Photograph: Werner Schmidt

Sunday, March 28, 2010

...And A Dress Faux Pas

I am not really ready to let go of Tim Koch’s theme ‘rowing history and men’s classic clothes’ yet. You see, I happened to find two old images from the magazine Esquire on the web, that both are in a ‘rowing setting’. I do not know how old these pictures are, but I am guessing that they are between 50 and 70 years old. In the picture from the Henley Royal Regatta (at the top), we see some spectators (the course is in the background with some boats) dressed in bright-coloured jackets and the striped jackets that are all over this regatta still to this day. I do not believe, however, that you nowadays would ever see a visitor at Henley Royal wearing a brown-coloured plaid jacket like the fellow off centre to the right, nor, actually, wearing a brown hat of that fashion.

The second image (on the left) shows two well-dressed gentlemen in the foreground of a boathouse from which some oarsmen are getting ready to launch their shell. The man holding an oar is wearing an over-coat that I have not seen anyone wearing ever (is there in fact anyone wearing an over-coat these days?). The man on the right is dressed in a plaid suit that I would not dare to put on, just because I am not that brave. His suede shoes look elegant and do match his suit, though; I do have ‘the courage’ to wear suede shoes. I once bought a pair of brown suede shoes in Paris (together with a blue knitted tie, but that is another story). How I loved these shoes. It was only a couple of years ago I threw them out, although they were over-due long ago. The second image states who the artist is that did the illustration: Stewart Heidgerd. I googled him and saw that Heidgerd did art work for Esquire (which was first published in 1933), during the late 1930s, maybe even later.

I cannot help pointing out one thing in Tim’s eminent article on the well-dressed Wingfields’ winners’ dinner that made my heart skip a beat. For when Tim writes that “only Americans and waiters wear black tie during the day”, I was painfully reminded that a friend of mine showed up in ‘black tie’ to my dear wife’s and my wedding, which was held ten years ago in Sweden, at noon. Of course, I was wearing morning dress (for those of you readers that think that this is a nicer name for a man’s pyjamas, please look at the image on the right). So, Tim, not only Americans and waiters, even some Swedes are wearing black tie during the day, I am sorry to say…

1 comment:

  1. I love black plaid suits because they're fine and they are also rugged.

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