ENGLISH CULT

Evening Star, Issue 20982, 22 December 1931, Page 12

ENGLISH CULT

FASHIONS IN GERMANY

“ As worn by the Prince of Wales, London.” This pre-war notice in dingy lettering on the window of a clothier’s shop in one of the poorest quarters of Berlin shows that English fashions have a long-standing hold on German admiration (states the Berlin correspondent of an English exchange). A more recent manifestation of this English cult in Berlin was the plusfours rage which for a time filled the streets with young men wearing skimpy knickerbockers bought for 32s 6d and advertised as “Plus-fours: le dernier cri Anglais.” These sporting garments were worn in the office and shop, for walking, bicycling, rowing, and sailing. In winter they graced the football field, in summer the tennis court.

In their German version plus-fours were practical and economical, so their reign was long. But of late, at the bidding of a new sartorial mode, they have suffered a complete defeat in favour of “ Oxford bags.” “ A neat disorder in the dress ” is now the aim of every fashionable Berliner, and so, discarding his hat, gripping his short briar between his teeth, and thrusting his hands comfortably into the pockets of his grey flannel trousers, ho strolls out to examine the club ties offered by every hawker for sixpence and a shilling each. To be anyone ill Berlin to-day a man must be as nearly English as possible. Having acquired an English-seeming dress and manner, he learns to say “ All right,” - “ Fair play,” and “ Cricket.”

The works of John Galsworthy and Bernard Shaw must, in one form or another, bo familiar to him, and ho must fairly recently have seen an English play. finally, even if he himself can only afford a modest glass of beer, it is essential for him to know that the English refreshment is preferably “ a whisky and soda double, please.’’