Sartorial Eloquence

Clothes have never been very important to me. I tend to wear dark trousers and white or blue short sleeved shirts most of the time, rather Homer Simpson-ish. I don't remember taking any interest at all in what I wore until the First Year Christmas Party at Senior School back in 1969. For that I chose (or my mum chose) a purple shirt with a collar that would have suited Harry Hill, a psychedelic kipper tie that was about 10" wide and a pair of platform shoes with 4" heels. I felt like a million dollars and looked like a right twat.


The party discos were during the day for lower school so the oil wheel projectors didn't show up very well, I had to wait for the third year before I could appreciate the light show. (& by the 6th Form, I was doing the school Christmas parties myself).

I can remember getting a fairly awful purple suit a couple of years later from C & A which looked suspiciously pink in daylight but the first genuine choice of mine was a black velvet jacket, in the mid 70s they were the height of cool, particularly with Denim jeans. I can recall buying a cut away vest/T shirt with the Southern Comfort logo on for humping (get-outs, not hanky panky!) and was given a "Lay Chix not Eggs" T shirt for my 18th by the girls in the VI form, organised by a girl called Jackie Powton. (My mate Wally got one as well as we had a joint party and they also had DORIS on them in large friendly letters. Doris was a bit of a VI form catchphrase, along with Ahoo!, Shitpit and Tierra Del Fuego). I probably had a half a dozen or so T shirts given by tour managers or band crew, I can recall SAHB, Osibisa, Manfred Mann, Sounds (the Music Paper) and a Supertramp one. (I got more singles and albums than clothing though). Moose & Colin (the non-concurrent resident staff) generally did much better, sometimes getting much coveted tour jackets.

My First Dinner Jacket probably wasn't until I started going to 18 Plus AGMs in the mid 80s (semi formal dance in the evening) but I am probably onto my fourth now and it is rare I go a year without wearing it at least once. Nearly every man looks good in a DJ (Tux for our Merkin cousins), my mum says every man does but I did once see a bloke who was so shabby that he didn't. (If you are British ald old enough, think Michael Foot...)

After I got into Disney (i.e. the last ten years or so) I have acquired various theme park clothes items. Alas, my favourite one is only fit to be a duster...

I can vividly recall in the mid 80s my old Boss, Richard Moore, commenting that I was great at my job but sadly lacking in sartorial elegance. (I think it was more a case of lacking a steam iron!) I'd occasionally let my girlfriends choose clothes for me as I like to feel that it stamps them with a sort of seal of shaggability. Somewhere I have a pink tie that was in fashion for several hours back in 1988...

So, I dress to impress no-one really, apart from at interviews as it is sort of expected. I don't change jobs very often. Do you think I'm giving the wrong impression?

Note that not all of these illustrative photos are of me! To finish off, here are a couple of Elton John songs back from the 80s, Little Jeanie followed by Sartorial Eloquence. (Tom Robinson wrote the latter).