Scary sartorial tips available in print

[cuffthis]

By John Bridges and Bryan Curtis (2003) - "A Gentleman sees that the cuffs of his trousers are no deeper than one and one-quarter inch" (p. 67) And to think all these years I have been wearing 1 3/4" cuffs. - "If a gentleman owns only one suit, it is navy, BLACK, or gray" (p. 72) Guess they are not talking about one BUSINESS suit being black. - "Although a gentleman's jacket may come equipped with four front buttons, he feels no necessity to button them all" (p. 73). How many gentleman do you know who would even own or considering wearing a 4 button jacket, let alone think about how many to button? - "There is no good excuse for wearing a white dinner jacket, anywhere, between Labor Day and Memorial Day" (p. 87) And to think, all of those wonderful Lawrence Fellows drawings from Apparel Arts and Esquire, were wrong when they showed the Palm Beach crowd doing this in the 1930's. - "A gentleman may not own his own dinner clothes, and he may not wish to rent them.........Instead, a gentleman may wish to invest in a good-quality black or midnight-blue suit, cut in an understated, classic style (that is, a style that does not involve top-stitching on the jacket or velvetten insets on the trouser legs). Absolutely appropriate for weddings, funerals, and romantic dinners, such a suit will also carry him through almost any semiformal occasion ("semiformal" being a euphemism for "black tie"). (p. 90) Huh? Semiformal = black tie? - "Whatever his profession, a gentleman does not attempt to mix his tailored suit with his tennis shoes" (p. 101). Whew, glad that's clarified. - "A gentleman never wears a belt when he is wearing suspenders" (p. 113) If one is still at this point in terms of being a gentleman, I would suggest reading "How to be a Gentleman Farmer" by Frank Perdue - "If a gentleman's shoes are some extraordinary color--such as red or blue--he wears a black belt, unless he can find a belt of precisely the same shade of red or blue" (p. 114). And to think, I have 20+ pairs of brown and black shoes but no blue or red ones. What was I thinking? I though the Internet was the only place that misinformation was prevelant...................................

 

[Manton]

"('semiformal' being a euphemism for 'black tie')." (p. 90)

Huh? Semiformal = black tie?

This is actually true.  Semi-formal evening wear is black tie.  Formal evening wear is white tie.

As for the rest of the "advice", maybe we could all put our heads together and come up with a companion book on the rules of etiquette.  I suggest, to kick things off:

"When a gentleman arrives at a private dinner party, he introduces himself to his hostess by saying '**** you,' and striking her in the face."

 

[cuffthis]

humor is the best medicine, Thank you for the laugh, doc.

 

[LA Guy]

Huh? Semiformal = black tie?

Well, the rest of the advice is crap (unless you are a gentleman pimp,) but strictly speaking, this would have been correct before the modern evening suit was invented and became socially acceptable. Under those even-stricter-than-Manton guidelines, formal is strictly white tie.

Source: Flusser and Roeztel (sp - that guy's name is difficult to spell without the books right in front of me.)

 

[LA Guy]

****, Manton, are you ever going to post one minute later than I did so that I can actually prove to you (somehow I feel the need) that I actually know the rules, but choose to think that they are outdated and irrelevant? You fired that off while I was trying to spell authors names correctly. In sartorial Jeopardy, you would beat me to the buzzer every time.

 

[Trilby]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this book "A Gentleman Gets Dressed Up" sold by Brooks Bros. under their own label. I definitely recall a book of that title or something very similar for sale at BB.

Maybe this helps explain why BB was in so much trouble when they were owned by M&S. They obviously did not have enough red or blue shoes for sale..

 

[Manton]

****, Manton, are you ever going to post one minute later than I did so that I can actually prove to you (somehow I feel the need) that I actually know the rules, but choose to think that they are outdated and irrelevant?

Relax, dude, I believe you. Hating anything as much as you hate the rules presupposes thorough knowledge and no short experience of the thing in question.

 

[Nonk]

- "There is no good excuse for wearing a white dinner jacket, anywhere, between Labor Day and Memorial Day" (p. 87)

How quaint.

Clearly the authors do not realise that the vast majority of the world's population, specifically those who may live in exactly the kind of place where a white dinner jacket would be appropriate, have absolutely no idea what "Labor Day and Memorial Day" are, never mind when they are.

Clearly this is intended for the US market only, and with no disrespect to our American friends, the reason for inclusion of some of the advice becomes apparent when the context is considered.

 

[JLibourel]

Those of you who saw my original post about bluchers with a business suit may recall that the authors of this little work evidently did not know the difference between bluchers and oxfords--not a good sign.

 

[alchimiste]

- "Whatever his profession, a gentleman does not attempt to mix his tailored suit with his tennis shoes" (p. 101).

Whew, glad that's clarified.

Haven't you ever seen a man (probably American) wearing a suit with sneakers and a baseball cap?

 

[Will]

Brooks Brothers, home of the black four button suit to be worn with black belt and red shoes.

The world is a poorer place.

 

[Carlo]

#&$^#% Manton. That line was o unlike you I just blew diet coke all over my keyboard.

 

[StevenRocks]

Some of the stuff in those Gentleman books (by John Bridges) is decent, but the vast majority of it is preposterous, with the exception of the book for fathers, "How to Raise A Gentleman," which is actually pretty good advice.

The good news is that most men will never read most of Mr. Bridges' work, and even fewer will believe it.  When I saw it, it was over in the 'dad gifts' section of Jos. A. Bank, beside the shoe buffer and the "Chicken Soup for the Golfer's Soul" books.  Lots of us get these gift books, but most of us use them as doorstops or our contibution to Goodwill.

 

[Horace]

Quote:

(cuffthis @ Feb. 20 2005,13:16) "('semiformal' being a euphemism for 'black tie')." (p. 90) Huh? Semiformal = black tie?
This is actually true. Â Semi-formal evening wear is black tie. Â Formal evening wear is white tie. As for the rest of the "advice", maybe we could all put our heads together and come up with a companion book on the rules of etiquette. Â I suggest, to kick things off: "When a gentleman arrives at a private dinner party, he introduces himself to his hostess by saying '**** you,' and striking her in the face."
I just received a wedding invitation and dress is noted as semi-formal. Which in the case of this invite means black-tie; I shudder to think, however, how many will show up in anything but.

 

[LA Guy]

I just received a wedding invitation and dress is noted as semi-formal.
Which in the case of this invite means black-tie; I shudder to think, however, how many will show up in anything but.

Exactly why invitations should state, explicitly, white tie, black tie, suit and tie, jacket and tie, come-as-you-are, etc... instead of using anachronistic terms that about half the people here understand and 1% of the general population does. The wedding couple will thoroughly deserve it if they wished for a squad of penguins and get a sea of blazers with Dockers instead.