Mad Men and Women’s Business Wear

Tomorrow Museum’s got a great post on Mad Men and women’s business wear. I found this tidbit especially interesting: 

Prior to watching the show, I thought of the women’s struggle in the workforce as a problem perpetuated by male bosses. But Mad Men demonstrates just as much tension comes from the other women, who, either jealous or comfortable with the status quo, don’t want to see Peggy get ahead. Secretaries wield an enormous amount of power in office politics.

Thematically, Mad Men keeps getting richer and richer.

(Via The Moment.)

Right Off the Rack

Who are your style icons?

Cary Grant; and I knew him too. The first time I went into his office he said, “Is that a Brooks Brothers jacket?” I said, “Yes.” And he said, “Right off the rack, right? They’re great.

—Peter Bogdanovich

(Via Izzy.)

True Preppyness

Off the Cuff on true preppyness: 

I also have a lifelong appreciation for designs that respect a product’s utilitarian roots. Classic style has always done that because modern versions of traditional products are often based on functional roots. This is one reason that preppy styles are so long lived. The hallmark of true preppyness is the re-purposing of utilitarian items for everyday life: foul weather gear as fashion statement, prep school ties and jackets appearing in the office and that old steamer trunk great uncle Dan used at Yale is now a snazzy coffee table at the beach house. You get the idea.

It follows, then, that true preppyness is also environmentally friendly, as it is fundamentally about re-using things. Interesting.

Yikes Indeed

The New York Observer reports that “A growing number of style-conscious men are becoming more comfortable with the idea of showing some leg during the hot summer months.” God help us.

(Via A Continuous Lean.)

Academics Who Dress Well

Gary Cooper as Professor Bertram Potts in Ball of Fire (1941)

 

Loved this aside from Russell Jacoby’s recent profile of Paul Piccone:

Another leftist Italian-American of working-class origins coincidentally chaired my department at Rochester. Eugene Genovese, the historian of American slavery, also dressed to the nines. He once addressed us motley graduate students, mainly from New York City and its suburbs, as we clomped about in work boots, blue jeans, and work shirts: “You think the workers like what you are wearing?” he sneered. “They despise it and you.” He fingered his own fine threads. “This is what they like. This is what they would wear if they could.”

The point is that academics need not dress in a slovenly manner; indeed, many academics dress very well, or at least they used to. This is something of a hobbyhorse of mine. 

Shorts

It’s warm enough out now where I live that guys are starting to trade pants for shorts. It would behoove most guys, however, to remember that shorts are, as Bernard Roetzel puts it in A Gentleman’s Guide to Grooming and Style, “a very dubious proposition stylistically,” and thus must be worn with the greatest of care. If you’re a guy wondering when shorts are appropriate attire, the following image — made using AutoMotivator and Picnik — should, I hope, help clarify things for you.

The chap in the picture, by the way, is Ernest Hemingway.

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