Suburban style

[alden]

Ok this is not a post about SUVs, well not entirely at least. Suburbs are those vast expanses of homes that separate city centers from the country. They can attain the dimensions of small Latin American countries in places like Los Angeles and New York.

Whenever I read someone from NY or Chicago who claims to wear 10 ozs cloth in the winter and nothing heavier, I immediately assume it is a burb dweller because NY and Chicago winters are freezing compared to those in Paris or London. But if you leave your heated home, into a heated garage, into a heated car, into another heated garage and into an overly heated office, you are probably a suburban kind of a guy who would prefer lightweight clothes. Who, in those circumstances, would not?

This leads me to postulate the effect of the Burbs, especially in America, on dress and what interests us particularly in the Lounge, masculine elegance. The membership of the LL is a decidedly international one compared to other internet clothing sites that are almost entirely US focused. And most of us who live in Europe, for example, live in cities. We are urbanites. We tend to walk to work, cab to work, tram to work etc. Some of us don’t even own cars, because in the city, they are a nuisance. And I think sometimes there are almost two conversations issuing from two realities: the American suburban and the European urban. Certainly of greater influence on dress are the cultural differences, the effect of the media etc But lifestyle has a major impact.

If one lives in the city center in an apartment, one rarely sees neighbors or their apartments. If one lives in the country normally there will be sufficient grounds to provide a buffer to other inhabitants. But in the burbs, houses are lined up one after the next with their smallish yards. There is a visibility, a shared space that incites many suburbanites to interest themselves strongly in the behavior of their neighbors, the well known “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality where appearances are paramount and rejection devastating to some. It occurs to me that the pressure to conform must be intense and encroaching in these “visible” environments.

So my question is this: do you live in the city or the burbs? Do you think your living situation, or better, to what extent does your living situation have an influence in your choice of dress?

[Richard3]

Well, I live in Kufstein, a small town (about 17.000) in Austria, about 10 km away form the German border. The next bigger city is Munich/Germany (about 80 km).

I live in an appartment in the middle of the center. Just as Michael stated I don`t even know my neighbours and so my living situation has decidedly no influence on my choice of dress which is basically classic business wear in grey and blue during the week. I work as a lawyer and my office is about 3 minutes away from my home so mostly I don`t even need an overcoat.

[olkayc]

I live in an area called Buckhurst Hill just on the outskirts of London (it's actually in Epping, which is technically Essex). I also live in an apartment, but do know my neighbours. But I wouldn't say that they have any effect on the way I look at the clothes I wear or have any influence on the choices I make. I travel into London each day for work, which is fairly easy due to having an Underground station close by and I am often in town most weekends also. The local area I would also consider to be very smart and fairly affluent. So my choice of clothing for work is smart and out of work depending on where I am going again I would consider my style to be in general less formal by once more smart with some added casual touches of my own.

I would say I am more influenced by those I admire and my own outlook on life, rather than those around me.

[Bishop of Briggs]

I live in a town house by the Thames in Teddington between Hampton Court and Twickenham. It is like living in a small rural town but only 9 miles from central London. I got rid of the car a while ago and use trains and taxis now. London winters are much milder and a good 11 or 12ounce cloth plus an overcoat should be sufficient.

My nearest town centre is Kingston and the standards of dress are, in general, very poor. Jeans are very popular. Primark is the busiest store in town but that may reflect the large student population. The local department store is Bentalls with Aquascutum and Gieves & Hawkes concessions in addition to its Sidi, Paul Smith, Gant, Ted Baker, Hackett, Ralph Lauren Armani and Boss merchandise. The store caters more for the surrounding Surrey towns like Esher, Cobham and Weybridge (aka the stockbroker triangle).

In my experience, sartorial standards reflect one's upbringing rather than income. Even when I was a junior executive, I saved up to buy shirts from Jermyn Street in the sales. I bought my shoes from Crockett & Jones' factory shop. Only last month, I bought several excellent ties from Turnbull & Asser at an average of £20 each. Dressing well on a low income is possible but requires taste, knowledge and education. Passing on our knowledge is a duty and a privilege .

[jrandyv]

Interesting comment. I live in the US Pacific Northwest, in a surbuban area adjacent to a medium sized city. The particular area I live in is in fact somewhat rural feeling, with lots of an acre or more.

I don't feel a particular pressure to dress a certain way because of nearby residents. However, because I've traveled a good deal to the east coast of the US and to London, Paris, Rome, Germany etc. all those areas have influenced me I think disproportionately to most of those who live nearby or in this area generally. So I'm probably not a good reference point for your question. I'm retired, 60 and my wife and I continue to enjoy traveling regularly to NYC and Cape Cod, where I can satisfy these needs for US, Italian and English goods including access to visitors such as G & G; also online/phone shopping with Smythson, Dempsey and Carroll, Kent, Joon, Oxxford, Alex Kabbaz, Bergdorfs, Paul and Shark, British Sporting, Turnbull and Asser, Thurston, Ben Silver, BB, J Press, Andover, Mercer, Leatherman, O'Connell's, Neiman Marcus etc. On the west coast we're fortunate to have Marios in Portland with Hamilton bespoke shirts,
Cucinelli, a good selection of Piana, Incotex, Barbera and the like. San Francisco's NM and Wilkes Bashford have also helped.

The impact of having this type of a rather complete wardrobe here is that for some of it I wear only when visiting NY or other cities while others such as Barbour or my Chameau wellies are perfect here for walking my pointer in the frequent rains.

[yialabis]

I live in the cost of Athens in a suburb area right by the sea called Glyfada . The suburb has changed a lot over the years (I lived here since 1978) and from a quite stylish beautiful town has become the centre of new money , showing off , designer clothing ,4x4's and the rest .. Now days when I walk down town with a hat and a pocket square in the front pocket of my covert coat..the fashionistas look at me like I came from mars ..Not that I care.. but in comparison ..when I go to visit my 89 year old grandmother in what has become one of the poor Athens neighbourhoods (Patisia) the people there don't seem to care and they say good morning , good afternoon etc ..
Because I work in the centre of Athens, I drive there on a 250cc bike . During the cold winter days I wear my shirt a cashmere jumper and a tight motorbike jacket on top. I wear my suit pants and I put my suit jacket in the booth of the motorbike together with my tie holder filled with a couple of ties and a pocket square . I then put them on when I have reached the office. I do this every day .. and not because I have to ( I run my own business and there is no suit and tie regulation)

Kind regards

Vassilis

[storeynicholas]

British, we now live mainly in a town 50 miles east of Rio de Janeiro, which has a small, largely non-residential centre (if the local government offices are taken as the very centre) and sprawling, well-spaced developments out from that; many of the best-built on a strand between the ocean and enormous sea-fed lagoons. We are foreigners here and maybe, because of that, we have got to be known. I am afraid that, owing to my absolute refusal to wear the ubiquitous and perennial shorts (normally suspended from the pubic bone) and cutaway tee-shirt (maybe called a singlet) and my wife's similar refusal to wear nearly nothing at all (which is the female equivalent of the rig just described), we defy the great Brummell's dictum that the worst sartorial sin is to be stared at in the street. Although we are, in some respects (certainly in sartorial respects) regarded as Gringo-figures-of-fun, we have made an effort with: the language, local customs (especially those relating to bargaining and local rates for goods and services) and the neighbours (both houses are holiday homes for affluent Rio Centro families). The result is that we get along just fine but there is absolutely no local influence on our dress and if we go to Rio Centro, we respect our need to dress as we would in the West End of London; despite a Rio Centro policeman's warning to us not to dress in (sober) suits, because of his perceived enhanced risk of robbery. However, there we might have stumbled on something (DV): we have, sometimes, noticed being eye-balled by suspicious, shifty men on corners (to whom we send the subtle signal that they have been spotted) - but their immediate reaction to our appearance is one of such stunned disbelief that, by the time that they have recovered, we, walking briskly and with purpose, are gone. It is, also, sometimes nice to be taken as English; even though the England into which I was born has nearly disappeared (including in many geographical and architectural respects). Once, standing, waiting in the foyer of the (former) Meridien Hotel, an Argentinian family approached me and said: 'You look so English'. I would not dream of wearing a lounge suit around this town unless I had some specific reason but that's just because we would probably be regarded with hostility. The only people who wear a suit here are the various officials and functionaries. I normally just wear a pair of light slacks and a plain Jermyn Street shirt with the neck open and the sleeves lightly rolled up a couple of times - and a pair of open sandals (with no socks and no handkerchief on my head). I often wonder what the general reaction would be to full morning dress(without the mac)............I daresay that, somewhere well beyond hostility I would find a truly biblical Joy in Morning. Finally, just to return to the potential for hostility - we would have to look for it and provoke it to experience it in any active sense and Brazil does not fully deserve its entire reputation in the eyes of some parts of the world which are, themselves, in a state of economic and social decay (no name no pack drill - but you know where they are). Moreover, the trades are alive here and if you call a business from the bank to the ironsmith, you're answered by a.................................... human voice.
NJS

[RWS]

I live in what passes for countryside in southern New England and work in one of the major metropolitan centers of the region, greater Hartford (founded in 1635, named in remembrance of Hertford, England, than which it is now many times larger).

At work I wear the usual dress of the American lawyer -- a suit -- though in rather better taste, I should hope. At home, if not at work around the house or garden, I generally wear odd jacket without necktie. The biggest change from my childhood is on the weekend: should I attend a religious service in coat and tie, I'm in a distinct minority, be that service Protestant, Jewish, or Roman.

RWS, signing in from one of those parts of the world which is in a state of economic and social decay

[Gruto]

Riding the bike is the best way to get around in Copenhagen. It has been like that for 100 years. It's not a class thing, I think. The bike was for everyone - and still is. You can easily ride a bike in a lounge suit and oxfords, but you are not going to win the Tour de France. In other words, bycycling hasn't supported the use of suit-tie-shirt. Two photos from the beginning of the 20th Century:

[storeynicholas]

Wonderful pictures.
NJS

[Guille]

I don't agree that in suburbs you relate more to neighbours than in the city centre. I have always lived in suburbs, and I can tell you that finding out things about neighbours, talking to them, and having at least a minimum neighbour relationship is hard to do. I used to live in an 'urbanisation' (or so they are called in Spain, as 'suburb' really means in Spanish a district that is poor, or of low quality... I believe you call them 'poor quarters'. Its strange because in the US they are seen as a place to go to live when you are grown up, married, have a good job and want to live in a nice place to have a family) named Sotogrande, in a midpoint between Gibraltar and Marbella. It used to be a very classic suburb, it was mainly build for British and Americans who would like a home in the south of Spain for the summer or to retire. My main encounter as a child with classic men's style was there, observing the elder anglosaxons in the casual environment. Casual, being sort of a resort, but actually formal for nowadays: a jacket and a tie (preferably a suit, odd jackets, particularly blazers, were also common) had to be worn nearly everywhere (at the various golf clubs (Sotogrande is the main place for golfing in Spain, and is said to be the best of Europe (excluding UK and Ireland, of course)), in tennis clubs, in ‘beach clubs’ (that is how they are called in Spanish, I don’t know the actual term in English), in any restaurant…). But during the 2000s the place has become very popular and is full of people now: the kind of people that go to a place in a summer because it is fashionable, and all wear logos (in fact they give each other recognition for the symbolic value they give to the logos). Very similar to what Yialabis described. Wearing a jacket and tie is no longer obligatory and has become an oddity, only elder anglosaxons do it still. A good example of the decay is the polo, which is also quite the best polo in Spain, and has several tournaments during the summer. You used to see so many elegant people… Now its not even worth mentioning what you see. However, when I go I wear a panama hat, a shirt, a bow tie and an odd jacket. Anyway, the point I wanted to make is that in an apartment you may have many neighbours and many differences with them, but you are forced to relate to them because you see them quite often, you know when they are making a party or listening to music. However in suburban areas you hardly notice those things. But I will say that neighbours tend to last more in suburbs.

[Gruto]

Wonderful pictures.
NJS

I like these as well. They feel good:



From 1926, Århus:

[storeynicholas]

If Carlsberg made adverts, they would probably be the best adverts in the world...

[sartorius]

I live in south west London, in a village on the Thames called Barnes. It may sound strange to describe a village as being "in" London, but London is essentially a collection of villages which have evolved over hundreds of years with, in many cases, quite distinct characteristics.

In Barnes, we are close to central London but with a distinctly rural rather than urban landscape, and being on the river means there is a noticeable outdoor feel to the area (lots of rowing and rugby clubs, for example, and an emphasis on walking and cycling rather than driving, particularly where one can use the towpath to get from A to B in preference to the road).

I would say that Barnes is as quintessentially English, in the traditional sense, as one can find in London. Tweed jackets and moleskin trousers are prevalent in the colder months, wellington boots are the best form of footwear when walking the towpath, and you are more likely to see Tattersall checks than tracksuits at the weekend. Do I dress the way I do because of where I live? Certainly not. But if I think about it, I suppose I do live here because, in part, I feel an unconscious affinity with the people and the environment, and that sense of belonging is important to one's peace of mind. So, on reflection, there is undoubtedly a kind of sartorial symbiosis between person and place, and an important one at that.

[storeynicholas]

The same goes for other discrete, bucolic (and expensive) London villages, such as Blackheath, Highgate and Hampstead. However, central west London is a different kettle of fish and, although I happily wore moleskins and wellies in the villages mentioned, I never felt really comfortable in my skin when wearing even vaguely rural clothes in central London. I have no wish to dictate to others what to wear but no other city has quite this effect on me, although, as I have said elsewhere in the LL, I do wear a suit when I go to a major city, such as R de J Centro - even though it might not be a suit which I would wear in central London.
NJS