Ted kind of has a point...might as well clean out my closet.

I think it's safe to continue with current trad and be fogey or move on and evolve.


The only problem comes, as has been mentioned, if your wardrobe becomes a costume, a la plus fours.

To those of us here who have bothered to truly make determinations about the subtle differences between clothing, the trad style I've long espoused may seem costumey to them. 

Though I protest it in some quarters, in this case, among people who actually appear to know their clothes rather than the whims of fashion (most people here, some over there), this is an attitude I can respect, because I know style has moved beyond the grey flannel 3 button sack with 3" repp tie, club collar, and wingtips or Alden loafers. And that is fine. If they were car aficionados they'd prefer the new streamlined designs to my heavy, boxy old Cadillac too. It's a fair attitude if you know of what you speak and are interested in progress.

I for one am not tempted to change much of my wardrobe and evolve it, though I'd be interested to see, if trad can evolve, what it can come up with. I do think the various iterations of the 30s-80s trad are pretty neat and I like switching among them, that Rosenberg suit one day for the early 60s look, then an 80s Brooks "346" another day, then a 3 piece from Stackpole from the mid 50s.

Anyway, I have 2 reasons why I'm not going to worry about the modern world

Reason: I don't think it matters a whole lot anyway.  If the suit is going down the tubes, then it'll be all suits, not just Rosenberg and J. Press suits.  So all of us will either have to abandon suits, or all be termed costume wearers of different variations on the costume.

Reason 2: If the suit doesn't go down the tubes and I don't gain a ton of weight, I will still look good in what I have now.  While a conservative, fogey-ish style, it still plays well if you wear it well.  FNB has had a lot of success with the ladies in his dandy-gear, which I admire.  I'm not much of a player, but the ones I like; they think I look good, not like an old man.  I suppose what I am saying is so long as I am satisfied with trad as I own it, so long as the suit itself is not a costume, and so long as it continues to generate respect from men and women alike, then I'll keep on with it. 

I suppose my reasoning in #2 is premised on the fact that as long as the suit is acceptable to wear, the attitude/comportment/and basically how cool the wearer is  is what affects life, not the fogey-ness of the style chosen.  As long as I can call girls and get dates, be greated with a shout or a smile at the bar, and be respected by my peers, ain't no way, no how, I'm dropping my style.


If it ain't broke, don't fix it--even if the finer points  of style (not fashion) have moved on--is my outlook on clothing.

That said, it might be very interesting to see what one could do with trad.

A return to more supressed side seams would be a nice step.

Unfortunately, everything I think of that would make Trad more cool seems to be making it like something Peppard wore in Breakfast at Sir Winston Churchills Flem spoon.'s---a narrowing of a lapel or tie here, a supressing of a side seam there, a colorful sweater or waiscoat there.  Could that be the problem with trad? Even the "improvements" one could make have the potential to actually send it backwards?


Edit:GFBurke is right though...funny actually, I am a bit of a Burkean---but it is FUN to play fogey.  Because even though my sartorial and automotive and architectural tastes might be a bit fogey my LIFE isn't fogey-ized. We must divorce the clothing from the behaviors, I think.

Edit2: Another thought, I think sometimes we also get confused about what we'd wear when. Traditional styles get a lot of flack because people imagine the Coolidges of the world spoiling everyone's day wearing Harris tweeds down to the beach or something.  While I'll wear a collared shirt to see the sox at fenway, it'll be a polo and probably tucked into some bermuda shorts.  I'll keep the conservatism alive by tucking it in, and wearing the collar, but in my mind there's no real danger of appearing as an anachronism unless you wear things in the wrong situation.

Last edited by Coolidge (2006-07-11 14:28:07)

I think you can keep your 'Trad' wardrobe and be a Modernist. In fact I'm sure you can. More than that - I think you should.
Same sharp duds with an even sharper attutude.
Dress like F. Scott by all means, but behave like him too.
Mine's a double.

Miles