MANICHAEAN
07-23-2010, 02:35 AM
A generation ago dress codes were fairly well established. One "dressed" for dinner, i.e tails & dicky bow if on the Cunard line crossing the Atlantic. To attend an interview a suit was worn, shoes given a good shine & a suitable neckpiece of formal demeanour chosen. Jackets were not removed in "good" restaurants. Black tie at funerals etc etc.
Having just returned back to work from a holiday in France & the UK, I was somewhat bemused, (& I must confess), confused regarding what is now acceptable or otherwise concerning how to dress.
Let me give you some examples. About twenty years ago I turned up at the Kano Club in Northern Nigeria ostensibly to get a beer & a sandwich while visiting a site there. For those of you not familiar with the Club system in ex-British colonies, these splendid establishments were retained after independence to serve as social centres where all members could: relax, mix, swim, play tennis, or in my case quench a thirst & feed the inner self on a hot tropical evening. When you joined one club, all other clubs in Nigeria then extended visitor access. Anyway the point that I am eventually getting around to is that on this occasion, although dressed in shorts, (which was acceptable), I was informed that a tie at this particular club was "de rigueur". Not being in possession of more than a pick up truck & a change of underwear, they were still gracious enough to overcome this particular obstacle by providing the aforementioned article from a multifarious stock they kept at the reception. It struck me as incongruous, but looking back now, those were their rules and standards & I, as a visitor was obliged to comply.
We now come to the recent trip to France. I was at what was deemed a "good" restaurant in Brittany, minimalist in design, but more than compensated for by excellent food and situated viewing the offshore rocks of the English Channel. Part of the clientel consisted of a wedding reception and as my dear old mother used to say "There's money there!". Anyway, once again we come back to the question of how to dress. In the wedding group, the women were everything a French female transforms to and attains to so easily: from the haute couture dresses to the delicate finishing touches of a row of pearls or the deliberate understatement of expensive jewellery. In other words; imaginative, sharp & smart. The men were a different kettle of fish. The suits were very well cut to be sure. But the you had the open necked shirt, designer stubble beards & the odd ear stud. One chap's trousers were tight in the legs (bit like the drainpipe "a la Teddy Boy" mode of the 1950's in England) and his shoes seemed to be 4 inches longer than required & turning up (a bit like a flipper) at the front of his feet. It struck me as something out of a cartoon character & I can only hope he was just family & not the groom. For the balance of personages in the restaurant, they varied from languid young men attired in what is known I believe as "smart chic" to comfortably clothed couples belting into the foie gras & the red wine.
Back in the UK at the airport while waiting for the luggage, there were the by now inevitable deliberate torn jeans at the knees, and a selection of the display of the upper naked ranges of the gluteus maximus, suitably accompanied by Celtic style tattoos on the lower spines. One young lady was wrapped in some kind of poncho type shawl, or was it a sari? This was ingeniously tucked into white socks encompassed by what looked like big army style boots. I think she was making a fashion statement but the Immigration Authorities had presumably granted her entry, although her right of abode might have been another matter of more serious consideration.
I could not help but reflect as to what are the rules, if there are any, regarding how to dress today? You can choose I presume the way you dress to either draw attention or to merge with the crowd in the market place. The choice is there, either deliberately or otherwise, to endeavour to attract the opposite sex, to rebel against what you regard as convention, to seek to impress or to just be downright comfortable. My own personal fear arises from the fact that fashion seeks to go in circles. There are only so many variables regarding hemlines going up or down, flesh being adorned or exposed, colours being subdued or livened up. So whats next? A remorseless advance to the final precipice?? Back to Adam & Eve? I think I'll comply with the Kano Club rules & wear shorts & a tie, even if they think, like the nomad at Stanstead Airport, that I am eccentric!
Having just returned back to work from a holiday in France & the UK, I was somewhat bemused, (& I must confess), confused regarding what is now acceptable or otherwise concerning how to dress.
Let me give you some examples. About twenty years ago I turned up at the Kano Club in Northern Nigeria ostensibly to get a beer & a sandwich while visiting a site there. For those of you not familiar with the Club system in ex-British colonies, these splendid establishments were retained after independence to serve as social centres where all members could: relax, mix, swim, play tennis, or in my case quench a thirst & feed the inner self on a hot tropical evening. When you joined one club, all other clubs in Nigeria then extended visitor access. Anyway the point that I am eventually getting around to is that on this occasion, although dressed in shorts, (which was acceptable), I was informed that a tie at this particular club was "de rigueur". Not being in possession of more than a pick up truck & a change of underwear, they were still gracious enough to overcome this particular obstacle by providing the aforementioned article from a multifarious stock they kept at the reception. It struck me as incongruous, but looking back now, those were their rules and standards & I, as a visitor was obliged to comply.
We now come to the recent trip to France. I was at what was deemed a "good" restaurant in Brittany, minimalist in design, but more than compensated for by excellent food and situated viewing the offshore rocks of the English Channel. Part of the clientel consisted of a wedding reception and as my dear old mother used to say "There's money there!". Anyway, once again we come back to the question of how to dress. In the wedding group, the women were everything a French female transforms to and attains to so easily: from the haute couture dresses to the delicate finishing touches of a row of pearls or the deliberate understatement of expensive jewellery. In other words; imaginative, sharp & smart. The men were a different kettle of fish. The suits were very well cut to be sure. But the you had the open necked shirt, designer stubble beards & the odd ear stud. One chap's trousers were tight in the legs (bit like the drainpipe "a la Teddy Boy" mode of the 1950's in England) and his shoes seemed to be 4 inches longer than required & turning up (a bit like a flipper) at the front of his feet. It struck me as something out of a cartoon character & I can only hope he was just family & not the groom. For the balance of personages in the restaurant, they varied from languid young men attired in what is known I believe as "smart chic" to comfortably clothed couples belting into the foie gras & the red wine.
Back in the UK at the airport while waiting for the luggage, there were the by now inevitable deliberate torn jeans at the knees, and a selection of the display of the upper naked ranges of the gluteus maximus, suitably accompanied by Celtic style tattoos on the lower spines. One young lady was wrapped in some kind of poncho type shawl, or was it a sari? This was ingeniously tucked into white socks encompassed by what looked like big army style boots. I think she was making a fashion statement but the Immigration Authorities had presumably granted her entry, although her right of abode might have been another matter of more serious consideration.
I could not help but reflect as to what are the rules, if there are any, regarding how to dress today? You can choose I presume the way you dress to either draw attention or to merge with the crowd in the market place. The choice is there, either deliberately or otherwise, to endeavour to attract the opposite sex, to rebel against what you regard as convention, to seek to impress or to just be downright comfortable. My own personal fear arises from the fact that fashion seeks to go in circles. There are only so many variables regarding hemlines going up or down, flesh being adorned or exposed, colours being subdued or livened up. So whats next? A remorseless advance to the final precipice?? Back to Adam & Eve? I think I'll comply with the Kano Club rules & wear shorts & a tie, even if they think, like the nomad at Stanstead Airport, that I am eccentric!