Sunday, 6 February 2011

The comfort of old clothes

I was trying to put some order in my wardrobe when something struck me (it is often in trivial moments when trivial things strike me): I don't have recent clothes. My youngest jumper is a year and a half old, most of my jumpers have between five and ten years of age and my favourite clothes are the oldest. I thought about my recent post on old things and I just discovered something: I am utterly unfashionable and couldn't care less.  It reminds me of an observation of Anthony Burgess:

"Women thrive on novelty and are easy meat for the commerce of fashion. Men prefer old pipes and torn jackets."

Maybe I am just an ordinary man, or an old-fashioned one.
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6 comments:

  1. PJ6 February 2011 at 20:00

    C'est un comportement normal. Je suis toujours triste lorsque mes vieux vêtements deviennent trop usés pour être portables. Parce qu'ils sont confortables en partie, mais aussi parce que cela implique qu'il faudra faire du maudit magasinage, quelque chose de chiant pour tout mâle hétéro.

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  2. Cynthia6 February 2011 at 20:01

    Err are jumpers some kind of English slang for suits? The jumpers I am used to are usually dresses!

    I am not much of a novelty fan either, a lot of the stuff I still wear today come from my days as a CEGEP student ;)

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  3. Guillaume6 February 2011 at 21:32

    Wow, deux commentaires déjà!
    @PJ-Je déteste magasiner du linge, sauf parfois dans les petites boutiques du Plateau et chez Simons.
    @Cynthia-Jumper is the British term for sweather.

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  4. Anonymous7 February 2011 at 08:04

    Clearly Mr Burgess was generalizing about women, and fashion. My favourite clothes are charity shop jumpers, and jeans with worn out knees :-)

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  5. Leigh Russell7 February 2011 at 21:33

    The other day a customer went into a branch of Waterstones asking for a book. She couldn't remember the author's name but knew this author wore purple. "That'll be Leigh Russell" the bookshop assistant replied. She was right, and the customer bought my latest book. Sometimes it pays not to follow fashion!

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  6. Guillaume7 February 2011 at 21:50

    @Anonymous-Oh he was generalising, but there is often a hint of truth in these kinds of generalisations. I wonder if he said this during his first or second marriage.
    @Leigh Russell-Writers don't have to follow fashion, they are almost expected not to! Another reason why I envy you.

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