Glossary of terms used on this site

Fair Isle - A type of design used in knitwear named after a Shetland island. History has it that a 16th century Spanish Armada galleon was wrecked and the sailors rescued from the vessel wore garments bearing Moorish designs which the Shetland islanders copied. Fair Isle knitwear is hand knitted wool with horizontal, coloured bands with naive or folky patterns and designs.

The contemporary fashionista or fashionisto who is the first to laugh at themselves while remaining resolutely stylish.

Felt - A fabric formed without weaving, using the natural tendency of the fibres of wool or rabbit fur to interface and cling together into a mat-like texture. Felt is the oldest fabric known to humankind.

Fitch - The fur of the european polecat.

Foulard - Foo-lard - The first meaning is a thin, flexible silk or silk and cotton material used for ties and handkerchiefs. It also can mean the actual scarves or handkerchiefs made from this fabric. The word foulard comes from the French word for a silk handkerchief

Frog pocket - A form of cross pocket in the trousers with the seam end opened vertically a few inches so it is easier to get your hand in.

Fugly - Very ugly or unattractive, but in a cool way

A preppy Oxford style shirt made up of a patchwork of different coloured shirting fabrics. On a visit to one of his company’s shirt factories in the 1970s, Ash Wall, the vice president and great-great-great-grandson of Brooks Brothers founder Henry Sand Brooks, picked up a "training shirt:" a shirt made by factory trainees using mismatched scraps of fabric. Wall reportedly tried one on and commented: "These are some fun shirts.”