Cap'n,

I wear them whenever the mood strikes me.  If there are three feet of the snow on the ground and I'm in the mood, on they go.  There may be a convention on Nantucket that governs use, but I have no idea whether and what it is.  I'm not there and I'll do it my way.  They really are a bit different than white in that they have a warmer tone to them.  Of course, Sator will probably point out that white is perfectly good in the winter as it was so worn in the court of Henry VIII.

Last edited by AQG (2008-03-07 15:12:42)

We never subjected reds to the same rules as seersucker and linen.  I last wore reds before Thanksgiving, and thought seriously about breaking 'em out last week during our unseasonable warm spell (that would be the one the day before it snowed again.)

I'd love "Trads" to reject "Nantucket Reds" as not being 'traditional'...

Because they're not.

They're only a gimmick from 48-ish years ago under the name "Reds". Beyond that they seem to date to '45 without the marketing tag on the Island.

http://www.nantucketreds.com/reds_history.html

The naming & trademarking came even later -

http://nantucket.plumtv.com/stories/thats_nice_fade

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2005/08/18/whats_pink_and_green_and_worn_all_over/?page=1

http://www.fodors.com/world/north%20america/usa/massachusetts/nantucket/feature_30005.html

"Bermuda has its shorts, Fiji its sarongs. Nantucket's totemic clothing items are made of cotton dyed red so as to fade to a dull salmon shade. The reds were something of a secret code until they were singled out by The Official Preppy Handbook in 1980."    Ahhhhh - The OPH!

http://www.mensvogue.com/clothing/threads/articles/2007/08/nantucket_reds

"The first pair of Reds appeared around 1960, when Philip Murray inherited the store from his father and remade Brittany trousers (named for the sail color on boats in the Brittany region of France) using a new dye hat, with a bit of sun and salt, paled to just the right shade of pink."


Another bit more of the fake "tradition", eh?

  !

J.

If tom thinks their okay year 'round, then that's fine with me.

Let's speed this up -

How old does something have to be to be 'Traditional' for you?

48 years is OK, so how about:

38?

28?

18?

????

Ol Chums,

I think I had previously pointed out that Murray's owner stated that he wanted to come up with something to sell to tourists.  Certainly not handed down by Sainted Brittanic forebears, and yet,, a look developed some 40 years ago on Nantucket is ruther cool also, eh?

Me thinks the Barbour jacket analogy has merit.  Perchance just clothes.  But indeed a class marker originally to some.  Before one could purchase Reds at Lands End, a sailing inspired clothing item from a WASPy remote island had some cache, no?  It shall not earn you membership into the NY yacht club, dat for sure.

Entante cordially,
Commodore TChauncey