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Penguin Lines – Celebrate 150 years of the London Underground
Buttoned-Up: The East London Line
London is a centre of cutting-edge fashion - here, the creators of 'the best fashion mag out there', Fantastic Man, tell the story of London style through the history of the button-down shirt - part of a series of twelve books tied to the twelve lines of the London Underground.
Encompassing music, street style, fashion, portraits, day and night locations, the visual context of east London where clothes factories and workshops used to be, night shots where bars and clubs used to be (or still are), an examination of collar shapes and archive images from fashion and music.
Gert Jonkers and Jop van Bennekom are the creators of Fantastic Man, a singular modern men's style journal. Here they chart the history of the button-up shirt and explore why it's so central to contemporary London's fashion, design and people. With star contributors, fashion shoots and singular writing, this is a fashion magazine in a book.
Encompassing music, street style, fashion, portraits, day and night locations, the visual context of east London where clothes factories and workshops used to be, night shots where bars and clubs used to be (or still are), an examination of collar shapes and archive images from fashion and music.
Gert Jonkers and Jop van Bennekom are the creators of Fantastic Man, a singular modern men's style journal. Here they chart the history of the button-up shirt and explore why it's so central to contemporary London's fashion, design and people. With star contributors, fashion shoots and singular writing, this is a fashion magazine in a book.
128 pages, Paperback
First published March 7, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 27, 2013
Bit dull....but then again, given it's a short piece on men's fashion in East London, not sure why I would expect to find it all that interesting. Some nice photos and I liked the very short chat with Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys fame.
June 8, 2024
Not sure what it’s got to do with the tube but this was very cool, and fun to revisit my early obsession with the mods. Also discovered a new band I didn’t know before
February 9, 2020
I’m getting towards the end of my reading of the Penguin Lines series but there are still surprises in store for me. Buttoned-Up is the story of the East London line and takes a completely different focus to the other books I’ve read so far. This is the story of the buttoned-up shirt that is so commonly seen worn on young men in the East End. Think of a collared shirt, buttoned up to the very top but with no tie. Through essays, interviews and photography, the team from Fantastic Man (a men’s fashion magazine) probe into the reasons why a shirt is worn this way. It’s a unique angle for a book and one that I quite enjoyed because of its difference to the standard novella format.
Tube purists won’t enjoy this book as the closest you will get are six junctions of east London, photographed moodily in black and white in day and night. There are also other portraits of rather handsome men wearing buttoned-up shirts, some famous, from the 1960s to the modern era. In between these pictures, there are various short forms about the buttoned-up shirt. The history, what it represents and how it distinguishes the man and what he stands for. There is also an interview with Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys, who reveals a keen eye for fashion (I wouldn’t mind going through his basement). The buttoned-up shirt throughout music is also explored, with many great bands mentioned. (It got me thinking about the bands I like and their taste for buttoned-up shirts or fashion in general).
It’s a quirky, short read that is genuinely interesting. The photography is stunning – this is what black and white portraits should be like. Moody and capturing the essence of the subject and their life. I loved the style captured and the structure of the book. Recommended if you want something short and different.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
Tube purists won’t enjoy this book as the closest you will get are six junctions of east London, photographed moodily in black and white in day and night. There are also other portraits of rather handsome men wearing buttoned-up shirts, some famous, from the 1960s to the modern era. In between these pictures, there are various short forms about the buttoned-up shirt. The history, what it represents and how it distinguishes the man and what he stands for. There is also an interview with Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys, who reveals a keen eye for fashion (I wouldn’t mind going through his basement). The buttoned-up shirt throughout music is also explored, with many great bands mentioned. (It got me thinking about the bands I like and their taste for buttoned-up shirts or fashion in general).
It’s a quirky, short read that is genuinely interesting. The photography is stunning – this is what black and white portraits should be like. Moody and capturing the essence of the subject and their life. I loved the style captured and the structure of the book. Recommended if you want something short and different.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
December 1, 2013
This is another of the dozen books in the Penguin Underground Series, written in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the London Underground in 2013. Unlike the other 11 books in the series, which are based on current Underground lines, the East London line is no longer in service, as it closed in 2007 and was replaced by London Overground services in 2010.
In keeping with the closure of the East London line, the writers of Fantastic Man, a London men's fashion magazine, eschew any mention of the past or current train services, and instead focus on the fashion sense of ordinary men and male celebrities who work and live there. The title of the book refers to the current trend of tasteful young men to wear dress shirts completely buttoned and without ties. The book contains numerous pictures of these fashion plates, along with occasional photos of East London street corners.
This book was a complete waste of my time, and it may possibly be the worst of the 11 Penguin Underground books that I've read so far.
In keeping with the closure of the East London line, the writers of Fantastic Man, a London men's fashion magazine, eschew any mention of the past or current train services, and instead focus on the fashion sense of ordinary men and male celebrities who work and live there. The title of the book refers to the current trend of tasteful young men to wear dress shirts completely buttoned and without ties. The book contains numerous pictures of these fashion plates, along with occasional photos of East London street corners.
This book was a complete waste of my time, and it may possibly be the worst of the 11 Penguin Underground books that I've read so far.
July 11, 2023
Artistically this was quite nice, with some good shots of East London road junctions (people free, lots of traditional brick) although the tube line wasn't part of the text at all. There were some good photo plates too that could have been from a Zara Man shoot. These was accompanied by a few essays about the button-up shirt, and an interview with Neil Tennant.
The Tennant piece was weak but the essays were interesting, albeit with a pretension that one might have expected from fashion magazine editors. Nobody in this small patch of East London went tie-free and buttoned-up because it was what the fashionable men wore, but to rebel against corporates or scruffiness. The mod movement discussion was interesting but as I found when it was praised by Stuart Maconie in a recent book, seemed to be celebrated for its own materialism and superiority in taste as the class it was meant to be a rebellion against (and the violence was brushed over).
The book managed to conform to stereotypes in parts but was still a good read in others. I appreciate the aesthetics of fashion but don't care enough to pick up the history and nuances of it unless it's in the form of football shirts. Maybe a cursory glance at the line on the cover would have been nice, too.
The Tennant piece was weak but the essays were interesting, albeit with a pretension that one might have expected from fashion magazine editors. Nobody in this small patch of East London went tie-free and buttoned-up because it was what the fashionable men wore, but to rebel against corporates or scruffiness. The mod movement discussion was interesting but as I found when it was praised by Stuart Maconie in a recent book, seemed to be celebrated for its own materialism and superiority in taste as the class it was meant to be a rebellion against (and the violence was brushed over).
The book managed to conform to stereotypes in parts but was still a good read in others. I appreciate the aesthetics of fashion but don't care enough to pick up the history and nuances of it unless it's in the form of football shirts. Maybe a cursory glance at the line on the cover would have been nice, too.
April 18, 2014
Fantastic Man is not, as I first thought, a pretentious pseudonym, but a men's fashion magazine that originated in The Netherlands.
Although this book is part of a series celebrating the 125th anniversary of the London Underground, this book has absolutely nothing to do with trains or public transport, instead focussing on: "The peculiarity of buttoning up one's shirt, especially in east London"; it sounds like a strange topic, and it is one, and it seems incredible that a 112-page book was published about this subject. It sounds like it could be meant as hilariously funny, but the writers take themselves very seriously.
The book consists of a series of different articles, written by different writers from the magazine, all talking about how several young men in the Shoreditch area of London took to wearing a shirt with the top button done up, but without a tie. The book includes an interview with Neil Tennant of 1980s band The Pet Shop boys and an article that connects the fashion with mod rock culture.
Overall, this feels like a very niche interest, and the book is padded out by various pictures of young men modelling shirts and street corners in Shoreditch. I thought it made for a reasonably interesting read, though the chapter where it talked about mod rocker culture felt like it was giving a very quick overview when it could have gone into great depth about this topic. I thought this was an okay book, but I suspect many audiences would be quite cynical about it.
Although this book is part of a series celebrating the 125th anniversary of the London Underground, this book has absolutely nothing to do with trains or public transport, instead focussing on: "The peculiarity of buttoning up one's shirt, especially in east London"; it sounds like a strange topic, and it is one, and it seems incredible that a 112-page book was published about this subject. It sounds like it could be meant as hilariously funny, but the writers take themselves very seriously.
The book consists of a series of different articles, written by different writers from the magazine, all talking about how several young men in the Shoreditch area of London took to wearing a shirt with the top button done up, but without a tie. The book includes an interview with Neil Tennant of 1980s band The Pet Shop boys and an article that connects the fashion with mod rock culture.
Overall, this feels like a very niche interest, and the book is padded out by various pictures of young men modelling shirts and street corners in Shoreditch. I thought it made for a reasonably interesting read, though the chapter where it talked about mod rocker culture felt like it was giving a very quick overview when it could have gone into great depth about this topic. I thought this was an okay book, but I suspect many audiences would be quite cynical about it.
July 3, 2013
This book is written by two people from the magazine Fantastic Man, and is about the phenomenon of buttoning down a shirt, i.e. using all the buttons on a shirt, especially the top one, and how this affects people.
There are some fairly interesting interviews here, e.g. with Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys, but otherwise it could delve far into the uninteresting (to me). Still, it's nice to see that someone can actually take their time to do something like this, about such a narrow subject.
Somehow the authors excluded women from this phenomenon, which strikes me as very strange and unexplained.
There are some fairly interesting interviews here, e.g. with Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys, but otherwise it could delve far into the uninteresting (to me). Still, it's nice to see that someone can actually take their time to do something like this, about such a narrow subject.
Somehow the authors excluded women from this phenomenon, which strikes me as very strange and unexplained.
June 19, 2014
Mixing the inherently (yet unintentionally) comical in fashion writing (here, about men buttoning the top shirt button as a quasi-philosophical statement about dignity and sexual availability) with the inherently visceral in pop-music writing, peppered with 20- and 30-something men looking twee, vulnerable, and forlorn. It succeeds in making you laugh (not what the editors were hired for) *and* in wanting to look good.
September 16, 2015
its a bit repetitive, and very magazine style, but that's not necc a bad thing.
April 5, 2013
It's not a terrible read, just too much of a light one. Almost felt as if I was reading a fashion students dissertation.
September 9, 2013
Lightweight, but interesting. The essay on mod culture is the best part.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews