REVEREND LEGS

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 79, 30 September 1933, Page 5

REVEREND LEGS

WILL THE GAITER LAST?

Iv tho bishops' palaces and deaneries of England there have recently been signs of restivencss directed against the gaiters in which, for many decades, it has been customary to garb the right reverend and very reverend legs. Criticism has also spread to those turncdup toppers which used to be regarded as haloes among hats, and which, for some mysterious reason, have long been equipped with what appear to be budding wireless aerials. The higher clergy (says the London correspondent of the Melbourne "Age") are beginning to consider their uniform anachronistic. The Bishop of Kensington, Dr. Simpson, is the latest to demand new and modern dress for bishops. He points out that the hat and gaiters were designed for horse riding, and the sight of a dean cantering Tound his diaconal area is now seldom seen, and that the costume is quite unsuitable for motoring. Something more in the line of a chauffeur's uniform was tho idea he suggested; but tho Bench of Bishops, with a little feminine assistance, could prob. ably improve on that. Personally one likes these quaint costumes with historical significance, and one would,'be sorry to see them go, even if they do mean a little discomfort, to other people. As "Men's Wear" recently remarked: "Something must be done to curb this masculine craze for clothes comfort." Let the bishops then set us au example.