GQ Magazine eat your heart out

Introducing the 1926 man and car of the year.

A Sea of Hats

A milliner's dream at the 1933 World Series (Senators vs Giants), when even at the ballgame men dressed with class.

Pope Francis Visits Downton Abbey

When Pope Francis was elected, we didn't know much about him. When Pope Benedict was elected Pope, we knew exactly who he was. Pope Benedict had scores of published books and he had a been a visible and known prelate at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Benedict was in many ways the right hand man of John Paul II and we knew what to expect.

Pope Francis is entirely unknown to most of us. As a result, most folks have had to rely on only one source of information for the past week or so: photographs. Hence, most of the controversy over Pope Francis has boiled over "what is the Pope wearing or not wearing?"

As I was thinking about this, I realized that Pope Francis's wardrobe and customs have created as much excitement as a Downton Abbey episode! Black shoes on a Pope? What would the Dowager Countess say? My goodness!

For those that have never seen Downton Abbey, it's essentially a BBC drama centered on the "scandals" of an English Earl and his family as they wrestle with wearing black tie at dinner instead of white tie and whether noble blood necessitates a valet to help one dress. Other profound controversies include whether the Irish son-in-law should wear a morning suit, and which servant gets to wear the livery of a footman. As you can tell, it is an epic mini-series of deep philosophical distinctions...

An amusing read with a sound point. Read the rest here.

I'm going out on a limb here...

But I am going to guess that skin cancer was not as prevalent back in 1910 as it is today.

How to Wear a Tux (or why do most men insist on dressing like a shlep?)

Warning, this article is not very flattering to the male of the species. Which is to say it offers some rather pointed and generally accurate observations about the way men tend to dress.

THIS Sunday, scores of men — some celebrated actors, others appendages to famous glamour-pusses — will expose themselves to the scrutiny of the world and, more alarmingly, Joan Rivers as they stride the red carpet at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.

Most are likely to be clad in what is surely among the more foolproof dress uniforms ever devised: the tuxedo. Yet few will manage to get it right. Why is that?

“Men take advantage of their advantages in general,” Fran Lebowitz, the humorist and herself a tuxedo wearer, said recently. “But not with this.”

Despite being given what Ms. Lebowitz termed “this perfect thing to wear,” both stars and arm-pieces are certain to commit sartorial blunders at the Academy Awards. They will wear their pants too long and puddled on their shoes, as Brad Pitt did at the recent Screen Actors Guild awards. They will wear businesslike four-in-hand tie knots, as men like Robert De Niro routinely do, and not the requisite bow tie. They will turn up in suits that fit as though borrowed from Dad, or in shirts with wing collars best left to maîtres d’hôtel, or in colors that make them look like Steve Van Zandt.

“That whole black shirt thing is terrible,” said the designer John Varvatos. “When you’re talking about these kinds of awards shows, with the elegance of most of the women, the men should be a counterpoint to that.”

Often enough these men display their “renegade” natures by adding loopy improvisations: sneakers or Samuel L. Jackson frock coats or open-necked shirts.

They will monkey around in some way with monkey-suit perfection — unless, that is, they happen to be George Clooney. Mr. Clooney always looks Rat Pack immaculate.

Read the rest here.

Quote of the day...

Any man who is above college age and considers a t-shirt proper attire for anything other than manual labor or physical fitness activities needs to grow up.

-From here (read this thread and the comments).

Men take note.  Women are not impressed with men who think it is the height of fashion to dress for dinner in a nice restaurant like they were on their way home from the gym and stopped off as an afterthought.

Is she...

A) Attending the Royal Ascot Horse Race?

 or...

B) About to pass through a TSA checkpoint at her local airport?