In the constant flicker of urbanite where the inelegant endless stream of transport passes by, a splendid chap who appears to have a rugged and rag and bone quality about him, occasionally is visible from the open window of a nameless store frontage. There are no distinguished markings to identify what the store entails but an oversized poster is hung of a monocle-eyed botanist for pedestrian onlookers.
The store should have a sign engraved with “Est. 1973”, this was the year Jim Thompson was born who on the day of visiting, is attired in a khaki twill three-piece accompanied with a top cap. His outward appearance uncannily that of Agatha Christie’s character of Inspector Hercule Piorot of his numerous trips to North Africa overlooks his hard-working brand ‘Three Over One’ with an ethereal emphasis on durability and well-made fabrications that over the years has become near extinct from a working man’s wardrobe. He carries a distinct Mancunian accent, an angular sweep of his matching ginger hair and beard emblematic of a man with a flowing passion for men’s clothes.
When Thompson first created his brand in the autumn of 2009, a number of local individuals with different strands of creativity were enlisted to showcase his collection’s campaign. A botanist and arts teacher, others involved in sports and performing arts wore check buttoned-down shirts, soft jersey crew neck pullovers, Japanese denim jeans and a heavy navy melton peacoat. Partially inspired by the emblematic photographs by American photographer Irving Penn, the art-direction recapturing silver-hallide black/white photography was to infuse an Australian man in whatever aspiring vocations and métiers could be clothed in appropriate garments with sensitivity to fabric, colour and finishings.
It was only two years ago that American Newsweek ran a story on the return of Americana. The synonymous red lumberjack jacket, the epitome coolness of James Dean in his denim and white t-shirt with the precursor of wearing your grandfather’s clothes became de jour again. Thompson isn’t strung out on fisherman-toggle nor varsity jacket and preparatory revitalisation that has consumed the country’s current fashion taste (of which appears to be vanishing), Three Over One in Thompson’s words is put simply, “A rugged elegance that breathes both style and authenticity.” He subtly sights a recent published book entitled ‘City of Shadows’, a photographic dossier of Sydney criminals in the 19th century as a surreptitious context for devising his seasonal collections. However, as Thompson elucidates a new range, the well-honed elegance he refers to can be evoked in Sydney photographer Max Dupain’s compendium showing early 20th century men and women traveling to work from across the bridge to Circular Quay.
Touching a light twill Bedford jacket, Thompson converses, “I sourced all my fabrics from Japan where then I work with a Chinese factory who fabricates them.” Determining that quality should not outstrip attainability, he sights the manufacturing of all of his garments to be as good as anywhere else. An oxford shirt by Thompson can consist of a pleated back yoke giving the shoulders a more contoured shape; the grammage of fabrics chosen for a heavy melton peacoat reminiscent of the Her Majesty’s Royal Navy, the weave of his oxford shirts and the soft cottons for his undergarment pieces so tender like that of crepe de chine.
The enveloping aura that surrounds Thompson’s textured garments is filled with a trove of reclaimed furnishings: an old copper’s cabinet, the vast bar counter table occupying the central interior space; a dissected mannequin and at the front an old Tasmanian sheep shearing table now used for garment display. “I wanted this retail space to have a point of difference and a great alternative to how spaces are displayed in department stores”, Thompson proceeds to explain. The point of differentiation is self-evident as store visitors unexpectedly observe singular hooked Three Over One garments on the opposite wall from the bar counter. Beneath lay a series of neatly folded linen and oxford cotton shirts, raglan jersey sweatshirting and twill trousers. Many of Thompson’s garments ultilise Caruso, shell and real horn buttons to augment a spirit of durable authencity.
Behind the bar counter, Jean Renoir paintings are digital reproduced with a framed wall procession of human muscular structures and dissected human anatomy. Intriguing to say the least, Michael Deacon (Thompson’s business partner) shares an appreciation for human and mechanical engineering that also allude to Three Over One’s shopkeeper’s intention of a slow and metabolic evolution of inspiring men in appropriately attired men’s clothing.
Three Over One store is located at 441 Oxford Street, Paddington, Sydney.
