Carrol Cox wrote:
> > "`I grow old... I grow old... I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers
> > rolled.` What does that mean, Mr. Marlowe?"
>
> Someplace in the last few days I stumbled across a bit of filler in some
> paper or magazine to the effect that it was the Duke of Windsor (I
> imagine while he was Prince of Wales) who popularized rolled (cuffed)
> trousers.
For fun I did a web search for the Duke of Windsor and cuffed
trousers. I came up with only one page linking him to cuffed trousers
but a number of other pages making him a fashion trend setter for
other things.
My opinion is that he must have started a _resurgence_ of the cuffed
trousers as he was 17 or 18 when Prufrock was written and not as
likely to have been such a model of dress as later in his career.
(Is being the Prince of Wales actually a career? I mean the ultimate
goal is to get out of the job, right?)
http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/canal/369/abdication.htm
Edward was extremely popular as prince of Wales, and he
made fashion statements that changed the way men dressed throughout
the 20th century in the Western world - soft collars, tweed sport
jackets, cuffed trousers, low shoes, the Windsor knotted tie, and
V-necked sweaters freed men from the starched look that characterized
the turn of the century.
http://www.philcantor.com/hints.html
There are two proper shirt styles from which to chose. The more formal
is a white winged-collar shirt with pleats, and single cuffs. The
second choice, less formal but decidedly more comfortable, is the
turndown collar shirt with soft-pleated front and double French cuffs
-- yet another sartorial contribution of the Duke of Windsor.
http://www.fashionmall.com/flusser_book/doc/ch3.htm
The dinner jacket remained just as its inventor intended until the
1920s, when the next Prince of Wales - later to become the Duke of
Windsor - ordered a new dinner jacket (by this time, Lorillard's
tuxedo had taken the name of its American birthplace), and
specifically requested that the fabric be not black, but blue -
midnight blue, to be precise. Under artificial light, midnight blue
appears black - blacker than black, in fact - whereas black, under the
same artificial conditions, tends to take on a greenish cast. The new
color caught on, and is now counted among the great sartorial
inspirations of that bygone era.
http://www.navis.gr/nknowhow/tuxedo.htm
Another web page like the above.
Regards,
Rick Parker
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