THE TYRANNY OF CLOTHES

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 26 August 1933, Page 11

THE TYRANNY OF CLOTHES

talk of the town is the appearance of the Duke of Marlborough at a banquet the previous evening attired in a soft collar and shirt., white linen trousers, and a lounge jacket, writes Montague Smith in the “Dually Midi.” Some people* said: “Good gracious*; what is the. world coming to*?”; others: ‘' How sensible, 1 wish I dare* . . . but after all lie is a duke.” Bet us get- this matter quite clear. The Duke of Marlborough does not appear as a dress .reformer; lie is a dress adapter. He seeks from a man’s regular wardrobe the clothes required iby a special occasion—the heat-wave. He reJ uses to be the Slave of circumstance. Is mot that the commoin-'se'n'se point of view? And is it not wliat so many of us refuse to take iin the matter ©if dress? Clothes -which were made for man have become the masters of man. We have large wardrobes, but are inflexible rn their use. Within their ample limits wc could adapt our attire, as the duke did, to the 'ciroumistain'ee's of the climate.

This is a very different thing from so-called dress reform. It does not involve a'ny change of style., We are not asked to appear in suits of mauve, salmon pink, spinach green, or blu'sli red like the guests at a recent “reform' party; to hang tassel's about ourselves; or to expose bare knees to our guffawing friends. The idea of the latter in connection with dress “reform” Inis done more than anything else to retardthe adoption of the more rationia'l reform (without italics) which the duke illustrates. Nothing in this world will ever persuade the average Englishman to walk the city or *sit down to dinne'r with bare knee's.

But there are a great many things nre might do without. feeling either strange or un comfortable. Take —or

Duke Who Spurned Convention’s Yoke

rather fake off—tho waistcoat, for instance. Can anyone say that the absence of that garment in a heat-wave is going to make him uncomfortable either in body or in mind? How many men are there to-day who hang up their waistcoats on a peg as soon a.s they arrive at tho office, but take them down to wear as. soon as they re-emergo in tho hotter streets? Why?

And .again', is there anything really disturbing nowadays in the appearance during hot weather of suits of shantung or alpaca* or iso-me other lightweight material to which American* visitors have accustomed us?

The Prince of Wales, gives us a lead in the wearing of straw hats, the coolest of all headgear in hot weather. But I do not notice many commoners wearing them Every man knows, .too, that the most heat-producing of, all things iu* masculine attire is the tight collar, which prevents the free •eircuMfid'n of* air over the body. Yet even, at Wimbledon I saw unen playing the most ; gruelling games of lawn tennis with (shirts buttoned to the meek, On a Mediterranean cruise we.jsit down to dinner in soft silk shirts without waistcoats. If it is just as hot in England we still lemcase ourselves—if we are not. the Duke of Marlborough iu “.stiff, armour-plated shirt fronts,’' the Prince of Wales once called them.

Thev "say that women are the slaves of fashion! Possibly. But men are eentainly the slaves_of convention. Wo are for ever waiting to see whait “the other f ellow” will do. So is he. .We can be comfortable without appearing •strange. True -dress reform is adaptability, .not oddity. Hats off—in this hot weather —to the Duke of Marlborough.