Formal Dress Forum

[comfortably numb]

I will have you know that my dress sense is smart, just not pre-Victorian. And I do not live in a student hovel I live in a rather nice house.
I shall highlight my point regarding the rudeness of the Deb Soc,
Scenario: (btw I am a she not a he!) I am walking along and five males, all heading to a debate are coming towards me. Expecting (because of the way they are all dressed up) for at least one of them to step on to the road for me (using the rules of good manners as taught to me by my parents they should as A.they are all male and B.there are more of them), I meander on, only to nearly be knocked off the pavement by these so called "gentelmen". This is a has happened a few times to me and to be frank I am sick of it. You all dress up and pretend to be "gentlemen" when really you are like silly twelve year old boys who thing its cool to treat people in this way. It is not acceptable.
If I cared abot your debates then I would go to them, I do not on principle.
A lot of the people that do go laugh at the "inner circle" as it has come to be known, the people such as myself that have better things to do laugh at you. Not soley because of your dress sense, but due to the irony-the people one would expect to have the most "class", actually have the least. I have met better mannered road sweepers than the majority of you lot. Not that I don't expect road sweepers to be polite.

[Al]

Oh boo-hoo. Basically, your entire argument boils down to the fact that you had to get out of the way of a group of people. Big deal. And you still haven't answered the point as to why you feel it is acceptable to be rude on here at the same time you are attacking supposed rudeness in others.

[Ewan MacDonald]

Quoting comfortably numb from 09:46, 6th Oct 2005
I will have you know that my dress sense is smart, just not pre-Victorian. And I do not live in a student hovel I live in a rather nice house.
I shall highlight my point regarding the rudeness of the Deb Soc,
Scenario: (btw I am a she not a he!) I am walking along and five males, all heading to a debate are coming towards me. Expecting (because of the way they are all dressed up) for at least one of them to step on to the road for me (using the rules of good manners as taught to me by my parents they should as A.they are all male and B.there are more of them), I meander on, only to nearly be knocked off the pavement by these so called "gentelmen". This is a has happened a few times to me and to be frank I am sick of it. You all dress up and pretend to be "gentlemen" when really you are like silly twelve year old boys who thing its cool to treat people in this way. It is not acceptable.
If I cared abot your debates then I would go to them, I do not on principle.
A lot of the people that do go laugh at the "inner circle" as it has come to be known, the people such as myself that have better things to do laugh at you. Not soley because of your dress sense, but due to the irony-the people one would expect to have the most "class", actually have the least. I have met better mannered road sweepers than the majority of you lot. Not that I don't expect road sweepers to be polite.

Well I very much hope you won’t take this in a rude way – in no way is it designed to be.
If you have found certain people to be very rude and pathetic perhaps you could be a little more specific about who we are talking about. I say this because I normally come to debates semi-properly attired (suit-although that is what I wear at work) with the exception of debates such as last night when I try and wear black-tie since I am going on to dinner.
Despite this proclivity I do not think I have been guilty of offence or insults (except perhaps for bad floor speeches but that is a limitation of talent). However, if I have inadvertently done so then I must apologise.
However, I would hope that there is a distinction between some people who do not behave as you feel is appropriate, and everyone who dresses formally for a debate. I in no way wish to argue or disagree with your position, but may I suggest that not everyone who does so is quite so ill-mannered.
Again, I really hope no offence has been caused – I only flame those who launch direct pre-emptive attacks!


[hr]

Nulla fere causa est, in qua non femina litem moverit
Juvenal 242

[Mr Comedy]

I'm enough of a gentleman, but I have a mouth like a gutter. Apologies for that.

However, your vitriol seems somewhat judgemental. Just because someone is in black tie, why should it be automatically assumed that they have manners? That's a jolly bizzare conclusion to draw, and a strange reason not to like the UDS. One cannot account for the actions of every member, and we don't try to. It seems to me that you have made an assumption about the society based on a couple of galoots in gowns, and I would gently suggest that is no way to form an opinion.

[J.C.H.]

Now, back on-topic: are patent leather shoes ever acceptable for a gentleman's day-wear?

Yes, but only if that gentleman is in Court dress.

[BasilSeal]

I have written to Maddocks and Dick (the firm that made the ties for Loot) to see if such ties will be avalable in the future. I'll keep you apprised!

[Anon.]

Usually the buttons, chains, sporran top, kilt-pin, sgian dubh et cetera worn with formal Highland dress are of silver. Is this a RULE, or just the most common adornment? Would gold be allowed, or is it restricted to wearers of governmental uniforms/liveries?

[Stuart]

I have a kilt pin fashioned from the severed paw of an otter.

[Jason Dunn]

Quoting Stuart from 15:20, 15th Oct 2005
I have a kilt pin fashioned from the severed paw of an otter.

A golden or silver otter?

[exnihilo]

I would consider gold a little gauche. That said, I have seen the whole kit and kaboodle in a brushed metal of pewter-like mien which I rather liked.

[BasilSeal]

Poor otter!

[Eliot Wilson]

I've seen a white Prince Charlie jacket with gold buttons. I was nearly sick.

[hr]

Bill and Ted beat the Grim Reaper at Twister

Bill: "You played very well, Death, especially with your totally heavy Death robes."

Death: "Don't patronise me."

[Stuart]

Sick bags at the ready.......

[img]http://www.kiltpin.co.uk/highlandwear/white-charlie.jpg[/img]

[Al]

I have the feeling - possibly unfairly - that there are people active in the UDS who would relish wearing such a "fetching" ensemble.

[BasilSeal]

Quoting Al from 20:33, 15th Oct 2005
I have the feeling - possibly unfairly - that there are people active in the UDS who would relish wearing such a "fetching" ensemble.

Shouldn't that be "retching"?

[Andrew Cusack]

Quoting Stuart from 19:01, 15th Oct 2005
Sick bags at the ready.......

Appalling, but with shades of South Carolina. Witness the pipers of the Citadel (the Military College of South Carolina):



Their's work much better though. As an aside, I recall my grandfather's formal (American) military uniform being white tunic, blue trousers (I think) and giant tall bearskin busby. Exemplified by the gentlemen in the lower right of this photograph:

[Al]

Quoting BasilSeal from 21:50, 15th Oct 2005

Shouldn't that be "retching"?

Quite possibly.

[Eliot Wilson]

Why am I thinking "John Leslie" in this context?

[hr]

Bill and Ted beat the Grim Reaper at Twister

Bill: "You played very well, Death, especially with your totally heavy Death robes."

Death: "Don't patronise me."

[Jason Dunn]

I wonder if such garments are meant to be worn aboard a cruise ship in the manner of a white dinnerjacket.

Of course in all likelyhood their manufacture lays in the tailor's receipt of more white cloth than he could use.

[exnihilo]

Even on a cruise ship, that would be too much. It's just plain wrong.

And that, kids, was the 1,999th reply, making it the 2,000th post on this thread.

Yay, me.