brand like Leaunoir.
What jewellery could a man wear?
I’m reminded of the Austrian architect and critic Adolf Loos who famously wrote that “Ornament is a crime”. He was speaking on behalf of modernism. This is the same Loos who designed the store of the menswear haberdasher Knize in Vienna.
Tying this back to jewellery, I certainly wouldn’t go so far as to say that it is a crime but I prefer less ornamentation and therefore less jewellery for myself.
On the other hand, men have been wearing jewellery for thousands of years. That’s perfectly fine with me.
Tie or a bowtie?
I normally wear a necktie with either a half-Windsor or four-in-hand knot. But thanks to our chats, I’m definitely warming up to wearing more bow ties.
Do you remember your first jacket?
I wore my first jacket for my high school graduation. The school sent us to a local department store in Honolulu called Liberty House which supplied the navy blue blazer (with school insignia patch), grey tropical wool trousers and dress shirt. Sadly, I no longer have the outfit since it was donated.
What is your favourite watch?
This is difficult to say as I like to wear different types of watches for different occasions. For a dress watch, I would say my favorite is my 1940s Waltham tank or my 1927 Elgin cut-corner tank (both manually wound). For more casual occasions, it would be my Mühle Glashütte steel automatic with coin edge bezel.
For everyday wear, I wear an Apple Watch Series 5. I was not an early adopter of the Apple Watch but decided to try the fifth generation and have found it enormously useful. In fact, it’s what got me back to wearing watches on a daily basis.
Fountain pen or ballpoint?
Normally I use a ballpoint pen although I do have a couple of fountain pens somewhere in storage. Perhaps it’s a good time to bring them out of storage and use them more regularly.
Have you found the perfect garment yet?
I prefer to think about the artisan(s) behind the garment. For me, the most important thing these days is finding and working directly with an artisan who makes what I’m looking for. This means I avoid brands that tend to anonymize the artisan.
Naturally, “direct-to-artisan” requires more effort and time than buying off the shelf or from a large brand. It’s also against the “direct-to-consumer” trend which is all about convenience for the consumer.
But the payoff is working with an artisan which is quite different from the often impersonal and very corporatized experience of many luxury brands today.
Explain your biggest passion in one sentence?
For me, it’s writing because it allows me to express what I find most interesting and rewarding in life - learning, discovery and self-improvement.
What is your guilty pleasure?
Anything bespoke. For me it’s a necessity for apparel but I’m grateful that I’m able to partake.
In the future, if I can find a small company willing to do it, I would gladly make bespoke knitwear a guilty pleasure.
Who is the best dressed man in the world for you?
I don’t think there is a single answer nowadays that would resonate universally. This is a point I make in my forthcoming book, Sartorial Personae: Understanding Masculine Style. I think it makes more sense to relate style to professional context and personal biography.
But if I had to choose one classic, male sartorial icon that men should know it would be Cary Grant or Fred Astaire.
The best book you ever read?
I have a few favorite novels but perhaps the most sartorially relevant would be Brideshead Revisited (1945) by Evelyn Waugh. It captures two ways of living and dressing in English society, one ascendant, the other in decline. The 1981 tv adaptation starring Jeremy Irons is wonderful in showing this onscreen.
I think my favorite book most relevant to our own pandemic would be Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain (1924). It’s a philosophical reflection on life, health and illness expressed through a cast of memorable characters. As their lives intersect and unfold in a Swiss sanatorium, Mann shows us the richness of life in the face of illness.
Which city should one go shopping?
A couple of years ago I actually came up with my own list of top 10 cities for tailoring .
For menswear, I think London should be the first port of call in any sartorial “grand tour”. But there are others of course – Sicily, Naples and others depending on what you’re looking for.
Tweed or flannel?
Both! I have and wear both tweed jackets and flannel suit made from British and Italian sources. In particular, I love the “worsted” flannels of Drapers.
The most elegant restaurant in the world for you?
I would love to suggest a dining establishment that offers both wonderful food and an elegant décor and ambiance. But I honestly find it quite difficult to name a place that is truly superlative in both dimensions.
So I’ll focus more on visual elegance and ambiance. In NYC, I appreciate the inherited modernism of The Grill (formerly the Grill Room of the famous, now defunct Four Seasons restaurant). The restaurant itself is situated in the iconic Seagram Building designed by the guru of modernism, Mies van der Rohe. In London, I also recall with great fondness the atmosphere and décor of the great Pall Mall clubs (especially the Reform Club where I stayed a couple of times).
My vote for nostalgic dining elegance would go to one of the historic early 20th century ocean liners that once crossed the Atlantic Ocean. In particular, the first-class dining hall of the SS Normandie or SS Ile-de-France. If you do an online search, you’ll see why.
Lastly, one of the most elegant dining scenes ever filmed must be the white tie dinner in the film Chariots of Fire (1981). The scene is set in Cambridge University but was actually filmed at Eton College. Wait for the panoramic shots of the dining room as well as the camera panning across the seated freshmen. It’s a kind of sartorial elegance that I think can only be sustained by motivated individuals reinforced by group identity and durable institutions (also a theme in my upcoming book).
Describe your style in three words?
Nothing in excess.
Best purchase you did in the last 6 months?
I’m very happy with the bespoke shirts I recently picked up from a Sicilian shirtmaker who is semi-retired and works from her home. I asked her to make a couple of round collar shirts and she did a wonderful job with them.