SARTORIAL ERRORS

Evening Star, Issue 21079, 16 April 1932, Page 22

SARTORIAL ERRORS

USE OF PLUS FOURS AND THE BOWLER HAT [By J. C. Brougham.] Has it ever struck the average man about town, looking round the streets of any town in the dominion, that there are many peculiarities in the attire of his fellow-men? Take a theatre crowd, for instance; it always appears an extraordinary thing to see any man with any sort of respect for his womenfolk arriving at the theatre dressed in a “ plus-four ” suit. This shows obvious disrespect for any women who may accompany him. “ Plus-fours ” were constructed for the purposes of playing golf, although the Americans have also introduced them for the purposes of football and tennis. No doubt they are an extremely comfortable form of apparel, but that does not get away from the fact that they are an incorrect form of wear for the theatre.

Having disposed of the “ plus-four ” for evening attire, let me turn to the bowler hat. One sees the bowler hat worn under as many different sets of circumstances as any other form of wear. In London a bowler hat is worn with a dark suit, in addition to spats, gloves, and a walking stick; it is also worn with a cut-away morning coat or swallowtail, striped trousers, as well as the other accessories. When one sees, as I have seen, a man wearing a bowler hat with a sports coat and grey flannel trousers, I was pained, not to say shocked, that such a thing should have happened in an enlightened town. THE DRESS SUIT. Now for dress suits and dinner suits. A dress suit to look well has to be cut well and hang well. It is incorrect to wear a black waistcoat and a white tie at the same time; to be quite in order a white waistcoat and a white bow tic — not a made-up tie either—should be worn. The reason for this is to distinguish the guest at any form of entertainment from the waiters, who as a rule wear a dress suit with a black waistcoat and black tie. So very few men can wear a dress suit and look well in it that it behoves a man, if he wants to look like a gentleman, to get his clothes made correctly. With a dinner suit a black waistcoat and a black bow tie are correct.

I wonder how many of the thousands of wearers of “ Oxford bags ” know how they originated and of what material they were made of in the first instance. I am not sure what Oxford college the inventor came from, but they were made out of wheat sacks in the first place, cut out and tailored by the inventor himself. I am not criticising the modern incorrectness of dress with any idea of trying to persuade people to go back to stodgy sorts of clothes, far from it. For example, I think it would be much more sensible if men, even for city wear, wore open-necked shirts. It would certainly bo more healthy. Men nowadays wear too many clothes, with the natural result that as soon as any sickness comes to them they are very much more prone to fall by the wayside to any chills that arc about. I have always found that a man is 100 per cent, healthier if ho wears tho minimum amount of clothes consistent with dccency,.