Please note that some of the additional information provided here by the journalist named below may not be accurate, so it should be treated with caution.
Saturday, 26th September 1970
Peter Wyngarde Living Up To His Title
Did you fall madly in love with Jason King? Did you warm to his ultra cool and his rapier wit and his Immaculate way of dressing? That’s probably how Peter Wyngarde came to win the best dressed man of ’70 award. So what’s he wearing this winter?
One beautiful garment that is bound to get an airing is a fur coat that once belonged to Rudolph Valentino. It is made of black seal skin and reaches almost to the ground. The collar is Russian squirrel and there are 5 inch bands of mink around the cuffs and hem. Peter bought the coat in Hollywood and he looks as illustrious in it as the original heartthrob owner.
“I’ve always cared passionately about clothes,” he says. “In fact, maybe it’s only in the last few years that my style of dressing has really come into its own. I met a friend abroad recently whom I hadn’t seen for a few years and he said that he recognised me from a distance by the style of my clothes! I am very like Jason King – in fact the character was intended to be much quieter, much less flamboyant originally. I wore all my own clothes and I shall do so again when the new series starts shooting.”
In Peter’s Kensington home there are several wardrobes bulging with fantastically elegant clothes. ” I’m lucky as I travel a lot and I’m able to buy my clothes all over the world – as I see them. Sometimes I have things specially made. Sometimes I buy off the peg, and I don’t even mind buying things that are not new if they are what I want. In France, I got the most beautiful black and silver grey beaded waistcoat in a market.”
Among the favorite things in the Wyngarde collection is a shirt in Sheer Damascus silk, woven by nuns in a Spanish convent near Malaga. It is patterned in dark mauve and black and looks fantastic worn with white slacks. His favorite belt is Chinese and medieval, with handcarved silver links and a bird of paradise on the buckle.
Peter has a very definite idea about clothes. “If clothes really matter to you, they must be treated with respect. I love fabrics like silk and cashmere, but obviously you can’t treat them in the same way as cotton or wool.”
There are certain Wyngarde fashion points noticeable at a glance. His well tailored pale suits are one trademark, so are his turned back shirt cuffs: “A habit I developed when I was living in a hot climate. it’s cooler and it doesn’t matter if you’ve lost your cufflinks!” Another is buttonholed flaps on his sports jackets so he can turn the collar up on chilly London evenings.
Between filming and other commitments, Peter travels all over, making appearances in those far corners of the world where his success in Department S has made him a star. Everywhere he goes he well and truly lives up to his title, epitomizing everything that is best about the English gentleman in both charm and elegance. He is always perfectly dressed whether in impeccably tailored suits on quiet days or in the swirl of a grey silk Chinese Cape, heavily embroidered in white, when he’s feeling dramatic. Even Jason king couldn’t do it better
Interview by Georgina Mells
PETER WYNGARDE: The Official Website 