Photo by Muffy Aldrich
The Modern Guide to The Thing Before Preppy

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

In Case You Missed It

 

“I looked at my stuff I used to wear to the office all the time and thought, ‘When am I ever going to touch this again?’” 

- Goodbye, Blazers; Hello, ‘Coatigans.’ Women Adjust Attire to Work at Home. <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/01/business/work-from-home-women-office-attire.html>

 

One online vintage shop is the source of many of Princess Diana’s best looks.

- The Best-Kept Fashion Secret of ‘The Crown’, NY Times <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/01/style/the-best-kept-fashion-secret-of-the-crown.html>


On Monday afternoon, 840 miles south west of Cape Town, in strong winds and heavy seas, his 60ft carbon fibre boat PRB slammed into a wave at 27 knots and broke in half. 

- 'Just terrifying': Vendée Globe sailor rescued after yacht breaks in half, The Guardian <https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/dec/01/french-skipper-kevin-escoffier-rescued-after-yacht-broke-in-half-in-round-the-world-race-sailing>


“I genuinely feel that post-lockdown there will be ... a desire to ‘dress up’.”

- Sweatpants out? Savile Row tailors predict end of the lockdown look, The Guardian <https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/nov/25/sweatpants-out-savile-row-tailors-predict-end-lockdown-look-covid>


Denmark introduced the world to hygge... In Sweden, where the winters are even longer, darker and drearier, the concept is called mys... The essence of mys is the feeling of warmth, like being wrapped in a woolen blanket amid lighted candles while sipping a steaming mug of tea with a purring cat on your lap.

- Danish Hygge Is So Last Year. Say Hello to Swedish Mys, NT Times <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/25/style/stockholm-shopping-mys-nytorget.html>


[Parker] was, though, visited by two FBI agents in 1951. When they asked her whether she had ever conspired to overthrow the government, she answered, “Listen, I can’t even get my dog to stay down. Do I look to you like someone who could overthrow the government?” 

- Brilliant, Troubled Dorothy Parker, NY Times Review of Books <https://getpocket.com/explore/item/brilliant-troubled-dorothy-parker>

 

While The Crown has come under fire for its dramatisations of true events, and in its portrayal of certain real life characters, Norway's version, Atlantic Crossing, has rewritten history altogether, infuriating historians. 

- Why this Norwegian royal drama is being compared to The Crown, <https://www.tatler.com/article/norway-tv-drama-atlantic-crossing-rewrites-royal-history>

 

16 comments:

  1. Grown Up & dress up, a standing rebuke to moral & cultural relativism. No apologies, denials, & withdrawals.

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  2. Thanks for the links.
    I had missed all of them.

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  3. As I have been working remotely, it certainly has been more cardigans, jumpers and coatigans. Sometimes woolen shawls. I occasionally go over to my tweed blazers and wistfully wonder when I will get to wear them to the office again.

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  4. I've been wearing all my old clothes in lockdown, while working from home. I've worn quite a few garments to the point of recycling, and also sold some things which I now know I'll never wear again, on ebay. It's been great because when all this is over I'll be wearing the 'good stuff' all the time. I'm so looking forward to dressing up that I try on outfits when I've got out of the shower on an evening!

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  5. So very true! Thanks!

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  6. My parents and most of the adults in my life during my youth had grown up during the Depression and World War II, so I hope everyone will excuse me when I say I am weary of contemporary Americans treating their lockdown lifestyles as if they were living some combination of the Dust Bowl and Treblinka.

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    1. As did my parents and grandparents. I think the difference is that during the Depression and WW2 they could at least socialize, go to the movies & library, and most importantly kids could go to school. My area has on lockdown since mid-March. Consider yourself lucky if you have had more options than some of us in the US during these 9 months.

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  7. Between the pandemic and moving to Maine full time, I find that my "normal" D.C./Chicago wardrobe is largely useless now. Will be pulling most of my warm weather "before times" wardrobe and leaving it at our place in Nicaragua permanently once travel is safe again. I will likely donate my Brooks Brothers powered work wardrobe to charity. Keeping a few key pieces for formal occasions and flexible things that can be dressed up or down as the new normal calls for, including my "summer house" closet, but the vast majority of my wardrobe is pretty useless now. Thankfully, I have a lifetime collection of good sweaters and boots that have suddenly become incredibly relevant.

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  8. Dorothy Parker! So undeserving of being all but forgotten. Thank you for sharing this (which I had indeed missed).

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  9. In Gaudy Night Harriet Vane observed that as we grow older we like formality more. I hope the pandemic has prompted many to embrace that notion. It has certainly made us older. I hope to see a time when I can put on khakis and an OCBD without someone asking why I am dressed up, maybe even a time when fifty year old parents of grown children do not dress as if they were attending a middle school with no dress code. To envision putting on a tweed jacket and a challis tie is still more than I can comprehend, even though I would love it.

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  10. Among the many good things about my Western business wardrobe is my dressing habits didn't change with the pandemic.

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  11. If I never again have to wear anything with "power" in the description, I can die a happy woman.

    We have a friend who has done the Vendee Globe. Twice. Eek.

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  12. I still wear most of the work clothes, shoes, accessories, just not as often. As I work from home today, I’m wearing the same oxford cloth button down I would have worn to the office, as well as the same Allen Edmonds Brentwood shoe (purchased in 2003, style no longer offered - on the 2d set of soles) & matching calfskin belt. The only compromise is the old Levis I’m wearing with them.

    Must have been heavy seas to crack a carbon hull.

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  13. Although I love the tree, this is not my idea of fun, even pre-covid. I do miss the Holiday parties and smaller venues though.

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  14. Since we started working remotely, I get a little more sleep and grab my coffee before my shower, rather than on my way to the car. My wardrobe is the same, but I don't wear jackets or ties nearly as often. In most years as clothing gets a little tatty the pieces move into circulation for gardening and weekends around the house. I've not been circulating pieces out since working from home and feed there will be suitably worn gardening clothes to wear in the spring.

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