Jon Crispin's Notebook

I will admit to a certain vanity about clothing.  I mostly wear a variation of the same thing everyday, which makes life easier in the mornings.  I have a real issue with outerwear though.  I love jackets, hats and gloves.  It is probably why Summer is my least favorite time of the year. I remember as a kid in Meadville looking forward to Autumn because it meant I could wear coats again.  When I lived in Ithaca in the 70s, my friend Robby Aceto had a pair of these gloves.  There was a shop in the DeWitt Mall that sold outdoor kit and they carried Millar Mitts.  I bought a pair and completely wore them out over a period of 5 years.  Replacing my worn out pair was really difficult.  Nobody in the States seemed to carry them, and I think the company went out of business.  They were made in the UK by Millar Gloves, Bingham, Nottinghamshire.  On one of my trips to London in the mid 80s I found a single pair in a shop in the Burlington Arcade.  The backs are wool and the palms are cotton string.  Wearing them is such a treat.  The wool isn’t itchy, but you always know when you have them on.  In an odd way they are very sensual. /  I took the train to New York on Thursday for some work and since I knew I would be shooting outside, I broke out these guys. It makes me happy just to look at them.