I was once told by an extraordinarily forthright young lady at university that I dressed “as if I were 50.” She sneered at my varsity uniform of burgundy penny loafers, green cords, blood red jumper and green wax Barbour jacket and said; “Maybe you should dress like that when you’re middle-aged. But not now, you’re only 20!” As a statement it affected me more than it should have; after all, there were a number of others dressed in a … [Read more...]
In my last post I confessed to one of my guilty pleasures being loafers with bows on. This week I confess to another guilty pleasure. This one may seem rather plebeian by comparison, but I can’t help that. On matters of men’s dress I’ve probably read the same books and surf the same websites you have. So we should all be familiar with the gospel of matching the colour of your socks to your suit or trousers, right? The aim is to create … [Read more...]
I had an interesting discussion with a friend recently about ‘correct footwear.’ The occasion was my brother’s recent wedding, we had changed into black tie for the evening after the wedding breakfast and he had noticed I was wearing opera pumps with what is technically ‘informal evening wear’ – ‘formal evening wear’ being white tie and tails. He had expected patent Oxfords, which I do own, and asked me why I did not conform to … [Read more...]
For the modest sum of eight dollars, I recently snagged on Ebay a copy of G. Bruce Boyer's classic style book Eminently Suitable: The Elements of Style in Business Attire. Boyer is a recognized expert on men's style, having written on the subject since the early 1980s. He is formerly the fashion editor for GQ, Esquire, and Town & Country. Although published in 1990, Eminently Suitable still has relevance today. If you can find a copy, I would … [Read more...]
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