My Denunciation

[Guille]

Hello fellow members of the London Lounge. I am here expressing to you my denunciation of climate change—global warming in my particular case. I am not who to say whether it is because of the greenhouse effect, if it’s the effect of pollution, if it is caused by the methane expelled by cows, or if is the natural flow of historic temperature change. I am not here to accuse the governments of USA and China, nor to criticise Industrialisation and Capitalism. That, I would do in forums dedicated to science or politics. I am here to expose the problems that this event has had, is having and will have on our subject matter: clothing and dressing.

The worst thing about climate change is that it doesn’t exclusively connote any particular event, but the occurrence of an event in climates. Here in Spain, its meaning is for now a rise in the average temperature and decrease in the amount of rainfall (the driest seasonal year (fall-to-summer) ever for now, and it all depends on spring). However, today on the news were places such as Istanbul and New York, where a very cold winter is giving them days with snowstorms more common of Canada and Scandinavia. So this is the point: climate change is making the weather more chaotic, unpredictable and unstable. This implies directly a few effects on our issue. First, that it is getting harder to know how one should dress, for the temperatures are varying more from day to day and within a day. Second, that it is harder to build a wardrobe that can work for a season, not only because we are having variations in the seasons of places, but also there are variations with the seasons of other places, so if you travel it is harder to know what to put in your bag (I would bet that +80% of you wouldn’t choose appropriate fabric weights if you came to Spain this weekend).

Not only different places but also different times (and, to complicate the thing more, different places in different times) have suffered climate change. For example, the period of the Greeks and Romans is considered relatively cold in modern human history. The middle ages are considered a warm period, and this allowed to the population of previously uninhabited regions. From 1500 to 1800 it is considered a cold age, with its culmination in Napoleon’s desperation with the absurdity of snowing in his troops’ march to Moscow in the middle of August in 1812. Since then, the average temperatures have risen for that past two centuries. With all this I want to say that it was of course reflected in what people wore. You can see it in the Greeks’ tunics/chitons and the Romans’ togas, they are quite long garments with extra cloth lying around their bodies. In the middle ages, peasants wore the minimum clothes, and fur coats were worn for the winter only by aristocrats. In the period 1500-1800, many garments were developed which were pompous, stiff and heavy, which relates to the colder nature of those centuries. From the 19th and 20th century, there has been a move towards abandoning those characteristics just mentioned, such that clothes have steadily become more informal, but specially more comfortable and appropriate for the weather (as the disappearance of heavyweights). So, you can see that the climate changes in history have definitely had an effect on clothing.

The thing is that (as my favourite French post-modern philosopher would say) this winter in Spain has been a hyperreal winter. He wrote that the gulf war did not take place; I say that the winter 08 did not take place, here at least. There have been some winter days (most in December), but not so many as to call it a season. January was extremely rare, with temperature often around 15Cº. Here, February is usually the coldest month, so I had my hopes in this month. But we are days from finishing it and nothing has changed: on the contrary, temperature has risen to a point of absurdity. Many of you have the impression that Spain is a hot sunny country, and that is true, but it is not true for all the places at all times. The southern Mediterranean part of Spain is the nearest to that year-round summer notion, but the rest isn’t: not even the Costa del Sol (where I grew up), not to mention the centre and the north. Madrid is somewhat protected by the mountains of the sierra: these stop the cold winds from the north, that come from the Atlantic, from coming in. This is why there is such a huge difference in temperature between Madrid and Segovia (famous for its ‘corderos’ and ‘cochinillos’, small lambs and small pigs respectively) which are only 60km away. But still, Madrid does tend to have something that we somehow consider a winter. Not having it, although it may seem like something great at first (no cold!), is disastrous for the environment, depressing (contrary to popular believe), and annoying—in many ways, but lets centre on the one we are discussing—as a dresser.

This morning I went to my tennis class in the tennis club. I wore shorts, a short-sleeved tennis polo, and a blue and white striped bandana worn as a headband. That’s all. No cricket vest, not even a long-sleeved polo. Definitely nothing that I remember from AA illustrations of tennis wear. Does it seem that this is winter tennis wear? Not convinced? Ok, as sportswear, it is always lighter wear than normal. But what if I tell you that when I went to have a walk this afternoon, I decided to wear a sweater over my sport shirt, and I had to put it round my neck (in the style you would do in late spring or early fall, maybe in some of your locations even in the summer) because of the heat. I had to unbutton the two top buttons of the shirt and wear my handkerchief as an ascot. Elegant, yes… But, let me finish. I had intended to wear cords, and for you, wearing cords is nothing special, you probably can wear it anytime of the year, except maybe the summer. But in this ‘winter’, wearing cords is too hot (not even considered for fall or spring), so I went with light flannel. And this is supposed to be one of the coldest weekends in the year, in fact, apart from Christmas, it’s the weekend with more sky-oriented tourism, but there is hardly snow (above 2000m only) on the sierra. I wonder what Phillip II would feel if he saw his magnificent El Escorial fort without snow on this month. I did wear a suit for lunch (it was with many guests), but the central heating was off.

The thing is, at moments I feel I don’t know how to dress. I don’t think it is a failure in my wardrobe construction, its just the difficulty to know what the climate/temperature will be, and whether it will change over the day. Anyway, I already have planned buying cardigans, which are just perfect if they are not as thick as sweaters and are worn just on top a shirt. But really the situation is so strange that I’m hardly wearing a hat, because a panama or straw seem more adequate in public places with this weather, however I don’t feel comfortable, I feel more like a new rich from decades ago, say Howard Hughes (whose biographic film directed by Scorsese I just watched, very recommended) or Aristotle Onassis, than the elegant men who inspired the AA illustrations. The worst thing isn’t this, but the feeling you have. I don’t know if any of you has ever lived in a place without marked seasons, but I’m a very seasonal person: I prefer a hot sunny summer, an autumnal fall, a snowy winter and a flowery spring. And I like to dress accordingly. My body knows this, and he is demanding me to live a winter, he knows it’s the time to wear cords, cashmere, tweed, furs, topcoats, boots... And Madrid is already not very appropriate for me, as it lacks any kind of fall and spring: its very dry, and therefore those seasons are not defined, but at least being continental, it has a broad temperature variation, so that the winter and the summer are defined. But now…

The thing is I don’t know where this can get. It could mean Madrid (Spain, and the Mediterranean in general) becomes something similar to the Caribbean (nothing against it, I love it, but its good there, not here). Madrid will be like Miami, which is what many people from northern Europe and USA think, whereas in reality it is at the same latitude as New York. Maybe some winters will be hot and some will be very cold, meaning that it won’t be heated, but more chaotic weather.

So, this is all I had to say. Perhaps I’ve extended a bit, but I think this is a topic worth commenting on the forum. What is your opinion? What have you noticed in the climate of the places you live? How have you adapted to it? What are your thoughts about this in general? What do you do when you travel and you don’t know what the weather will be (because you can’t take too much, you have to choose between varied weights and securing some right or choosing a probable appropriate weight to have several wearable suits and suffer the consequences of heat or cold?)? Please discuss.

[BirdofSydney]

I did not leave the house yesterday, as it was too hot (at 40 degrees Celsius or more) to permit me to wear anything that I might have been happy being seen in public in.

So, sir, I feel your pain!

[storeynicholas]

My experience of Rio is that 30'C is about as hot as it gets (also normally mitigated by a pleasant ocean breeze off the Trade Winds). Accordingly, I regret being unable to share pain on this score.
NJS.

[JAS]

First off, and not to politicize the topic, but I prefer to use the term Global Pollution. Sometimes naming the cause and not the, still debated by folks smarter than I, effect seems wise. Insofar as what to wear, one can feel Quincy Magoo’s hyperopia taking over as city/country climes have blurred as described above. I suggest the well documented strategy of layering, as the temperature inside is often a guessing game as well. I’ve caught more chills via air conditioning (not complaining) than from ol man winter. When travelling; realizing if one tends to be more uncomfortable above or below the belt, one can determine where heavier or lighter fabrics can be deployed. Option B is to retain a real estate agent in Rio.

JAS

[HappyStroller]

In the polluted cities, suburbs and rural areas of Second and Third world countries in Asia, with such perpetually greyish skies, temperatures seem to be cooler than before industrialization; contrary to the observations made in the countries of the developed Western First World. This year, residents in Central China have finally had a chance to enjoy one-foot snowfalls which residents of the American Mid-West would consider tame.

I understand that global meltdown will result from global warming caused by a growing hole in the Ozone Layer over the Arctic Circle.

Perhaps here is a solution. Put all those coal-burning power stations in the Artic Circle and transmit the electricity generated through power lines connected to the rest of the World. All the soot will create a huge greyish cloud cover over the Arctic Circle, thereby saving the World from global warming.

[RWS]

Outlandish, I suppose, but strangely appealling . . . .

[Costi]

It sounds a bit like patching a silk scarf with a piece of moquette, but it needs to be checked for scientific validity

[Guille]

And Guille said, "Let there be cold!". And there was cold.

Since monday temperatures have fallen as winds have come here from the north and have lowered the temperatures, and it has snowed again in the half north of Spain, just not here in Madrid. The winds have lowered the temperature from 20ºC on the springly weekend to 7ºC-9ºC these days. Mosquitos have died, which is natural in winter (in the south, as it never freezes, you have insects all year round, but here in Madrid they are dead on winter usually). This is a bit refreshing, but it has come too late as to have any big effect and becoming a full-on winter.

Jas, I think that stating the cause is just as unwise because as I mentioned in the thread starter they are still debating the causes. I was refering to the effects because those we can see, here in Madrid the effect is certainly warming of the weather, that is something everyone will say and is proven by recorded data, and the discussion relies on whether its cause is natural flow of temperatures, pollution or cow methane or anything else. But anyway, I agree that layering may be the solution, the only problem is having to carry with the garments that are spare. I've also had caught more chills from air conditioning than from winter exposure.