Ten rules for being well-dressed: to follow, or to flout?

[Mary Chambers]

I believe that whistling there is still forbidden

Running is also still forbidden, and there are uniformed beadles to enforce the rules. Think of the nervous tourists, terrified to put a foot wrong!

[Nick Armstrong]

No, what do they say?

No idea I was hoping someone would contribute something!

(Your tie sounds nice, what colour shirt do you wear it with?)

Crisp white shirt, blue suit combination

[amateur51]

No, what do they say?
I think re blue and green - Mother Nature never clashes! I have very little clothing in green, except for bottle green, which does go well with blue. I do have a fair amount in chocolate (both light and dark) Some years back it was evidently very risky for men to wear pink shirts or any pastel colours .... In fact I sometimes feel sorry for men being stuck with black, charcoal grey and navy.
(Your tie sounds nice, what colour shirt do you wear it with?)

Pink is becoming more & more fashionable for younger men, I notice even down to their choice of mobile phone cover. It expresses their growing confidence that something associated in the past with being gay or effeminate is no longer a complete taboo - well I hope so anyway.

[salymap]

Running is also still forbidden, and there are uniformed beadles to enforce the rules. Think of the nervous tourists, terrified to put a foot wrong!

On what I earned [about a fiver a week in the Library].I could only accompany my friend who had no need to worry about such things. We asked a beadle for the location of a shop and had a smashing bow and full directions.

Oh, sometimes I still miss London - such variety in each part.

[mangerton]

Pink is becoming more & more fashionable for younger men, I notice even down to their choice of mobile phone cover. It expresses their growing confidence that something associated in the past with being gay or effeminate is no longer a complete taboo - well I hope so anyway.

I had a pink shirt in the late 60s. Also a green cord jacket. I don't think pink had that connotation then.

[Anna]

Pink is becoming more & more fashionable for younger men.

Pink is also a very flattering colour for the older complexion, something to do with the softening light reflecting up onto the face ..... but, I think you said you had auburn curls? so perhaps not the colour for you. Hair colour does dictate the colours worn.

[mercia]

http://www.ascot.co.uk/the-dress-cod...ure-dress-code - what is a pashmina ?

I went to a wedding last weekend, I think I was the only man not in a morning suit or kilt

[Anna]

what is a pashmina ?
I went to a wedding last weekend, I think I was the only man not in a morning suit or kilt

A pashmina is a shawl - like your great-granny used to wear. It became popular as a 'fling-over the little black dress' accessory some years ago. I don't think it's fashionable anymore (and, they had to be cashmere)
Kilts at weddings seem to be the thing at the moment (personally I don't think you should wear them unless you have Scottish heritage, but men do look rather lovely in them!)

[Nick Armstrong]

what is a pashmina ?

A really annoying trendy word for a shawl...

[amateur51]

Pink is also a very flattering colour for the older complexion, something to do with the softening light reflecting up onto the face ..... but, I think you said you had auburn curls? so perhaps not the colour for you. Hair colour does dictate the colours worn.

With the passage of time the auburn curls have faded (ok disappeared:yikes) and I am now what my kind friends refer to as 'the strawberry blond'

I also have a white beard & moustache which caused a young doctor to look up as me as he was taking some blood when I was in hospital and say completely seriously "Has anyone told you that you look like Father Christmas?". Sadly I just giggled and I feel that I let something slip by there

[Anna]

With the passage of time the auburn curls have faded (ok disappeared:yikes) and I am now what my kind friends refer to as 'the strawberry blond'

I also have a white beard & moustache which caused a young doctor to look up as me as he was taking some blood when I was in hospital and say completely seriously "Has anyone told you that you look like Father Christmas?". Sadly I just giggled and I feel that I let something slip by there

Oh, that's my mental image of you, with your auburn locks cascading, gone for a burton then? Perhaps that young Doctor hoped Santa would (rest of post deleted before I posted!) I am in a naughty mood!) Strawberry blond is a lovely colour, and I love red hair.

A really annoying trendy word for a shawl...

I've already said that Cali - please pay attention at the back!

[Flosshilde]

A pashmina is a shawl -... and, they had to be cashmere

Strictly speaking they should be made from pashmina - the fibre from the Pashmina goat

[anotherbob]

Strictly speaking they should be made from pashmina - the fibre from the Pashmina goat

Is there only the one?

[Serial_Apologist]

Is there only the one?

Unigoat

[jayne lee wilson]

Right... so Politics is hidden but Fashion is on the main board? DEFINITELY an improvement...

I have three pashminas. The buttermilk one is so worn out the torn ragged edges are a fashion item in themselves. Seriously, it gets enquiries. The white one is so soft and delicate I stroke it and look at it and never wear it. The coffee one is always over my shoulders, summer-dressed or dressing-gowned. It's a comfort blanket.

***

Anyway, as possibly the only member who still buys fashion magazines...
Clashing patterns - virtually an ART. Yesterday I wore a 60s-style fitted dress, sleeveless & polo-necked, white with black polka dots of various sizes. This was teamed with sheer black tights with much bigger black polka dots on them (Pretty Polly Lace Spot, google it). With long pale pink cardigan and heels (round toed!). Black-on-white, black-on-black, PINK! Clash-and-match, y'see?
Trial & error is the only way. Give up your listening time for a brain holiday in front of the mirror.

Clashing colours - look in any flower bed, orange & blue, yellow & purple, red & green etc...
Legs & cleavage... just uncool, but easy for those of us who never had a cleavage and who never got over growing up in the 60s and being too young to join in... too much leg too often. Jayne's Addiction.

Deborah Orr in the G today says boots are perhaps the only thing to like about winter... I actually wear shorter hemlines when autumn cools, addicted to the short-dress-opaques-tall-boots look. (OTK is the only way). Layered up with tweeds/leather/fauxfur/gilets/jackets, it's the best dressed I am all year.

Life is better in sunglasses. META-WELDED on. (I need a new avatar). Which helps with...

Getting older... problem is knowing which clothes still show YOU off. Older faces always look more like themselves, less like a malleable match for any new design or colour. But I always admire older men or women at the shops who've found an individual style, even if it's a bit lurid or bizarre.
Or else you channel Carine Roitfeld or Karl Lagerfeld. Cut it all back, stick to a signature look.

If all else fails - you can always, always, get away with all black.

Rules? I used to say, Break Every Rule. Teenager in Sainsburys last week wore suspender tights with denim shorts and flat black ankle boots. It wasn't sexy, just "now". (If not quite on trend anymore...)