From: amz@iguana.cis.ohio-state.edu (Arnold M Zwicky)
Subject: Re: Culture (was Re: Ah, Fashion.)
Followup-To: soc.motss
Summary: hats and gloves, when to wear them
Organization: earnestly practicing faggots
Date: Sat, 10 Oct 1992 15:00:29 GMT

in article <1992Oct10.051453.27604@macc.wisc.edu>
anderson@macc.wisc.edu (jess anderson) says to the melon-man:

 >There are two Zwickys ignoring you.  Can't say as I blame
 >them.

i speak for only one zwicky, but i can't be said to be *ignoring*
postings i haven't read.  i am, with pleasure, *ignorant* of their
content.

i am, however, reminded of what emily post said in the 1960 edition
of _etiquette: the blue book of social usage_, about hats and gloves.
to wit:

SHALL I WEAR A HAT?

     Notwithstanding the continued practice of certain younger women
[you know who you are, you hoydens] to go hatless on all occasions,
best taste exacts [you see, it is a *trial*] that in a city a hat
be worn with street clothes in the daytime.  A woman wearing a hat is
more chic than if she were hatless.  With an evening dress a hat is
incorrect.  [when your neckline plunges, remove that hat, honey!]

GLOVES

     Always wear gloves as well as hat in church, and also on the
street in a city.  Always wear gloves to a restaurant, to the theatre,
when you go to lunch, or to a formal dinner, or to a dance.  Always
take them off when you eat.  The question of length and color is one
of transient fashion and personal taste.  [go back and read that
sentence; take its lesson to heart.]

A LADY KEEPS HER GLOVES ON

     A lady never takes off her gloves to shake hands, no matter when
or where, and *never* [italics are rare on the postal page, so this
is a very very seriious injunction] apologizes for wearing gloves when
shaking hands.  On *formal* occasions she should put gloves *on* [a
regular shower of italics here] to shake hands with her guests when she
is hostess - and keep them on when she in turn is a guest.  Always wear
gloves when standing in a receiving line.
     The one time she does not shake hands when wearing gloves is when
they are riding gloves or earth-stained gardening gloves, which might
smudge the fresh gloves of a friend.

------

i am startled to see that this page is marked by a *calling card* of
mine, from an altogether-vanished previous life (in which i also
owned a tuxedo).

when ann died, elizabeth and jacques and i had to cope with a very
large collection of (marvelous) hats and drawers full of gloves,
mostly white, of all lengths, few of them matching.  she kept up with
the hats; they were part of her style.  the gloves were just mementos
from that altogether-vanished previous life, which was not too distant
from the world emily post invoked in 1960 (in between elvis and the
beatles; ann and i were also dancing the twist at the time, so that it
was clear that things were changing).

jacques and i still have almost all the silver from that vanished
time, too - but not the servants to polish the stuff, so that every
day we have to polish a few pieces, just to keep up.  it is
regrettably beautiful stuff, you see.

arnold (reading news because the machine he was typing out fruitcake
          recipes to elizabeth on up and died while the cakes were
Newsgroups: soc.motss