In a sense, I learned the hard way - because, although I realized that the suit was out of place, as I say, it was force of circumstance (filling a place left by an absentee at a social event) but I had no preconception of just how awkward I would feel - until a couple of glasses had slipped down, anyway! Just remembered - although the book isn't to hand to verify - I think that James Bond (who lived in Chelsea) drove down to the Royal St Mark's golf club (modelled on the Royal St George's at Sandwich) on the occasion of his golfing duel with Goldfinger, wearing an old hound's-tooth tweed suit. My experience of discomfort, described above, was about as bad as it gets: I was travelling back to town from the country, by train - so the suit was fine. I then received a call, en route from one of my oldest friends, who was holding a black tie dinner party in a private room of a restaurant - someone had dropped out and when was I back? The answer was not in time to change - pleaded with not to leave an empty chair and 'no one will mind' etc - so I turned up, in the suit mentioned, to a candle-lit table full (bar one), of men in black ties and women in evening gowns - and the rest I have described. I think the rus in urbe phenomenon has something also to do with which town, and which part of town as much as with the occasion. Speaking for myself, I would never feel particularly comfortable in the city of London or the west end (I mean St James's - Piccadilly - Mayfair - Covent Garden) in the week or in the evening in anything except dark clothes and black shoes - but I started off as a young fogey - and, predictably, now I'm just an old one! However, I feel confident that I could now have a weekend stroll in the park in a 16 oz Donegal (if I could find one)alden wrote:You have accurately described the two kinds of town dress we refer to on the LL: business dress and rus in urbe. The houndstooth tweed suit is strictly of the later kind.I don't see anything wrong in wearing such a suit or tweeds in town - or even brown shoes. It all depends where you are going and what you are doing: if you are going to a museum or shopping or to feed the pelicans in the park, no problem arises - but if you are going to have lunch at a club or to a business meeting, I think that hound's-tooths and tweeds and brown shoes are out of place - and you will feel it.
Cheers
Michael
NJS