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ws-jm?· ^:ii:.:-::\Mf:-fJ::fy:' ?╜-, But he doesn't buy clothes just to please his public... or to impress friends : i ' Other performers are gassed by what I wear, and I get a kick out of that." He gets a kick, too, out of clothes for their sake, and for his own. "I have a feel for clothes. I think things out?╟÷there must be a reason for everything . . . where the buttons are placed, so you can see enough shirt front, whether one or two or three buttons would be best on a single-breasted, and how wide the lapels should be. I have a cuffed and uncuffed wardrobe. I might design a shawl collar suit, if the collar could be worn up. I love side vents, deep vents, because you never break the line when your hands are in your pockets.'' He claims he started the tapered pants fad. Back in 1954 he had trousers made with an extreme taper, to the tailor's disbelief and consternation. He combined the tight pants with boots and a four-button single-breasted jacket, a kind of "modern Edwardian" he called it then, long before Mod was invented as a name. Later, when he performed in London and saw Carnaby Street, he "really dug it." He has bought many casual clothes on Carnaby Street since?╟÷like the shaped white corduroy suit at the right, from Lord John. (The red turtleneck is from the John Stephen Shop on the same street.) But he doesn't wear his trousers as tight now. "What changed that was my wife. She wasn't so rude as to come out and say it, but she did say, when I wore my pants less tight, 'Now, those are nice.' " Though Mr. Davis may buy a sport coat or jacket or outer coat in London or Paris, his suits and evening clothes are now all made by Sy Devore in Hollywood. The evening outfit on this page was made by Sy Devore in black mohair to Mr. Davis' own design and to the same cut as the cover ensemble?╟÷except that the jacket's peak lapels and the coat's peak-shawl collar and epaulettes are satin-faced, the coat has a white silk lining and the jacket's chest continued on page 120 84 gentlemen's quarterly ,,m