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#1 2021-12-22 03:42:51
- A Fine Sadness
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The Style Of Sherman McCoy: English Clothes In The USA...
Re-reading Wolfe's 'The Bonfire Of The Vanities' for the first time in years I was struck by the frequent mention of English tailoring and shoes in Manhattan: New And Lingwood, for example - Sherman's shoes, the shoes he's wearing when he and Maria meet at the airport and he gets lost on the way home.
I love this cross-pollination idea.
Horace, years ago, mentioned the superiority of English and (possibly more so) Scottish knitwear.
Another character is a great wearer of button-downs, certainly, but it is the posh, highly priced English clothing (that I find so uninteresting in virtually every other context) that strikes the reader.
#2 2021-12-22 08:28:52
- Kingston1an
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Re: The Style Of Sherman McCoy: English Clothes In The USA...
Posh highly priced English clothing does not require vindication by Americans.
It either works or it doesn’t.
Ties with gun dogs on them and waxed jackets never work.
I believe American Psycho was quite keen on English clothes. A book where you need to wash your hands after picking it up.
"Florid, smug, middle-aged golf club bore in this country I'd say. Propping up the 19th hole in deepest Surrey bemoaning the perils of immigration."
#3 2021-12-22 08:36:33
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Re: The Style Of Sherman McCoy: English Clothes In The USA...
The English-made mac he wears sounds rather amusing: rubberised, all straps, flaps and buckles. Sounds almost kinky - which I suppose is the idea as sex is rarely from his mind.
#4 2021-12-23 05:45:44
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Re: The Style Of Sherman McCoy: English Clothes In The USA...
I also love the reference to Sherman's academic father-in-law, in his 'rotting tweeds' and the 'Boston cracked shoe'. My relationship with 'Ivy League' dressing has always been slightly 'post-collegiate' - or at least since ditching the Harrington quite some years ago.
#5 2021-12-23 06:00:14
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Re: The Style Of Sherman McCoy: English Clothes In The USA...
The 'rotting tweeds' reference also reminds me of the ancient J.Press sack I couldn't resist around 2010, but which I passed onto an esteemed forum member, who got some wear out of it, I think. John Simons, I seem to remember, dated it to circa 1950. I guess it might have been older.