Style-o-matic: Vogue UK 1950 continued...

The fashions in these magazines and others provide a relief for me from seeing the unflattering clothes people wear during the week. We're gradually warming up into summer here at the moment and the city has been a sea of hooded tops or hoodies. The other week I saw a guy wearing was I thought were pajamas in public but was actually a loudly printed hooded top. It was like the winter equivalent of a Hawaiian shirt. Are you going out or entertaining children? If the standards of fashion continue to decline, soon clowns will need a new outfit. People seem content to dress for comfort and convenience over aesthetics. If that’s the case you might as well wear a snuggie to work. As a winter person who actually prefers the colder months to the summer, I’ve always thought autumn and winter are best for dressing well because you can wear more than one or two pieces of clothing.

Every piece of cool-weather clothing now needs a hood attached to be saleable. The most bizarre is the hooded t-shirt. Where did the demand for that come from? I’ve never heard someone say: “My arms and torso aren’t cool enough but my head is freezing. When will someone design a garment to address the zonal temperature differences of my body?” Then there’s those long cardigans women wear that hang around their knees. As if they don’t look bad enough, some go for the asymmetrical ones with the tails either side. I miss seeing the cardigans that are advertised in this magazine. They came back into fashion briefly some years ago and I think they always look best. Is it weird that I long to see a good cardigan?