Yesterday in Fetter Lane, now the weather is colder, a man in a green Loden coat with brass buttons around the pleat at the back. Coming in the other direction was a man speaking German. I am not aware of any German banks etc. nearby

Douglas Hurd was once berated for wearing a Loden coat - too foreign.

I had a fucking horrible nightmarish dream last night in which I spotted an iGent. It went like this. I was visiting a small racetrack which was being used for driver safety training for civilian motorists and I was standing on the side of the track in a small crowd. There were no cars on the track yet. This iGent walked by wearing a grey-blue-black large tartan blazer (very thom Browne), with a pink oxford shirt, bow tie, black-ish fashion jeans rolled up really high, no socks, and cordovan tassel laofers. He had some moppy hair and a haughty look on his face. I was horrified and woke up from this nightmare soon after, sweating in bed. Horrible.

I've managed to sneak a couple of visits to the jazz shop in the Hague over Christmas and combined with some christmas shopping have experienced the full onslaught of the heaving mass of humanity at herd level: a vast undistinguished grey charcoal vision of slate quarries, black clothing and intermingled at random some bright tracksuit wearing gangsta' rapper.

When I first came to the Netherlands back in 2004, you would never see anyone in a tracksuit, unlike the UK. Not now, the youth has taken its image from gangsta' rap. This is the future, the common culture coming-up from the bottom. A polyester and man made itch that cannot be scratched to the sound of even heavier and more dense beats as the world becomes ever more urban and condensed.

Meanwhile, the older generation has about as much style sense as Chairman Mao.

I don't mind telling you, it made me feel depressed; has there ever been a period so sartorially inert? Even the cocaine excesses of the '70's seems better than this drab monotony. I took some vitamin D when I got home to see if this would lift the spirit, for the seat of government, the Hague is one drab, boring and grotty city, populated by mugwumps at least when viewed from this grey December.

Heppie re the tracky suits.


It's a sad but accurate statement to say that perhaps it is the late  great Bob Marley who did more to popularize the track suit as acceptable gear for stars and stage and hep cats.

^He wasn't an English Conservative MP by any chance? They like nothing better to dress up in Nazi regalia and toast the Third Reich.

Watched the NY Giants vs. Packers football game yesterday at a nearby pub and though the girls were all fixed up, the guys were somewhat of a wreck; even the ones I was sitting with. In my mulberry shot cotton shirt and Japanese selvedge jeans, I felt camouflaged enough but definitely smart compared to the rest. I didnt expect too much from sports fans trying to be comfortable but I am reminded that for blending in, American male rules for casual shirts include:

1. Preppy patterns are fine but dandiacal.
2. Medium to dark colors are good, ie. a black or charcoal shirt is better than a pink solid shirt (Pink is actually asking for trouble).
3. Sometimes paler shades work but if too smart, cause resentment or wonder. Better to wear versions of color/pattern/texture that look like they were steeply discounted.
4. French cuffs might cause a riot.

There are exceptions for some environments but outside of Manhattan and some of the smartest areas, we are stuck with the above.

I really like the foods that that are made from beef but i have not any experience of eating beef at street but i am pleased to eat this later on . Thanks

Seems yellow shirt with blue windowpanes are very popular in NYC. Other than maybe the great checked shirt mania of 2004-2006, Ive never seen more checked shirts on men. I still remember a time when you couldnt wear the lightest, palest, smallest check pattern in a shirt. Now I see lumberjack patterns with a tie and a suit. Not that it's always a bad look but for a culture to turn around that much demonstrates how fluid it is. Maybe we are in the second coming of the Seventies?