On Oct 4, 2006, at 11:49 AM, Carl Remick wrote:
>> From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
>>
>> What was I thinking? It's way too early in the morning. It must
>> be that the Master class has lost some of its bearings. Why does
>> the Yale Club have to tell people what to wear? They should
>> know, shouldn't they?
>
> The master class may be effective at replicating its genetic code,
> but it doesn't seem to have been very good at perpetuating its
> dress code. Certainly the archetypal WASP Ivy League look that
> dominated the 20th century via suppliers like Brooks Brothers, J.
> Press and F. R. Tripler has dwindled to near-museum status. I
> would guess that no Yale graduate of the last quarter century has
> sought to honor the memory of Dean Acheson, John O'Hara or other
> master-class clotheshorse of The American Century.
I can report from a fresh visit to The Yale Club that: 1) the food is a lot better than WASP food used to be; 2) the Old Blues still dress like Old Blues, though there was a guy in his 80s listening to an iPod; 3) younger females wear crisp power suits; 4) boomer and younger men wear "business casual."
Woj is wrong - no one really seems to know what the code is for belonging.
In geographic news, I learned that most Yale alums live in the NY metro area, with another concentration around Boston, and a lesser concentration in California. The rest of the country is largely untouched by the Blue Magic.
Doug