FASHIONS FOR MEN

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 72, 26 March 1934, Page 14

FASHIONS FOR MEN

DISPLAY AT THE FAIR

(Written for "The Post" by Nelle M. Scanlan.) LONDON, February 20. Man is a conservative animal, and a little sliy, or modest, shall wo say? In the world of birds and beasts, the male is more gorgeous,than his spouse. The drab necessity of our modern age has robbed men of the last glory that lingered fromUegency days; sullenly-he surrendered, and now refuses to, "peacock" about the world iv a suit of Bradford tweed. . . Women like to look individual, but men' are satisfied only when they look exactly alike; then thev'feel quite safe and distinctly right. ' To dress otherwise would be to proclaim themselves cranks.. Suubathcrs, dress reformers and Facists—black, blue, brown, 'and green—are the only people who desire to attract attention by their mode of dress. It is partly personal, partly political, but it makes for notoriety which most men shun. We are accustomed.to the mannequin parading on stage or through shop, trailing fashions new and lovely to lure weak women into exceeding their allowances. Men have never understood this temptation, and have even been known to be rude to their wives aljout the matter. ••- •• ■■:-■.■;■■ Psychology has its place in salesmanship, and at the British Industrie's Fair now the greatest trade and industrial fair in the world, I saw thirty attractive men—young, middle-aged, and old —strutting and preening in. Fashion clothes, accepting -with mixed embarrassment and satisfaction the adoring gaze of the ladies who passed by, and unheeding the caustic comments "of the 'men. . . . There are thirty miles of shop-win-dow at Olympia and the White City and £3,000,000 worth of goods on show, but no price can estimate the courage of that hundred yards of gallant men, who have been "produced" as they say on the stage, in perfect settings for their perfect suits. Young men with curled hair and creaseless trousers whanged captive tennis balls across a painted lawn. In the next pen, three handsome bronzed young specimens lounged lazily against an artistic fence, gossiping in luxurious plus-fours, and ignoringthe man iii the shooting jacket with a gun. City clothes were naturally revealed at their best in the smoke room of a club. A mixed group, these, reading papers, smoking, talking finance; young men, middle-aged men, and the aged who had run to flesh, or whose frame was as bare as a bone. The most unhappy'trio were in evening dress, with a smart young lady to bear them company. But'l don't think, from appearances, that she was their personal' choice. A pity. To spend two hours on, and' one hour'qff,' through the long, long day, and to keep your white tie amiable,, and your smile uncreased, and not look as if your shoes were too tight, was an effort, that was proving arduous. A very cheerful quartet, with a background of the sea hung over the ship's side, idling in fancied tropic waters, and a dash of bright colours mingled blithely with yie spotless white. They were cheerful young men, with that cruise-ridden look vhieh, having paid for gaiety, feels.it must be gay. Perhaps the happiest of all were the four travellers, seated with their luggage, waiting for a train that never came. One old boy had a crisp, white moustache, and an eye for the girls. Another had that seasoned sunburn of the tropics so conspicuous in our far-flung Empire, when you fling out far enough. Coated immaculately, with a 'saffron scarf, and a soft felt hat, "The Times" upon his knee, I know that in a corner of his trunk he had packed the old school tie. This is the first time we have had men mannequins in the mass, and who they are, or why they did it, or how much they got, I really don't know. Having broken the ice with this magnificent plunge, we may expect them to become a feature of all our trade shows. They were a comprehensive range of types, as diverse 'as the clothes they exhibited. , But what the French, German, Dutch, Danish, and Americans, who had come to buy, thought of them, the babel of tongues did not reveal. But they stopped, looked, laughed, then became deeply interested. It is hard for dignity to keep its feet, and its mind on "The Times" leader, while a couple of stout Germans, in guttural tones pluck him feather by feather, till man, at best when fully clothed, feels naked and ashamed before appraising foreign eyes. Englishmen are the best dressed men in the world. And don't they know it!