The Look goes on...

[Swampster]

The reality was that there were more peasants and street urchins than gentlefolk.

Keeping a roof over your head and putting food on the table were major concerns.

Yes, however much being a Mr Darcy or even a Mr Dashwood might appeal, I know from much of my lineage that they would have looked up to the Robert Martins of the area - they'd have been his farm hands perhaps.
A little later and I start to see skilled workers like some tailors, though market town level, not Saville Row. By the time of Bertie Wooster, most of the men are factory workers though some are clerks rather than production line. The only forebear I know of who had a reputation as being a bit of a dresser was one of my GGFs - his father was one of the tailors which may have had an influence.

 

[Kingstonian]

Dressing down was unknown then of course.

Have nots also valued quality.

 

[Mr Knightley]

The reality was that there were more peasants and street urchins than gentlefolk.

Keeping a roof over your head and putting food on the table were major concerns.

If you are still alluding to Fanny Price, I didn’t dislike her because of her background, but because she was so very dull. She could have put a much better roof over the heads of her family had she accepted Mr Crawford!

Coming back to the Look, we are all influenced by our backgrounds and, without wishing to prolong the literary conversation too long, Evelyn Waugh / Charles Ryder nailed it when he said he possessed nothing certainly except the past. I have thought for a long time now that a person interested in style can never be happy living in the present day...as Lady Julia says in that same book ‘...he was something absolutely modern and up-to-date that only this ghastly age could produce...’

So, I suppose for me, like @Thin White Duke , the Look is a way of keeping bits of my past alive in this ‘ghastly age’.

 

[am55]

If you are still alluding to Fanny Price, I didn’t dislike her because of her background, but because she was so very dull. She could have put a much better roof over the heads of her family had she accepted Mr Crawford!

Coming back to the Look, we are all influenced by our backgrounds and, without wishing to prolong the literary conversation too long, Evelyn Waugh / Charles Ryder nailed it when he said he possessed nothing certainly except the past. I have thought for a long time now that a person interested in style can never be happy living in the present day...as Lady Julia says in that same book ‘...he was something absolutely modern and up-to-date that only this ghastly age could produce...’

So, I suppose for me, like @Thin White Duke , the Look is a way of keeping bits of my past alive in this ‘ghastly age’.

There is also the small matter of how Bertram got his wealth - the plot literally sends him to "sort problems in his plantation". I think modern readers often have no idea just what type of people their forebears were, in character as well as values - remember a mere 4,000 militarily held a country of perhaps 200 million in 1857!

The dress of that time had a functional purpose, from Kipling's Kim: "He was a Sahib in that he wore Sahib's clothes". That it continues to this day to inspire and make an impression is no accident.

 

[Mr Knightley]

On a different note, the poll is up in the Friday Challenge -

Friday Challenge Poll: An Accessory Displayed and Worn

Who displayed and wore it best? @Alocin @Betelgeuse @Eli Curt @Konnor @Mr Knightley @psb @StylebyLinus @Don L

www.styleforum.net

 

[donkeyjacket2]

When I worked at the mine, the top management used to wear a shirt and tie underneath their overalls, when they went underground, I thought that this was going a bit far.
The last place that I worked, when I was still on the tools, it was so hot, we only wore shorts and a vest, and it was still too hot. The first thing I did when I got back to the surface was to have a cig and a saline drink, to replace the salt that I had lost through sweating.

I heard a lot just worked in the niff considering how hot was the deeper you went, gays wet dream that is.

 

[Mr Knightley]

Picking up the comment from @donkeyjacket2 about extreme heat, I have noticed on the 'new thread' a discussion on that topic, given that it's been pretty warm lately. Of course, not all of them have had the discipline of growing up with the Look and there were some interesting revelations such as shorts in the city and wearing a singlet (vest?) around the house.

I think I have mentioned before my own recent 'slip' in purchasing some jogging / track / lounge bottoms - more to do with working from home than coping with the heat.

I was wondering what compromises you guys have made - either due to the summer heat or being confined to the homestead?

Today's outfit is a bit more 'formal' than usual, due to a virtual meeting and some business in the town:

 

[Thin White Duke]

Good topic and K.
Concessions?
None whatsoever!
Before this corona business I already worked from home at least a couple of days a week. I don’t feel the need to make any kind of effort to get dressed on the days when I’m WFH.
As for stepping out in the heat - my ‘uniform’ is polo, jeans/five pocket/sta pressts and adidas trainers in warm weather, giving way to linen shirts/popovers, linen strides and driving mocs during the dog days of summer.
When I get dressed for work in the summer most of my gear is lightweight and I can move to linen blazers and suits, leno weave shirts, loafers etc but as I’m usually moving from house to car to airport to plane to airport to rental car to hospital to hotel, all of which have A/C, I’m not in the steam for long. A couple of places I visit entail a decent walk across a university or hospital campus which gives me the excuse to break out one of my many Panama hats which I have in several colours to coordinate with whatever outfit.

 

[Clouseau]

MrKnightley it is the second time you import a topic from "Here and Now" in "your" Thread to keep it alive. You seriously lack imagination, don't you ?
BTW it is really an old geezer thread now! Good luck!

 

[Swampster]

At work, I have been told not to wear a tie, more because they can't easily be washed. I didn't bother to argue about viral 'lifespans'.
I only have to go into work a couple of days a week, and quite few of those have been when the weather cooled down, so apart from the tie I've been pretty much as normal. When it was warmer, I wore more linen shirts than usual.
When I'm at home, I can schedule the work pretty much as I want so I have had time to do house jobs such as gardening, and that can dictate what I wear much of the time. I have some army surplus trousers which get worn if shorts aren't appropriate - one pair are German and one are US I think - both pretty old.

Biggest compromise has been hair - I haven't trusted the clippers and have only once had hair that short once, and that was an accident - different barber to usual misunderstood what I wanted. So I have kind of gone from 'Please please me' to 'Let it be'.

 

[Mr Knightley]

I had not even thought about ties and the virus - interesting point. Obviously, jackets, trousers, belts, watches and shoes don't get 'washed' regularly either!

Before the lockdown, when I went into the office or even to a meeting or event in London, for example, I was one of very few in a tie. I happen to like wearing a piece of coloured silk around my neck and plan to keep on doing so for as long as I can...

My own pattern of work now basically comprises a morning session when most of my internal and external contacts are working and when virtual meetings often take place and then a more relaxed, flexible afternoon when I 'work at my own pace', like @Swampster , fitting work around other tasks.

I tend to wear a polo or h/s shirt and cotton trousers or jeans on the days when I have no particular appointments with summer weight loafers and usually sans socks. On the more 'formal days', often a long sleeve BD or other shirt with whatever trousers suggest themselves. I am still trying to stick to my 'Formal Fridays' but possibly not this week, as I am going to my barber for the first time since March.

 

[covskin]

I think I have mentioned before my own recent 'slip' in purchasing some jogging / track / lounge bottoms - more to do with working from home than coping with the heat.

I was wondering what compromises you guys have made - either due to the summer heat or being confined to the homestead?

I'm wearing old clothes for the garden and my mountaineering stuff on local walks

Ronhill, Salomon

(Ronhill is running stuff really but it's nice and cheap and does the job as a base layer, and I wear the Salomon trainers rather than boots whenever possible)

 

[Mr Knightley]

I'm wearing old clothes for the garden and my mountaineering stuff on local walks

View attachment 1416435

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Ronhill, Salomon

(Ronhill is running stuff really but it's nice and cheap and does the job as a base layer, and I wear the Salomon trainers rather than boots whenever possible)

@covskin Not heard of Ronhill. I seem to recall your mentioning before that you had three sub-sets in your wardrobe - the items that are influenced by the Look, a business / formal wardrobe and your active wear.

My own active wear that I used when I was a club cyclist now resides in a large Adidas bag stored, along with bits of bikes, at the back of the garage. I must do better.

 

[Thin White Duke]

Maybe it’s a regional thing? I’d never heard of Ron Hill gear until I went to Carnegie and all the Yorkshire lot were wearing it. Never seen it in years, didn’t know they were still going.

 

[Yorky]

My daily dress, hasn't really been affected at all during lockdown, around the house I usually wear either.

• Casual - jeans, cords, chino's, with a BD, Bretton top, round knecked t shirt or polo, if the temperature dictates, too hot shorts, too cold some knitwear, a wool sweater or cardigan. If shoes are required Todds drivers or loafers.
• Gardening or other chores, old clothes really, currently in rotation as an example old Brooks Brothers OCBD that had a stain on it, and some old frayed at the bottom khakis and old desert boots or superga's which are 30 years old.​

Out and about as the weather has been good recently, chino's or cotton trousers, a BD, Harrington or monkey jacket, loafers or smooths.

If walking, khakis, monkey boots, trainers, polo, trucker jacket.

Going to the RHS Gardens in Harrogate on Saturday, so planning to wear, John Simons Madras popover, Lightweight cotton sand Levi 505's, Anderson belt, Church's loafers with rubber sole, and Olive coloured Uniqlo unlined 3/2 jacket.

Unfortunately my hair is at week 16 or 17 without a cut, so swept back off centre parting.