MELBOURNE, Victoria / The Age / Style / August 4, 2009
Suits You By James Cameron
Even then, that may be fine, but add Dr. Finklestein's Arthritic arch support sandals with some grey, fleck socks and well, let's hit the town. So against their absolute better judgement, and please don't say anything about doing their bit, being green, blah blah blah, those notions didn't even exist when they decided that this was gong to be for the rest of their lives, they decide this is the way to go.
This is classic Dad wardrobe material. I don't need a new shirt, I have a perfectly good one in the cupboard and when the wagon's packed for the annual trip you know it's ready for another summer outing.
And it's so versatile, it can be worn to all occasions, it's a shirt after all.
So you can expect it to be his driving shirt, restaurant shirt, golf shirt, fishing and casual shirt, strolling shirt, BBQ shirt, you name it, it can do it. It is only outdone by its brother in arms (or lack thereof) the singlet. That can be worn anywhere too, not too formal, but most other occasions.
Remember, and I don't know why, there comes a point in a man's life, that only a matter of a few short years ago would have been completely unacceptable, yet now somehow becomes perfectly normal. That little voice in your head stops speaking to you, all swathes of information and ‘rules' that kept you in check are completely disregarded. The switch has been turned off. And much like something special that starts it's way down to ordinary, all it needs is one day.
One day of mis-use, mis-treatment or mis-wear. One day when you say, "I think I'll wear shorts today, I mean, does it really matter?" in a similar vein to I'm only going to sleep in it again, why should I make my bed"
And that's it. It's all over. You don't care anymore. I remember reading stories of the captured British in P.O.W. camps and they would shave everyday because it keeps the routine up, the civility in a bad situation and well, because they were British. But most of all they remained sharp and their wits about them. I am quite literally waiting for a plane and already I can see them gathering. The holiday gear has been unboxed from a long hiatus in the hall cupboard.
All the care in the world for the work-a-day wardrobe is thrown out the window and the easy, breezy carefree world of the patterned shirt finds itself front and centre. As do the pickpockets and local n'er do wells who wouldn't mind a piece of this carefree attitude. At the other, extreme end of the scale, there's the Resort wear or Cruise wear, the very conveniently placed inter-season collections predominantly from the big luxury houses.
The Cruise collections have all the company's philosophies, trademarks and design language distilled and bottled down into great and wearable clothes. I never really understood these collection's, I just thought they were unnecessary additions to an already full range or maybe a way for the labels to keep our short attention spans focused on them a little longer. But I get it now, I understand and while few will actually seek out these ranges explicitly, it wouldn't hurt a few travellers to hit the appropriate stores for a glance at the look book and see what you can look like on holiday.
Despite holiday being a time to let it all go and not have to worry about such trivial dramas as outward appearance, laundry and common decency, some like to treat a holiday as the time to bring out the A-game.
Most of us, unfortunately don't live to work, the ratio all too often is the other way around, but then wouldn't there be some kind of voice in your head that tell you this is your time, you've earnt it, so with that sense of pride, shouldn't this be when you look your best? Your healthy, tanned, over-eating holiday best. And so, you're thinking, well it's my holiday, stuff you, I'll wear what I want. Why should I worry about what people think?
Well Frank Costanza, you don't have to worry, forget about it. Those shorts were a good bit in the 80's, I'm sure they're still relevant today. What is it that you can't do without on holidays? Are you already making relaxed decisions with your wardrobe and appearance or are you completely aware of it and well, it's a holiday? [rc]
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