Horace, Miles et al

Is it really true that we've learned nothing and forgotten nothing? Are we still stuck in the '30s, with all those heavy, uncomfortable clothes with their "dry" hand? Is our nostalgia bound up with the pair of Peal/Green wingtip slip-ons that we could not afford to buy from Brooks in the '60s? Can we really wear all those clothes that Ed Tutee so diligently illustrates in his learned posts on London Lounge?

My wife, who is better dressed (and thankfully prettier) than I am looks at all my gray flannels, royal oxford buttondowns, and Alden tassel loafers as the product of hatred of any change. She has compelled me to discard my white suede summer shoes and banned espadrilles (sorry, Tomasso). It's 2006, she says, not 1963 or 1934. Fred and Cary are no longer with us.

However, without these stylistic models and without all the accumulated label snobberies (in the '60s, I couldn't buy anything at Wallachs or Rogers Peet-only from Chipp, Brooks and then Frank Brothers and now Barbera as the Italian heir to the past), I really have no clue or interest. I won't wear a black suit and all pants still have to be cuffed. No dark shirts, etc (wish I could be hip as FNB, but probably too old).

So what was my recent "milestone" birthday gift? An SAB London tan bridle flap over document case. No change over the years (she said my old one was really ratty).

All the repetition does seem to sap your strength. But that's just how it is.