Manitas De Plata, French Gitan, checking out a Manouche.
Mister Freedom® “Liquette Manouche”, printed cotton poplin. GYPSY BLUES mfsc collection Spring 2017. Made in Japan.
For our GYPSY BLUES collection we are releasing two specific mens shirt designs, both with somewhat of a bohemian vibe.
First number up in our string swing venture is the Liquette Manouche, a shirt pattern inspired by a vintage 1930’s-40’s French pull-over garment from the MF® archives, introduced in two color options.
This model features a col requin (shark-fin-shaped open collar, later to be associated with casual 1950’s European sportswear style shirting), a two-button front half placket, shirred back yoke, and classic early EU tailoring arrowhead-shaped side gussets, precursor of the now-common ‘heritage’ workwear design gimmick.
Liquette is old French argot (slang) term simply designating a man’s shirt. A Manouche is a person of Western European Romani ancestry. Belgium-born Django Reinhardt, mastermind of the world-renowned musical style Jazz Manouche in the 1930’s, is one of the most illustrious French Manouche.
The base fabric we opted for is a fancy tightly-woven 100% cotton poplin. With a crisp hand, it features a polka-dot pattern printed with a bleed-through technique. We could not find any better dots than the Polka variety to give our Liquette Manouche its Bohemian vibe.
Polka, with its humble folk origin in early 1830’s Czechoslovakia, might not be a predominant influence for burgeoning artists performing on their Youtube channel today, but it predates Justin Bieber’s impact on popular music, and will likely outlast him. Granted, Polka music is an acquired taste. So is yodeling.
Back on Gypsy style. Along with their 2000-year-old traditions and lifestyle rooted in India, West-bound Romani groups also hauled their indiennesflamboyant garb on the nomadic journey they started in the 14th century.
In popular culture today, close to reality or not, a repeat of small ‘flowery’ motifs often carries that ‘Bohemian’ style vibe.
Anecdotally, authentic India-designed prints could be considered as precursors of the quintessentially-British Liberty London style, as they were originally available from Arthur Liberty’s first retail venture in London (England), a bazar he had appropriately named ‘East India House’ in 1875, specializing in imported Oriental goods. He went on to opt for local production and designs, with great success.
The MF® Liquette Manouche is designed in California by Mister Freedom®, and manufactured in Japan by Sugar cane Co.
SPECS: FABRIC: Fine 4 Oz. printed 100% cotton poplin, bleed-through technique, in two color options.
Milled and printed in Japan.
DETAILS: * Inspired by 1930’s French shirting and vintage bohemian style.
* Pull-over style, two button placket.
* ‘Col Requin’ style open collar.
* Amber color corrozzo wood buttons.
* Shirred back yoke and cuffs.
* Early-type arrowhead side gussets.
* Contrasting front/back shirt tail.
* Original mfsc Gypsy Blues woven rayon label.
* Made in Japan.
SIZING/FIT: The MF® Liquette Manouche comes raw/unwashed. Follow the usual initial method before wearing: cold soak for 30mn, spin dry and line dry. This shirt is true-to-size and we recommend getting your normal mfsc size. I often wear a Medium in mfsc shirts and i opted for a comfortable Medium in the Liquette Manouche.
Please refer to chart to figure which size works for you. If still confused, email sales@misterfreedom.com
CARE: Low maintenance. Machine wash on delicate when needed, cold water, eco-friendly detergent. Hang dry.
Available raw/unwashed. Sizes Small Medium Large X-Large XX-Large Retail: Blue poplin or Red poplin: $349.95
The shirt’s classic pattern stays unchanged, a simple, clean cut 40’s-50’s style work shirt.
This season’s Gunpowder Tea HBT fabric is another New Old Stock find we scored, a nice haul of 100% cotton herringbone twill, 8.5 Oz., milled in Italy.
The dark greenish grey color is very similar to an old mfsc favorite introduced when we played Cowboys ’n Indians, during our “Men of the Frontier” days of 2012. Inspired by 1900’s vintage textiles from the Old World, that HBT cotton-linen fabric had been milled in Japan, and was featured on the Faro sack coat, waistcoat and britches. It was also later used on the Sportsman Slacks.
Our Fall 2016 Workman shirt features a color very close to its handsome predecessor. It differs in weight and fiber content, however, much lighter and 100% cotton. The reverse displays a very slubby surface, with somewhat of a ‘brushed’ texture. The yarn appears to be sulfur-dyed, as the core is left natural.
NOTE: We tested a sample Workman Shirt (featured in the photos) with a full wash cycle (cold water + eco detergent), followed by heat drying, and were quite surprised to see the dark greenish color age so quickly. Colorfastness pretty low. After just one wash, and although still 100% solid and strong, the new Workman Shirt had the patina of a garment that had built the Transcontinental Railroad. Instant gratification for some, unfortunate flaw for others… As a vintage clothing-inspired brand, we’re not exactly into ‘rugged’ faux-vintage artificial patina, but really dig the fading properties of this fabric nonetheless.
Our Sportsman “Workman” shirt is designed and manufactured in California by Mister Freedom®, in collaboration with Sugar Cane Co.
SPECS:
PATTERN: Original MFSC pattern, inspired by classic 1940’s-50’s workwear shirting. FABRIC:
New Old Stock 100% cotton herringbone twill, gunpowder tea color, 8.5 Oz., low colorfastness, milled in Italy.
DETAILS: * Classic vintage workwear style.
* Contrast amber color corozo wood cat-eye buttons.
* White cotton popeline button placket facing.
* Traditional double chest pocketing, button closure.
* Tonal stitching, 100% cotton
* Side gussets.
* Chainstich construction, “Sportsman” green color on the inside.
* Made in USA.
SIZING/FIT: This explains how we size our garments. The Workman Shirt HBT ‘gunpowder tea’ comes raw/un-rinsed and will shrink to tagged size after a rinse/dry process. We recommend an initial cold soak, spin dry and line dry. The “Workman” shirts are true-to-size with a fairly trim ‘uniform’ silhouette. If you are generally a Medium in mfsc shirts, you are a Medium in the Workman.
Please note that the shirt worn inside as a layer on the fit picture is one of the MF@ RANGER Shirts, in a light-weight and very thin madras check fabric option.
Please refer to sizing chart for measurements.
CHART
CARE: Launder when hygiene dictates and common sense prevails, like after shoveling coal for 9 hours. Machine wash. Cold water, gentle cycle, eco-friendly mild detergent and line dry. DISCLAIMER: This specific HBT fabric is not colorfast and its appearance will ‘age’ and look ‘worn-in’ after the first full cycle machine wash. Delicately hand washing might minimize the fading of the fabric.
If cabaret extraordinaire and Art Deco muse Josephine Baker’s banana skirt instantly raised eyebrows in 1925, her apparently innocent frivolous rendition of “Petite Tonkinoise” in 1930 would take many more years to spark controversy and criticism. In the song, she interprets Mélaoli, an Annamite damsel enamored with a French soldier deployed to the Tonkin region. For the wordplay-in-French amateur, Mélaoli is a not-so-clever phonetic quip involving bed (lit) activities.
Ms. Baker’s version of the song, although rewritten for a female singer and stripped of its original 1906 lyrics popularized by the jovial Polin, an army barracks’ favorite, still carried its risqué colonial tone. Nothing yet politically incorrect for the France of the 1930’s however, and the song was a huge success. By popular demand, an updated version was even recorded by the artist in 1953.
With enough sexual innuendoes to make Wynonie Harris blush, the original “Petite Tonkinoise” is a chanson of its time, today mostly remembered for its stuttering verse “ma Tonkiki, ma Tonkiki, ma Tonkinoise”. Don’t listen to it twice or you’ll be humming it in the morning.
Annamite traditional attire (1800s)
Tonkinoise
“Petite Tonkinoise” 1906 music sheet, strangely featuring a Japanese lady.
Josephine Baker, Folies Bergère,”Folies du Jour” revue, Paris (1926-27). Photo Lucien Waléry
Josephine Baker and Chiquita, her cheetah pet (1930)
Josephine Baker collecting clothing for Japanese American babies, Los Angeles (1952 Toyo Miyake Studio)
Not forecasted in the song was the fact that some of the fruits of those exotic military campaign idyls would one day stroll the French countryside, in refugee camps such as the CAFI of Sainte-Livrade-Sur-Lot (Camp d’Accueil des Francais d’Indochine in the Southwest of France), anecdotally located a few miles from where I spent many summers as a kid. Vietnamese families of veterans fallen during their Indochine campaign also joined the camps ranks.
Following the Geneva Accords of 1954, Franco-Vietnamese families who supported the French occupation of Indochina, and gained from it, started fleeing the homeland to escape communist retaliation. The French government, juggling with its first post-colonial hot potato, relocated the refugees in hastily-built facilities. The communities’ fate often fell into bureaucratic oblivion.
Neglected for decades, the CAFI of Sainte-Livrade-Sur-Lot was being renovated when we drove by in 2014. Some still called it home at the time.
Incidentally, and unrelated, about 60 miles from the CAFI, stands the majestic XIV Century Château des Milandesonce the home of, by then decorated WW2 veteran, philanthropist and activist Josephine Baker, and her ‘rainbow tribe’. She, her husband, and their international adopted family of twelve lived there for years. I remember visiting the castle some 35 years ago.
CAFI Sainte Livrade original facilities before demolition, (July 2014)
B&W Rainbow Tribe and colorful Château des Milandes
Josephine Baker, husband Jo Bouillon, and partial Rainbow Tribe.
Josephine Baker, Légion d’Honneur ceremony (1961)
Before we drift even further off-topic, let’s mention that it is not as an homage to the song risqué verbiage or nostalgic colonial content that we have chosen to call our latest Saigon Cowboy shirt “La Tonkinoise”, but as a reference to bygone days of exotic advertising, and to that shirt plausible origin as a 1930’s-40’s Tonkin tailor made garment.
Our Tonkinoise is loaded with details gathered from several vintage shirts. Most of the details are concealed but a stand-out feature of the Tonkinoise is its specific collar pattern. It was adapted from a wind-protectant high neck flippable collar, the fancy feature of an obscure vintage US military wool shirt from our archives. Militaria experts might be able to easily ID this shirt model, but I admit not being familiar with it. We reduced the size of the original collar, which looked too much like a crackerjack flap to my liking.
Our own Champollion, Cristian ‘Champ’ Dascalu, is responsible for identifying the barely readable woven label of that vintage shirt as saying “REYEM, Meyer’s Military Shops, Washington D.C.”. It is likely that Jean-François himself would not have figured out that Reyem is Meyer spelled backwards, so we consider the Champ’s finding one giant leap for Mankind.
Champollion at work
To spice things up, we opted for a contrasting rainbow chainstitch on the inside of the shirt, a nod to an old stunt we pulled years ago, and a reference to the multicolored embroidery often featured on vintage Vietnam ‘Party’ jackets, and not necessarily to Doritos.
As with our recently released Garrison Shirt, the Tonkinoise buttonhole placket is another example of tailoring prowess, courtesy of Toyo Enterprises pattern maker Mr. Fukutomi. The intricate pattern of the elbow and cuff section is yet another nod to an old flame. The arcuate shape of the back of the collar is an attractive feature lifted from vintage French shirts of the 1920’s-30’s.
The two fabrics we chose for the Mister Freedom® Tonkinoise are two old acquaintances. The first one is the ‘snowy’ Lot.A 2×1 selvedge slubby denim of the MF® Appaloosa Shirt, this time milled in Japan to the exact specs of the original NOS fabric we had used in 2013.
The second option is the Buzz Rickson’s USN-type blue chambray, previously featured on two mfsc garments, the Chambray Patrol Shirt and the “Cholon” Continental.
The MF® Tonkinoise is designed in California by Mister Freedom® and manufactured in Japan by Sugar Cane Co.
Note: Featured in some of our photo rigs are a well-worn pair of MF® x Palladium “Palladenim“, inspired by vintage French jungle boots.
SPECS:
FABRIC: a) “Snow” denim: Dark and slubby 10 Oz. 2×1 indigo blue denim, White/yellow line selvedge ID, milled in Japan. b) “BR” blue Chambray: Buzz Rickson’s all cotton blue chambray, 1940’s USN mil-specs, selvedge with white/blue line selvedge ID, milled in Japan. The Chambray version of the Tonkinoise is only available in the US.
DETAILS:
* An original mfsc pattern, inspired by 1930’s-40’s military uniform shirting. * ‘Windproof’ high button-up collar. * Arcuate pattern on back of collar. * Tailor-made type buttonhole placket construction. * Selvedge button placket. * Intricate sleeve cuff/elbow reinforcement pattern. * Concealed rainbow colored chainstitched accents on the inside. * Selvedge side gussets, self fabric. * White corozo wood buttons, aka ivory nut. * 100% cotton thread stitching. * Made in Japan.
SIZING/FIT:
The MF® Tonkinoise shirt comes raw/un-rinsed and will shrink to tagged size after the initial rinse/dry process. We recommend a ~30mn cold soak, spin dry and line dry. This shirt is true-to-size, with a fitted yet comfortable silhouette. If you are generally a Medium in mfsc shirts, you are a Medium in the Tonkinoise.
Both shirt options will shrink to approximately the same size.
Please refer to sizing chart for measurements. Please note our measurements reflect a 30mn cold soak/spin dry/line dry process, resulting in minimal shrinkage.
It is obvious that the raw measurements are given for reference only. If they reflect the difference in shrinkage of both raw fabrics, the measurements that actually matter are the post soak measurements. We do believe that shirts, as most washable garments, should regularly be laundered according to use.
Tonkinoise Chambray
Tonkinoise Denim
CARE: Launder when hygiene dictates and common sense prevails.
Machine wash. Cold water, gentle cycle, eco-friendly mild detergent and line dry. We recommend turning indigo blue/denim garments inside out to avoid marbling when washing. Patina will develop according to activities and frequency of wear. Please note that the dark indigo blue denim Tonkinoise ‘bleeds’ a lot at first, and color transfer will temporarily stain light-colored garments and furniture.
A slightly worn “Workman” next to a one-rinse specimen.
Workman HBT denim
Raw indigo Pincheck
Raw HBT Denim
The “Workman” shirt, HBT denim and indigo Pincheck
‘Sportsman’ catalog, Spring 2015
A new addition to the Sportsman catalog this Spring 2015 is the “Workman” shirt. As the name we opted for implies, nothing to revolutionize the design world. We muted the bells and whistles on this one, wanting a simple, clean cut 40’s style work shirt, made in USA.
(insert uplifting photos of thrilled workers in enviable FSA fashion here)
Skyline Farms, Alabama, 1936 (Photo Ben Shahn for the FSA)
To inaugurate the new pattern of the “Workman”, we broke out two very different fabrics from our vault. They only have in common the fact that they look alike if you dress in the dark.
Option A is a slubby dark indigo pincheck (“a strong cotton cloth having a vertical and horizontal design of white dots on a blue ground, used in the manufacture of work clothes“) cotton fabric.
Option B is more of a ‘mill mutt’, if you will. It could be summed up as a dark pinstripe herringbone twill 2×1 denim with an initial raw fabric sheen. The HBT pattern is more clearly visible on the inside of the fabric. The pinstripes on the face are very subtle.
Although blackish/grayish-looking when raw, these fabrics will fade to blue, as shown in the photos featuring rinsed or lightly worn shirt specimens.
Both textiles are “vintage New Old Stock”, as we all call close-out fabrics today. It is safe to say that these do not predate the invention of the steam engine. Found un-documented in a Los Angeles warehouse, these rolls are admittedly of unknown origin. That’s unless you allow the swearing-to-God broker to tell you aaaaaall about them… However, after investing in several cases of snake oil over the years, one learns that garment district sales skits are best taken with large spoonfuls of salt.
The novelty about the Mister Freedom® “Workman” shirt is that it comes… brace yourselves… sans chin strap! It does feature vintage classic favorites such as side gussets, chainstitch construction, double-stitch collar, matching pockets (yes, we can!), corozo cat-eye buttons, etc…
Our Sportsman “Workman” shirt is designed and manufactured in California by Mister Freedom®, in collaboration with Sugar Cane Co.
SPECS:
PATTERN: Original MFSC pattern, inspired by classic 1940’s workwear shirting.
FABRIC: A)Indigo Pincheck: 100% cotton pincheck design woven fabric, dark indigo color, about 8 Oz. in weight. B) HBT stripe denim: 100% cotton herringbone twill denim, subtle vertical stripe design, dark indigo color, about 8 Oz.
DETAILS:
* Special no chin strap edition!
* Black corozo wood cat-eye buttons. These are not plastic.
* White cotton popeline button placket facing.
* Traditional double chest matching pocketing.
* Tonal stitching, 100% cotton
* Olive Green popeline side gussets.
* Chainstich construction, “Sportsman” green color on the inside.
* Made in USA.
SIZING/FIT:
Both option A and B come raw/un-rinsed and will shrink to approximately the same size after a rinse/dry process.
We recommend an initial cold soak, spin dry and line dry.
The “Workman” shirts are true-to-size with a quite attractive fairly trim ‘uniform’ silhouette. If you are generally a Medium in mfsc shirts, you are a Medium in the Workman.
Please refer to sizing chart for measurements.
HBT denim
CARE: Launder when hygiene dictates and common sense prevails.
Machine wash. Cold water, gentle cycle, eco-friendly mild detergent and line dry. We recommend turning indigo blue/denim garments inside out to avoid marbling when washing.
The blue color will pop out over time. Patina will develop according to activities and frequency of wear.
Lobby card courtesy of Andrew “Yesterday’s Heroes Vintage” Pruill
“Bullfrog & the Frog Skins” rehearsal
Don’t ask…
You taulkin to me?
Rooaaaah roooaaaah
Map Shirt, “frog skin” issue
“Sea Hunt” mfsc Fall 2014
Following the landing of our enigmatic blue shirt, here is the second drop of our “Sea Hunt” 2014 Fall chapter.
Our map shirt gets its name from the large concealed chest pocket designed to hold the funny papers, aka topographic maps. Please note that it is not necessary to bring a map of the Sahara on any of the major Pacific islands.
As usual, we did not ask the US Army for permission to borrow the design of its M1953 utility shirt (M stands for model, P for pattern). The M1953 was originally issued to the US Marine Corps in the mid 1950’s. Early models were cut from OD herringbone twill, to be replaced in 1956 by a sage green cotton sateen version… The M1953 is the basic pattern of our Map Shirt.
Since our map shirt is no replica, we figured we’d give that “Gomer Pile” pattern a few MF® twists. It is available in three different fabrics for Fall 2014, and the first to be released is a camouflage version.
Italians are not only famous for having invented entertaining football in 2006, but also for coming up with the “telo mimetico” in 1929. That original ‘simulating fabric’ is known to be the first printed camouflage to be issued to troops. It came in the form of a half-shelter tent. This revolutionary concept beat any previous attempts from the French to hand paint foliage concealment on issued gear.
Little did the Italians know that camouflage would eventually be put to better use decades later, making it to Pitti Uomo, living rooms and closets.
Our map shirt showcases a type of camouflage known as “frog skin”, “duck hunter” or M1942 US camo.
We specifically chose this one for two reasons:
1) It fell off the Buzz Rickson’s truck and we know Sgt. Bilko.
2) Because of an inspiring photo found in the book “Les Papous Coupeurs de Têtes“ (Tony Saulnier, 1961), based on the Oscar-winning film “Le Ciel et la Boue“, a documentary we mentioned when introducing the “Sea Hunt” watchman jacket. In an epic capture, one of the member of that 1959 expedition, a shirtless Gérard “machete” Delloye is seen wading through a New Guinea river carrying a military surplus USMC-issued frog skin jacket.
A fine example of how we seek the help of professional fashion forecasting services before launching new garments.
Gerard Delloye 1959 (Photo courtesy of Tony Saulnier)
Most of you are by now familiar with the camouflage pattern of our Map Shirt. Frog skin military replicas and fashion items have been available for some time.
And now, a few words for the History buffs…
With its origins in the early days of WW2, the P1942 frog skin camouflage fabric is considered to be the first printed camouflage issued to American Armed Forces.
It is well documented that early tests for tropical warfare fatigues have been conducted around 1940, but most scholars still dispute the fact that field studies have involved Martha Vickers. We have R&D documents.
Tasked with providing US Marine Raiders with proper concealment in Pacific islands jungles, the US Army Corps of Engineers came up with a reversible fabric around 1942, printed with a green-dominant jungle side and brown-dominant beach side.
It eventually proved to be less efficient than hoped for by General McArthur’s fighting troops, and was mostly abandoned by the end of 1944, when its similarity with some Wehrmacht units camouflage attracted friendly fire in Normandy, France.
1943 Fall Fashion
Raiders training, Courtesy Dept of Defense
US Marines, Okinawa 1945
Navajo Code Talkers, Saipan 1944
USMC Raider, Courtesy Dept of Defense
The P1942 OG
Meanwhile, back in this jungle…
Surprisingly, the 100% cotton base fabric is originally… white. Yes! After the HBT textile is milled, it is printed on each side with two different patterns, involving several screens and a total of five different colors. This double-sided printing process was a type of complicated silkscreen/roller set-up with partial bleed-through effect, and quite the novelty in the early 40’s.
Please note our P1942 camo fabric was printed using traditional methods, not computers. The keen eye will notice some pinhead-size white dots on our fabric. This is due to the slub of the yarn and also the lint specs present on the raw/unwashed white fabric at the time of printing. The lint gets printed as the top layer, leaving a white dot when brushed off. If you get a white spot the shape of a fly, that’s a collector.
To clarify, our Map Shirt is not reversible. However, the fashion-forward will know to suavely roll the sleeves and display the ‘beach’ side at any given moment, triggering instant admiration and generating envy from peers.
We have added a touch of blue with concealed cotton chambray accents, for no other reason that we found the combo visually pleasing.
If this shirt can be worn tucked-in, as the original M1953 shirts were intended to, we have added side slits to compliment an un-tucked look. Anyone reading this is old enough to not be told how to wear their shirt anyways.
The “Sea Hunt” Map Shirt is designed in California by Mister Freedom® and manufactured in Japan in collaboration with Sugar Cane Co.
SPECS
FABRIC:
100% cotton Herringbone Twill (HBT), P1942 “frog skin” camouflage, double sided printing. Fabric milled in Japan for Buzz Rickson’s.
DETAILS:
* Pattern inspired my 1950’s UMSC-issued utility shirts.
* Comfortable over-shirt fit.
* Non-reversible.
* USN-type chambray accents (collar facing, wrist gussets, pocket flap facing, inside pockets)
* Two chest pockets, concealed button flaps.
* One large map inside pocket, side opening.
* One concealed chest pocket, top opening.
* Concealed button-hole tape placket.
* Light brown corozo buttons.
* Flat-felled seam construction.
* OD 100% cotton thread stitching.
* Made in Japan.
WASHING/SIZING:
This garment comes raw/unwashed and will shrink to tagged size after an original cold soak/line dry. Further shrinkage to be expected with the use of hot water and heat dryer.
It is intended to be a comfortable fitting shirt, easy to wear over a chambray shirt or Tshirt.
If you are a Medium in mfsc jackets/shirts, you are a Medium in the Map Shirt.
Because the base HBT fabric is white before being printed, toning down of colors will naturally occur. This fading should not be considered a quest or a defect, only the natural consequence of the wash/wear process over the years.
Please refer to sizing chart for raw/rinsed measurements. (Please note that if we do our best to scientifically measure garments, the Art of measuring seems to be a subjective concept we are working on to master.)
CHART
Available Raw/Unwashed
Sizes: Small, Medium, Large, X-Large, XX-Large
Retail: $379.95
Soon available from www.misterfreedom.com
Please call 323-653-2014 or email sales@misterfreedom.com with any questions not answered above.
As always, thank you sincerely for your support
🙂
