You shouldve got your coffee. Kicked the biggest one in the nuts and strolled out of there without spilling a drop. It's what Jean Claude Vandamme wouldve done.
Thats excatly why they put those little plastic lids on them just to benefit you in that very scenario
Last edited by katon (2013-07-01 02:19:08)
(Only a PS - It's important not to conflate class with social class.)
I think I recall Fussel observing that those that really have tons of money often don't show it. Like driving a 15 year old car and inexpensive clothes. Truly not giving a crap about leading on. And yes, class and class often have no positive correlation.
Cheers WM. (ref; Mash)
As for being complimented on ones dress, who doesn't like that? Last Saturday night I had a girl half my age touching my cashmere knit tie and telling me she loved it. Whats not to like?
Some girl swore I was "someone famous" the other day. I told her "Well, I'm not whoever you think I am." She just kept on though. I really really wanted to say "Oh, I'm Nick Waterhouse." Shoulda. Not that he's really that notorious, but I did hear one of his songs in a Kate Spade store I was forced into by Mrs. WM. Thought that was funny.
Late this may be - and there are too many blanks for comfort - but the title of this thread amuses and stimulates: Frosty was still hard at it, the dogmatic so-and-so.
I first heard the word/phrase 'preppie' in around 1980 - and it wasn't meant as a compliment. It was in connection with the Brooks Brothers shirts I do desired and which my late father, on a trip to the United States, taking in Manhattan for compulsive record-buying, was in a position to acquire. ^ Read 'so desired. For once, the old man took no notice of the opinionate prick with whom he was staying, up in Hartford CT. and bought the shirts.
'Mellow Ivy'? Yes, no and maybe. Break the rules is what I say and give Lisa Birnbach a bit of credit. Her approach is less po-faced and reverential than any number of Japanese photographers snapping away on American campuses. And there are times when I want to wear pastel beneath my beige slipover and penny loafers instead of gunboats.
A serious question - my memory is not all it used to be - but did that Jazz Age look have a name of its own? I'm thinking of 'college men' in roadsters, wearing raccoon-skin coats (I saw one for sale on Ebay once and very nearly pulled the trigger: I don't know what came over me) and hats, drinking raw spirits out of little flasks: the equivalent, I suppose, of the types inhabiting early Wodehouse stories but somehow finding their way into the pages of Scott Fitzgerald.
'Mellow' Ivy puts me in mind of the 'rotting tweeds' worn by Sherman's academic (at a fairly low level) father-in-law in 'The Bonfire Of The Vanities'. The description is not meant as a compliment. Sherman wears very nicely cut English clothing and lovely shoes - possibly a bit of 'prep' on the side. But it is the not-oft mentioned father-in-law who sounds to me the most 'Ivy' character: wearing his clothes until they more or less fall to pieces: the Adlai Stevenson 'hole in sole' look. 'Talk Ivy' strikes me as being, far too often, about conspicuous consumption amongst men with money burning holes in their patch and flap pockets.
I’ll put my hand up to consuming conspicuously at one point a few years ago, ‘buying for buying’s sake’ as my mother in law would put it. But a lot of it was second hand/vintage so does that count? Surely it’s recycling and therefore a noble act that David Attenborough would nod approvingly at?
Now I’ve got all the clothing I could ever need the process is more about winnowing out duplicated or unworn items, refining and upgrading what I’ve got. But many of those things I bought years ago continue to give me pleasure, yesterday I pulled out an old LL Bean Tattershall shirt that I had yet to wear this winter, I enjoyed looking at the label and the flap pocket. It’s a dowdy old thing on its own, a fairly nondescript yellowy beige colour and decidely square looking. But worn under a navy blue shawl cardigan and the right trousers it took on a different context and I felt good in it. That’s what this is all about for me. I once read a comment by John Simons that he never stops looking at clothing and I can relate to that, I even look at clothing in shops when the style is completely outside my sphere of interest - if it’s good quality. Of the stuff that is of interest, I walk from more than I ever buy. Sometimes I’ll look at a shirt online for days or even weeks, before deciding to leave it and the act of deciding to leave it generally feels good, because it’s done in the knowledge that I have sufficient already. Having said all this I still buy more clothing than a normal person. I buy less used stuff than I used to, I look out for deadstock or ‘NWT’ stuff now but obviously that’s harder to come by.
I have worn American style clothes for well over twenty years and I still get confused by this Ivy v Prep question.
For example, Nantucket Reds. Mentioned in the Ivy Handbook but considered by some to be too preppy.
How about Grosgrain D ring belts. I like them a lot. Press sell them but are they Ivy?
I've also heard some nonsense about a set colour palette.
It all reminds of the old question "is that jazz" when referring to Ella or Frank.
I appreciate this is an Ivy forum and we all have an interest in the style but unless you want to look like an historic throw back there's always items that can incorporated into an individuals look that are complementary. I swear by Barbour and I appreciate some might find them a bit rugger-bugger for their liking.
I've always thought of Prep as being 'Ivy on its holidays'. More casual with brighter colours and a bit more attention seeking.
Nothing wrong wearing Barbour in my book. I have a Barbour jacket and a couple of scarves because I like the check pattern. Not sure it's all Made in England anymore which is important to me.
I can relate to Woof and J Simons in that I never stop looking at clothing. In my extended family circle younger people often ask for my opinion on clothes which surprises me because I tend to keep thoughts to myself.
Forget ‘preppy’ style — I’m team Ivy
This was a recent article in the Financial Times