Men’s fashion is a topic that I hardly ever write about, except when circumstances require urgent notice. Guys, be aware. At the end of this week there will only be one month left for wearing your white linen suit. By tradition the suits are worn in New Orleans from Easter to Labor Day. The season […]
Imagine a tower along the shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain standing 1100 feet high (37 feet taller than the Eiffel tower). Its sleek column is decorated with art depicting New Orleans’ past and at night it shimmers with lights celebrating the town’s vibrancy. From the top (on a clear day), viewers can see the chain of […]
Compared to the guillotine, moving to Louisiana didn’t seem to be such a bad choice. That was the plight of Count Louis Philippe Joseph de Roffignac, a native of Antouleme, France. He was born in 1766 with royal blood.His godfather and godmother were the reigning duke and duchess of Orleans. Their son would become King […]
Sixty-four years ago today a letter was on its way from Europe to New Orleans.Three days earlier, on July 4, 1944, a soldier in the American Army, camped out somewhere in France, had written to his sister: "I’m sure you’ve heard and seen much about the invasion since D-day," the soldier – my father, […]
Imagine a tower along the shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain standing 1100 feet high (37 feet taller than the Eiffel Tower). Its sleek column is decorated with art depicting New Orleans’ past and at night it shimmers with lights celebrating the town’s vibrancy. From the top, viewers (on a clear day) can see the chain of […]
As New Orleans’ long-troubled public education system is being rebuilt and revitalized after Katrina, the national teacher recruiting group Teach for America is sending a bumper crop of young educators to the area to staff schools and invigorate local classrooms. The local chapter of the national nonprofit will more than double the number of new […]
Dr. Michael White is one cool guy. An alum of both Xavier and Tulane universities, he’s taught Spanish at Xavier for more than 20 years, adding African American music to his instructional repertoire in 1988. And there’s his clarinet.Blue Crescent, Dr. White’s newest release, brings about the nostalgic sounds of Louis Armstrong’s big brass jives, […]
An exhibition of photographs from the illustrious life of Lionel Hampton, on view at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art through the end of this month, is a centennial celebration inviting thoughts on a storied career in jazz. Hampton, was by various reports, a force of nature, a bandleader of such relentless energy and hunger […]
A strip of land in the heart of New Orleans that has successfully served the city as a waterway and a rail line may soon see its third function as an urban greenway – a paved bicycling and walking path potentially connecting neighborhoods and neighbors. That’s the vision that energizes the grassroots citizens group Friends […]
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When officials with the Arena Football League were in town last year for their sport’s championship game, the ArenaBowl, the action on the field at the New Orleans Arena wasn’t the only thing that captured their attention. They were also sizing up the city as a location for future championship games and what they saw […]
If a restaurant is like a circus, then Ella Brennan, co-owner of Commander’s Palace, is the ringmaster minus the top hat and actual whip. (Though a few chefs and cooks who have passed through her kitchen may disagree about what constitutes a whip – perhaps a meaningful look?) Years ago, before Commander’s Palace’s current renovation, […]
Dear Julia and Poydras,When I was a young girl visiting the city with my parents about 70 years ago, my mother mentioned a restaurant located across the street from City Park that was one of her long ago favorites.Since my mother left New Orleans in 1915 to move to Ohio and marry my father, also […]
A Sweet EssenceLL Cool J, Patti Labelle, Keyshia Cole, Rihanna, Kanye West, Mary J. Blige and dozens of other fabulously famous musicians and performers will flock to the city and take the main stage at the annual Essence Festival, July 4-6. Essence Festival will also host a variety of dynamic speakers at its Empowerment Seminars. […]
When the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival was first being planned, a literary scholar advised the fledgling festival’s board not to invite the playwright’s brother to the event. “He’s as crazy as a loon,” the scholar proclaimed. Fortunately, loons are able to fly and Williams’ brother began coming to the festival on his own. The […]
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Men's fashion is a topic that I hardly ever write about, except when circumstances require urgent notice. Guys, be aware. At the end of this week there will only be one month left for wearing your white linen suit.
By tradition the suits are worn in New Orleans from Easter to Labor Day. The season may be good news for dry cleaners but it is a challenge for the klutzy among us.
It's not the suits per se that are the problem as much as that they are white and therefore highlight any crumb or smudge that comes their way. The best rule for dining while wearing a white suit is not to, for fear of a sleeve coming too close to a sauce.
There are some men who are very adept at wearing white suits, but that might be a matter of genetics. I once attended an Uptown society wedding. It was summer so I thought I was being de rigueur by wearing a blue cord suit. Instead, I could have been mistaken for the back woods cousin. All of the gentlemen were in white, comfortably standing and chit-chatting while balancing a glass of champagne and precisely maneuvering caviar on a cracker. This, like yachting, was a gentry-based skill that the rest of us had to develop on our own.
My original white suit came from Terry & Juden, the late downtown purveyor of gentlemanly fashion. It was the place where the guys from the law firms used to shop. I bought the suit off the rack in a close-out sale during the store's final days, so it had the extra burden of historical significance, one of the last with the Terry & Juden label. The caviar on a cracker fear factor was even greater.
Because I feel like I should, I usually wear the suit at least twice during the season. One of those times, on occasion, has been the Zoo-to-Do. For that I actually like wearing the suit because in that setting there is a rebellious quality to it. The event is black tie but somehow white suits, which are clearly in the minority, have become acceptable. Curiously, even more in the minority are ties that are actually black. The guys in the tuxes tend to wear multicolored ties for the event or ties with images of giraffes and emus on them and matching cummerbunds with a zebra motif. Those in the white suits are more likely to be wearing an actual black tie than are the ones who are dressed in "black tie." Being fashionable can get complicated, Tie color, incidentally, is critical to properly wearing a white suit. Under conditions of confidentiality, an Uptown gentleman once lectured me on the proper accompaniment for the suits. The shirt must be white, not pastel (which he compared to looking like an Easter egg) and not striped. The tie must be conservative, perhaps a subtle stripe for the wild and crazy, but certainly no pop art, images of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, bottles of Tabasco, or anything that makes a statement. The advisor was critical of the misconception that white bucks were the proper shoe for the suit. He lectured instead that the shoes had to be black, and so did the belt.
I think of his words those times a year when I prepare to wear the suit. There's one question I would like to ask him, though. I've wondered how he would feel about me spraying it with Scotch Guard. Being fashionable will be easier after Labor Day.
Let us know what you think. Any comments about this article? Write to errol@renpubllc.com. For the subject line use WHITE SUITS. All responses are subject to being published, as edited, in this newsletter. Please include your name and location.
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