John has the same view of computers as I do of sending text messages or eating soya protein.  My guess is he'd think this forum a tad nebbish, and maybe that's why the really interesting blokes on here do it sparingly, unlike Yours Truly - too much sodding time on his hands.

Actually, it was long before McQueen knew Ali, back in the 50s, that McQueen was all hot and bothered about being thought a fag; but I take your point.  He's beyond criticism anyway, taking him all in all.  Eliot was perhaps more of a celibate type.  My Professor at university thought him third-rate; preferred Pound.  White flannel trousers?  What a spin bowler.  All these assaults on JJ are simply not cricket, old fruit!

Fruit?  Rock Hudson territory... 

BoO, you're cool with us.

Last edited by Just Jim (2009-04-14 01:23:13)

Everybody's a dreamer
Everybody's a star
Everybody's in showbiz
It doesn't matter who you are

Just a small town girl...

That much is true.

As usual a late entry into the debate for me...not enough time at the moment to play the boulevadier.

Where to draw the line is very difficult now when old sartorial rules are so broken down.  As chetmiles says your average English oik now thinks nothing of pink shorts, flip flops and offensive hairy legs - in December!

I like the Italian / Spanish / Belgian etc approach to dressing up to pop into town.  I think that to 'step off the highway of modern conservatism' is courting disaster, especially at my time of life.  That doesn't mean that there is no room for style and even innovation, but in a controlled way.  I have incidentally always embraced the bow tie part of Ivy and do still wear one with an OCBD for the office.  If I was meeting a client I probably would abstain however.

There is another point and that is the quality of the light.  In Brideshead Charles says of Paris 'the light is quite different there...'  This is what the aforementioned oik doesn't have any clue about.  What might look spot on in Cannes at the lido, can look quite ridiculous on a wet Saturday afternoon in a provincial English town while shopping at Asda...... even in the height of summer.

I also suffer from being brought up in a very conservative family and subsequently from working in a formal office environment.  My sartorial boundaries are, I know, stricter than those of most people today.

Good thread.