once, has one stepped forward to hurl a few exquisite poniards of amour propre on that pile of principled pleas. I believe we've made it plain, that we regard it as degenerate in a man to purport to dress his fellows, much less to aver to how he pleasures himself in that mode. It's bad enough, that all of France is in open, remorseless warfare against the natural shoulder, without gadflies of their own condition-ing pretending to have invented the norms of urban America. And of course no tribe is so silly about this as the one that was adolescently clothed in uniform.
It follows that it's the optional shirt which benefits least from the hazings of arrogant oversight, but which can lead to the very most lamentable parodies in styling. Here a decent regard for the mis-ruled throat of Everyman compels us to offer the prayer to let it breathe. Plentiful enough are the knots that gather about the gorge, that we needn't inflict another in our invitations to each other. Enough, with breathless excitement to judge another's purchases for playing up to our pride, without a care for his comfort. To purge hospitality of its paradoxes, we would first decline to be played.
But Laurent, I enjoy wearing a tie!
ReplyDeleteNot nearly so much, my dear collier, as one welcomes your visit. But I'm afraid you make my learnèd friend Tassos' leap, from the posting on the buttering of toast -- he protests that he abjures all bread with his morning coffee. Just so. There's no compulsion to take toast, there's no compulsion to go collarless. If a man enjoys wearing a necktie (and who doesn't), then it's up to him to fit it to the collar of his choice; and there, I think, you'll find yourself on happier ground with this posting, for no man could write so passionately about the proper laundering of a shirt, who did not have his comfort fundamentally at heart .. :)
ReplyDeleteYou both should try this- I quite love James' scarf. Reggie you could do it!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.whatisjameswearing.com/time-out-nys-most-stylish-new-yorkers-look-no-1/
Oh, one has "tried it," LA, to shimmeringly naughty effect, into which one has to forbear to go. There are limits, even here, I'm amused to find ..
ReplyDeletemy dear Laurent, can you explain why Americans put a tie (a second l) in "extol"?
ReplyDeleteI don't know that we put it in or others take it out. It comes from the Latin, as you don't need to be told, in which there are two. Now that you mention it, I don't care for the look of the 2 in the present tense (they always appear in the past tense), so if you like, I'll send you the keys to my blog and you can tidy up after me as we go along.
ReplyDeleteI was just curious...
ReplyDeleteDoes that go into your "Seekers" file, or "Let him sleep"?
ReplyDelete