This apparently refers to a famous diatribe George Will wrote against blue jeans. It ends:
This is not complicated. For men, sartorial good taste can be reduced to one rule: If Fred Astaire would not have worn it, don't wear it. For women, substitute Grace Kelly.First of all, John Wayne wore a lot of things that Fred Astaire never did, including denim, and these are perfectly fit things for an American man to wear.
Edmund Burke -- what he would have thought of the denimization of America can be inferred from his lament that the French Revolution assaulted "the decent drapery of life"; it is a straight line from the fall of the Bastille to the rise of denim -- said: "To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely." Ours would be much more so if supposed grown-ups would heed St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, and St. Barack's inaugural sermon to the Americans, by putting away childish things, starting with denim.
(A confession: The author owns one pair of jeans. Wore them once. Had to. Such was the dress code for former Sen. Jack Danforth's 70th birthday party, where Jerry Jeff Walker sang his classic "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother." Music for a jeans-wearing crowd.)
Secondly, I love that song. It's one of those songs for those of us from the country who enjoy laughing at ourselves sometimes.
Such a sense of humor never hurt anybody.
4 comments:
I hadn't seen that diatribe; thanks for the pointout.
Having read it, Will has guaranteed that I will wear jeans (I'm thinking cowboy shirt, too, possibly with fringe) to the dinner we'll have together. A gastronomic delight to which, famous fellow author that I am, I expect to be invited soon.
I'm thinking cowboy boots, too, or perhaps to drive home the freedom of Americans to dress other than as St Will requires, I'll break the metaphor and wear the combat boots I still have.
'Course, we'll have to dine in Texas, say Burger King, so I can be properly strapped, too.
Eric Hines
I usually wear cowboy boots in DC. I once wore a bolo tie into the Cosmos Club. I wore combat boots to the White House grounds, though. I did put a suit on over them.
Well, the White House deserves a bit of respect.
Eric Hines
From Grades 1-6, blue jeans were about all I wore. In 7th and 8th grades, I tired of jeans and switched to other types, wanting to appear more "fashionable." In my first 3 years of high school, the dress code forbade blue jeans, probably as blue jeans were associated with the likes of Blackboard Jungle. I recommenced wearing blue jeans occasionally, in response to their being forbidden. College and later, blue jeans or cords were what I mostly wore. Cords were more suited for cold winters than blue jeans.
Nowadays, I wear shorts- including denim shorts- more than I wear pants, blue jeans or not. Pants and temperatures above 80 do not make for comfort.
I wonder if George Will wore jeans when he was a kid. Because all over the US, kids have worn them for decades.
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