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| Cracking off the New Year in equestrian style from top to crop, tip-top, whip-top, Davide Dato, the Italian Principal Dancer of the Staatsoper, performing at this year's Wiener Philharmoniker New Year's Concert, as seen on TV. |
The 14th Duke of Bedford said that a gentleman should have no less than 30 pairs of shoes so as not to have to wear any of them more often than once a month.
His Grace The Duke of ... resting on a sofa in one of his fine drawing rooms with amazing equestrian paintings, otherwise stylish in tweed jacket etc but wearing the most ghastly pair of beaten common trainers is disgraceful! Had it been a beaten pair of stylish sneakers like high-top Converses or Air Force Ones, for example, it would have still been gracefully elegant.
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| Portrait of Louis-Auguste Baron Schwiter (1826–27) by Eugène Delacroix in The National Gallery, London |
The First Lady of The Philippines, Imelda Marcos might have said that every lady should have at least 300 odd pairs of shoes so that she would not have to wear them more than once a year.
More recently, Admiral General Aladeen (as played by Sacha Baron Cohen in his 2012 film, The Dictator) is in a sense one of the best dressed contemporary world leaders.
Even more recently, face masks have significantly contributed to general elegance during the pandemic by hiding many ugly faces - even better than sunglasses. So many people would look so much better if they covered more of their faces and bodies while the opposite can apply to others. Some people look so good that even the worst clothes do not quite spoil it while arguably more or less the opposite can also apply.
The opposition to the hijab is also questionable - it is so far a lost opportunity to cover up many ugly people, not only women but many men could look wonderful in a full veil and if one adds sunglasses, one reaches perfection in beauty.
There is a time and place for everything from the formality of white tie and tails with decorations to the informality of no head or tail or tie and white sneakers - from classics to Asics, from old balance to New Balance - fashion casualties. While some people stick to traditional styles of being well dressed, others never do, being always casual, but some of us can enjoy both - each to their own.
Light destroys the white colour of sneakers to yellow but light makes the wearer's hair white over time!
Sometimes even the old and new can be mixed elegantly even if some care may be taken to avoid bad taste, even if tastes also vary. One can combine informality with glamour, for example. There are doubtless many combinations, for example, mixing hipster sneakers with whipster equestrian style, but rather than an American baseball cap, the European whipster would call it a polo cap or jockey cap as in Master and Margarita while having to accept that the Americans are rather strong in sneakers like Converses and Vans and the Nike Air Force One while the German Adidas Original is a Superstar... Meanwhile jeans are originally of course an American cowboy's riding breeches, now riding high in fashion for decades.
Sneakers or trainers seem to have become an increasingly global, gender and otherwise neutral, modern or contemporary fashion hit of the time - scarpe diem [sic], rising from sports and informal wear to be increasingly smart or even formal as in paired up with a suit, so called dress sneakers, a crisp white brand spanking new pair with a suit to even get married in. A century ago, Rudolph Valentino married in knee-high black leather equestrian boots and white suit without a tie.
Once upon a time not too long ago, a new employee would be booted out to get a suit on their first day in the office if they had not arrived suited and booted but now sneakers have very much stepped into the office.
Some moan about wearing sneakers with a suit but surely a clean white pair of sneakers can look good on a young man in a suit and in any event far worse is a man who purports to wear black tie but omits the waistcoat or cummerbund leaving the shirt exposed - no pair of sneakers can ever look as bad as that!
Jagat Singh, Raja of Isarda, was described as ‘the dazzling Prince with flowing locks and flashing eyes, attired in jewels and jeans, turban and tshirt’ (Maharanis, Lucy More, p. 291). How far one might combine the traditional and the modern may be a matter of taste on which views differ.
But the world's most fashion conscious animal is the moth who only eats the newest and best-quality clothes not touching any old rag.
National dress enriches fashion. The whole world does not need to dress the same all the time like every individual does not need to dress the same all the time. It is somewhat unfortunate, for example, that the bowler hat disappeared from the City of London. While it does not need to be worn with nationalistic totalitarian uniformity, it would nevertheless contribute to a touch of old world elegance. Maybe a Zack Pinsent will yet invade the City?
Traditional things to wear can be combined with modern and contemporary clothes. Universal fashions can on the other hand have a unifying and maybe even egalitarian symbolism. On the other hand, Zack Pinsent of Brighton has wonderfully restored Regency elegance, adding to contemporary variety.
Fashion also evolves. In the 1980s it was youth fashion to wear no hat even in the coldest times of the Nordic winter with older people wondering if youngsters had lost their hat or head or which one they lost first. Nowadays they wear doubtless ripped jeans in the freezing cold winter - so cool that a cold may follow! A quarter of a century later the opposite is youth fashion, wearing a woolly beanie even indoors and in the warmest heat of the summer - while they clearly have not lost their hats, one may wonder about the head as much as a quarter of a century ago.
The English Singer Adam Ant (Stuart Goddard) appeared in outfits of long equestrian boots and swagger stick or cane as a charming prince. The lyrics included:
Don't you ever, don't you ever
Stop being dandy, showing me you're handsome
Prince Charming
Prince Charming
Ridicule is nothing to be scared of
With the formal, the traditional, smart, casual, sneakers etc. the issue is not so much what one wears but when and how one wears it. One can wear anything or nothing, the skill is to know when to wear or not to wear whatever if anything. Any hair style can look good or bad from a long whip of a pony tail to short cropped hair.
‘I love everything beautiful’ – Jean Sibelius said. One may not need to specify too much.
Both the world of fashion and the Court of Chancery are things of precedent and usage... (Bleak House)
