RE Miles Davis Fashion Question (help?)

Hi folks,

I am a massive Miles Davis fan (35+ years now!) and am based near Liverpool in the United Kingdom.

I wanted to ask, please:

Where (might anyone know) would I be able to source a white hat and jacket as per Miles in the (below) linked concert (Hammersmith Odeon, 1982). Unfortunately the visual quality of the video is not perfect but I would guess that anyone with a keen sense of fashion will be able to decipher.

I just can’t find anything that comes comes close (partly, admittedly, because I have very rarely ordered articles of clothing online).

In addition to the above cited I also really dig his (striped) shirt and so I’ll throw that question out there as well, if I may!?

Many thanks in advance for any kind assistance offered here…

Best,

Paul David Seaman

Apart from Quincy Troupes autobiography (where i remember he talks a fair bit about his style and interest in fashion) maybe this book out in May might give further
Insight?

But any vintage clothing is often…get lucky at Charity shops or classic tailors/hat makers who make things like trilby, pork pie, panama etc, etc.

Hi ckon,

Thank you very much indeed for responding.

I had not even heard of that book before?

Personally I choose not to frequent charity shops because I am fussy about wearing only new items (from a cleanliness point of view). However I do respect that many people do and so I do not wish to appear snobbish in this regards.

Cheers,

Paul

Well if you haven’t read ‘Miles’ The autobiography with Quincy Troupe you are in for a treat! Spoiler alert…Miles says 'motherf€§ker a hell of alot

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Hi ckon,

The Troupe book I am actually familiar with, thanks. If the publishers omitted the word “MF” then the book would be 100 pages shorter!, as you say.

But the fashion book I knew nothing about; although I don’t think its been released as yet as Amazon states it’s a ‘pre-order’.

Cheers,

Paul

Yeah, book out in May it seems.

Due to the lockdown and as a nice distraction I jsut watched the clip you posted.

Try typing white beanie hat into Amazon its a fold over so will be longer than it appears and looks quite fine thread. The suit jacket seems to be a classic wide lapel single breasted type jacket/blazer (with cufflink holes), because its early 80s then it will be a 70s cut I would imagine. He wears a 70s big/pointed collar shirt with collars out.

Gonna be tricky but google will be your friend in this case…good luck.

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Hi ckon,

Man that’s great, thanks. You have given me a bit of a starting point now as before I had nothing!

Yes, it’s a great concert (even though Miles does not play very much. or even move from his piano chair!). And I think he looks very cool indeed.

I did try googling/obtaining the email address of the author (Michael Stradford) of Miles’s fashion book, but I could only find his ‘twitter’ account, which is a medium I don’t have/use.

Paul

Hi ckon,

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beechfield-Soft-Knitted-Winter-White/dp/B00D4N9CW2/ref=sr_1_fkmr3_1?dchild=1&keywords=white+beanie+hat+fine+thread&qid=1586216379&sr=8-1-fkmr3

Paul

Hi again,

Hi again,

I managed to track the photographer (Jan Persson) via Ghetty Images who, although recently passed away, has about 20 photos of Miles commencing with his 1982 period (please see below link). I am not sure if the first 20 or so images are from the above mentioned Hammersmith concert, but they are definitely from the same tour of that year, or there abouts.

In some images the suit looks ‘white’ (I always thought it was!) but in actual fact it may be a pale brown? I don’t know. Perhaps it’s the stage lighting FX?

Best,

Paul

http://www.janperssoncollection.dk/musicians/def/davismiles/davismiles8287.php

Slightly OT

I was in the San Francisco airport (mid-90s?) at the luggage claim and I glance left and see Miles standing next to me. After quickly looking away I think to myself “Miles Davis is not standing next to you at the luggage carousal.” This is followed by several rounds of yes-he-is/no-he-isn’t. After a few stealth glances I realized it must be him - primarily because no one this side of Keith Richards would be dressed like that at the airport (and also that he looked like Miles). Then I noticed other guys in his band grabbing instrument cases off the carousal. By this time Miles had taken notice of me, even though I’d tried to be discreet, and he faded back into the shadows under the escalator. The thing that really stuck with me is he had super tiny feet and wore very expensive looking Italian shoes.

About 2-3 minutes total.

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Hi Raino,

Thank you very much indeed for sharing your very interesting little Miles anecdote here!

Best,

Paul

Great anecdote. Miles fading into shadows under an escalator is Miles all the way. There’s a book of Jazz anecdotes and there’s one about Miles stepping aside after a solo and someone, let’s say it’s Coltrane (maybe someone else) is standing there. Miles asks, “how was it?” Coltrane says, “it sounded good.” Miles says, “no, man, how did I look?” :slight_smile:

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A few days ago, probably in part because of this thread, I noticed a documentary on Netflix “Miles Davis, birth of the cool.” Turned out to be pretty good and it had tons of great photos of Miles and his peers and performance clips. Worth checking out.

Also one more non-Miles detail to my above story. The luggage I as waiting for was full of oranges from AZ that I was, ummm, the technical term is smuggling, into CA.

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Hi Raino,

Many thanks.

Yes, I saw the Miles “BOTC” documentary around the time you did!

Cheers,

Paul