COLLARS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 5, 6 January 1923, Page 14

COLLARS.

STARCHED AND OTHERWISE. MUXSTROITIES OF ATTIRE. 'lake a glance at the average Auckland man as iie dodges down Queen Street among the crazy pedestrian traffic on a hot day. and if you look carefully you will find that five times nut of ten he is wearing a soft collar, either plain or starched. Apart from those who are obviously dressed for tennis, cricket or the lieach. the observer will find few among the respectably attired who are bold enough to sport a "soft ~!iirt" with collar I'ttaeh-vl. Why-. Mo-t r-n will admit that the sarehed .-.,,' Hr is a discomfort to which liiey have become accustomed by usage, but lion cheerfully t!»ey dispense nith it at recreational times: There are many "'io perhap- 1 have seldom given lup matter serious consideration—once the morning struggle with the awful hack stud i-- over the collar i* forgotten who would nevertheless welcome a change in fashion as regards neckwear for men. Starched collars are uncomfortable abominations. They neither look nor fee! well; it is only because generations have tolerated them that mere man continues to encircle his neck with a piece of starched linen that is not only uncomfortable but expensive—oh, those laundry bills! A»d all this brings us to tihe question as to who it was who fir*t introduced the collar. History tells u< that it was tbe cclebraled dandy George Bryan j Krummcll. Because this exquisite of the Court of George IV. conceived the idea, el" making his cravats stiff and neat through the modicum of starch, and liecause the King and the court followed his example, civilised men in all parts of the world have submitted to the tyranny of starched linen. Before Beau Brummell. the prince of dandies, no man. be he ever so fashionable, 'had worn a neckcloth which was stiff. Soft folds of cloth were swathed about the neck. This would be uncomfortable to-day, in the I modern hurly-burly of life, and in the Auckland climate would lie almost unendurable. s Perhaps the starched neckcloth is -tin improvement on the unending folds of linen, but there is no good reason why fashion should not decree a change. Beau Brummell did not have to catch tramears, strap-hang, jump on to ferries or sit over a desk. If he did he would certainly not have conceived such an idea. One writer says of him: "Tie improved the neckcloth nnd has been properly commended therefor. , So long as Englishmen would swathe their necks up to their ears in immense white bandages it was not an idle labour to give the ugly things form and comeliness." The small inch-high turned-down collar as worn by some young men to-day is a very; different thing from the wall of starch which the Beau built about his shaven neck and milk-washed throat. It is recorded that Brummell would stand for an* hour before adjusting bis neckcloth. One false fold condemned the cloth to disuse. His valet was once met on the stairs with an armful of spotless hut tumbled cravats, and, on being asked what they were he 'replied: "These are our' failures." On first being wound around the neck the cravat of those days reached alwve the eye-brows, and he -was an expert ex-quisite who could adjust it satisfactorily at the first attempt. But this is of scant comfort to the Aucklander on a warm day. . He would cheerfully be without a collar if fashion said he might do so without invoking 1 ihe scorn of his fellows. It only remains for some leader to set the vogue and the starched monstrosity might disappear forever. The soft "collar has already: sealed the doom of its starched coub.iV part. Time and man's determination to he comfortable must finish the job. Starch will soon' be, let us hope, the insignia of the state occasion only.