THRALDOM OF MEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19220, 8 January 1926, Page 11

THRALDOM OF MEN.

UNDER FASHION'S YOKE. WINTER CLOTHES IN SUMMER. PLEA FOR EMANCIPATION. The melancholy sight of a city's male population submitting to the barbarity of winter clothing and stiff, starched collars in the heat of a mid-summer day has once again moved a number of newspaper correspondents to voice a plea for the sartorial emancipation of tho suffering sex. "Sartorial emancipation" is a fine phrase, but like every other fine phrase, it can be reduced to quite simple terms —in this instance, it means no more than going to business in a soft collar, an unlined coat, trousers that may bag where and how they like, and a hat that will not leave a crimson mark like the brand of Cain on the unfortunate wearer's forehead. Men, of course, are already quito afc liberty to go to business thus attired. They would not bo arrested, and their typistes would probably give no more than the one swift glance, but they knew the other men would be saying something like this—"Seen .liggs this morning '! Seems to have como down in his gardening togs. Hate to sec a man of his age letting himself go like that. . . suppose its the weather, but still—. .. . Have another?" And their nods and mutteriugs would bring the blood rushing hotly to -Tiggs' cheeks, so that he would vow henceforth to swelter with the great majority. The Fear of Prominence. That is because the Jiggses of Auckland have not yet had the courage of their convictions and banded themselves together for emancipation. They do not want to swelter, but far less do they wish to make themselves conspicuous. So even those who would be renegades if they dared, continue to run with the pack. "1 think that men to-day are utterly tired of having to wear heavy tweed suits and felt hats right through the summer," said a high authority in tho realm of men's fashions] "They would welcome the chance of getting into something lighter if only tho fashion beeamo general." "How many Palm Beach suits have you sold this summer?" asked tho interested inquirer. Ho considered a moment. "Two," ho admitted reluctantly, "and one was to an old chap of 70, who wanted somothiug in which to potter round the garden." There had been a considerable demand for two-pieco suits, ho added, but mostly for sporty young men going on holiday trips. "As Worn in Piccadilly." He then exhibited a pale, potted* anchovy Jager coat, price six guineas, with a row of tucks in the back, a stylo which ho said was being much worn In Piccadilly when the last mail left. It was very chaste and girlish, but one could hardly see any Jaeger-coated horde thronging Queon Street, especially at six guineas apiece. "Too expensive," said the salesman, I with a shake of the head, "and also too warm. What they want for comfort is a nice unlined tweed suit and a soft collar. But they will not have them, because in tho higher business oirolea it is not done. Imagine a, meeting of bank directors, for instance, all solid citizens with positions to keep up. Well, along comes one in a canoe shirt, a sports coat and flannel pants. 'Who is this rough fellow V they would all say, and immediately begin to button up their pockets. . . . You sco?" One saw. One could not help seeing. At the same time one cannot help feeling sad when ono contemplates tho plight of tho elderly man who has just boardod tho morning car after a swift sprint. His face is the colour of a ripe passion, fruit, his breathing is like the last gasp of a harpooned whale, and when ho removes his hat, the perspiration is standing out in beads right across tho top of his head like a glistening coronet.

A Call for Pioneers. And, turning distressfully to one's morning paper, one reads of the fearful ravages wrought by high blood pressure, apoplexy and kindred deadly perils faced by modern man. Is it right, one asks, that thousands of eminent citizens should expire from apoplexy all over the world every summer time, simply because they meekly bow the head to tho slavish yoke of the stiff collar, and dare not change their winter tweeds ? The time has cettainly arrived for some high priest of fashion to arise and blaze tho trail of emancipation for men, even as ,women have blazed it for themselves in the last few years. All that, the doctors and health cranks have been clamouring for has now been conceded. Corsets have gone, or so nearly (r o ne as to make no difference; garments are suspended from the shoulders instead of from the waist, the choking collars have given place to low necks, and most r dical reform of all, low heels have replaced the three-inch absurdities that for so many years wrought liavoc with tho health of women. One Step Already Taken. All these things have been accomplished within a "few short years, vet not one single forward step, save the abolition 'of tho 'stiff shirt-front, has been made in 'fashions for inon. , But brighter days are dawning in lands lievond the sea. America has definitely 'ranged herself in the van of the great movement of clothes refoim foi men. Up-to-date professional and business men, 'bank managers and other potentates, aro reported to be going to their offices in 'two-piece, unlined tweed suits, while tho postmen and other officials are garbed in grey flannel uniforms both light and serviceable. If Aucklad follows the lead in this matter as faithfully as in ethers, its leading citizens, its policemen and tramVaymen may yet be seen in natty Palm Beach tunics and Oxford trousers. And then the newspaper correspondents will Live something el.se to write about.