Never Wear A Watch with Black Tie, and Other Rules of Anglo Autumn

Escaping Prole Drift

A friend asked me to write an article on how to develop one’s taste in matters of dress and the like to be a bit more WASPy, and a bit more attired in line with the Anglo country aesthetic in a way that doesn’t look ridiculous. In other words, he wanted to know how to dress in the autumn and winter as someone who is not working for a big bank/law firm in a major metropolitan area like NYC or the City of London. Here was the main part of the question:

I’m 26 and am hoping to go to law school next fall, and want to dress in a way that recaptures our WASP heritage- but quite honestly I often lack the awareness and historical knowledge of the various pieces I should try to acquire as I build my wardrobe. Have you considered writing more on cultivating this type of taste?

I leapt at the idea, as after my recently concluded, quite lengthy series on Harry Byrd and series on the Lees of Virginia, writing about something a bit less serious seemed appealing. It is fun to mix it up with random subjects every now and again.

You can listen to this episode here:

[AUDIO] Never Wear A Watch with Black Tie, and Other Rules of Anglo Autumn

Further, it’s an opportunity to share this funny clip about exactly this topic—taste and English culture in America—from the TV show Gilded Age, written by the man who wrote the much more famous Downton Abbey. The show is so-so, but this scene is quite funny:

Part of what is funny about it is that it represents a different age, one in which the new plutocratic contingent (here Mrs. Russell, who is a stand-in for Alva Vanderbilt) tried to civilize themselves by learning and adopting the tastes of the old money contingent (here represented by the butler who works for an old Anglo-Dutch family in NYC). Hence the clash between the option that is likely more expensive and might initially feel “nicer”—the “festive” colored glasses—and what is actually to be prized and sought after—exquisite but also quite restrained glassware. The eternal clash between what is “showy” and what is actually nice, reduced to cups.

That isn’t what he asked about, so I won’t dwell on it, but I do find it funny. There’s much truth hidden in that little clip, and an indication of how much we have lost: who thinks about any of these things now? Certainly not the titans of industry or the wealthy of New York represented in it.

That is one of the lasting effects of prole drift: not only have many of the old “rules” of what to do been largely forgotten, but the reasons behind them have been completely forgotten, and are generally derided when broached. This is a problem, as those rules existed for a reason. They were meant to create a certain environment, and it is not established when they are broken, defeating the entire point of the ritual.

My favorite example of this is wearing a wristwatch with black tie. Time for a bit of cultural history, and explanation of why it matters.

From one of my favorite books: Class by Paul Fussell