STATESMEN’S DRESS

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12643, 31 December 1926, Page 5

STATESMEN’S DRESS

MR BALDWIN SHOCKS TAILORS MR BRUCE CRITICISED FOR SPATS “THE VOGUE OF YESTERYEAR” Why should not statesmen dress Imperially asks the “Tailor and Cutter” (London), after looking with pain on some of the Premiers at the Imperial Conference. It is noted that: Baldwin dresses tactlessly. Mr Bruce (Australia) is criticised for wearing spats. General Hertzog (South Africa) ' Wears his buttons parochially instead of Imperially. Mr Churchill’s collar and tie are Victorian.Lord Balfour’s are antiquated, and Lord Birkenhead dresses epigrammatically. These views appear in an article in which it is remarked —with a shudder that almost “pies” the type in which it is set—that: — “It must have come as something of a shock to our cousins from. overseas to find that his Majesty’s Prime Minister of State —the Right Hon. Stanley Baldwin—was presiding over the opening of the Imperial Conference in a lounge suit. “There is, to our way of thinking, a thoughtlessness and tactlessness in such a wanton disregard for the proprieties. Mr Baldwin would put on formal morning dress if he went to Ascot or down to Harrow for Speech Day. The compliment he is prepared to pay society or his old school should also be paid to this wonderful ing“lt is extraordinary and not a little humiliating to think that some of these Colonial statesmen gave Mr Baldwin and his colleagues a lesson in sartorial deportment. “We must single out_ the Canadian representatives for special praise. Mr Mackenzie King, the 4 Prime Minister, nnd Mr Ernest Lnpoint. Minister _ for Justice, were both correctly attired for such an event. They wore black morning coats and waistcoats and neat trousers. Among others who deserve approbation is Mr Cosgrave of the Irish Free State. “Mr Bruce, the Australian Premier, was well, although informally, dressed, hut thore was one sartorial note which requires comment. In liis kit; was a pair of. spats. . “Why did Mr Bruce wear spats P We are assured that this is not an Australian fashion. The ‘diggers’ do not thus protect and embellish their ankles. Neither are they worn by smartly dressed men in London. Scats nre essentially a. dandy article of attire. hut they belong to the vogue of yesteryear.” -