Tea at Trianon: Death of the Necktie?

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Death of the Necktie?

Business dress for gentlemen has become increasingly more casual. Ties are in decline. To quote:

It's ironic that, when tie wearing first declined in the '60s, the argument was that they're oppressive – an argument that persists today. The truth is the opposite: they're not only expressive, they're probably the most expressive things a man can wear that still fall within the bounds of good taste (in other words, not counting loud, ugly, and often vulgar t-shirts).

In fact, there are probably thousands of ways to personalize the "oppressive," classic male outfit of suit and tie, even allowing for the fact that suits generally must be navy blue or medium-to-dark gray to be tasteful (there are exceptions to almost everything, and brown or black may be appropriate in some situations, and tan or even white may work in the summer, but navy or gray are always right): a suit can be single-breasted (with two or three buttons) or double-breasted (with a six-to-one, four-to-one, or six-to-two button stance); solid or with a pattern like stripes of various kinds, plaid, or checks; a shirt can be French- or barrel-cuffed and can have a straight, spread, club, tab, or button-down collar; some collar styles can be worn pinned, or not; and shirts can be solid, striped, have a bolder pattern like tattersall, or even have a collar and cuffs that contrast the rest of the shirt. Add the possibilities for tie, pocket-square, and suspender colors and designs, not to mention patterned sport jackets for more casual wear, and the possibilities are mind-boggling.