The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-28
CITIES OF AMERICA
WHERE MEN DRESS WELL.

<x1 WOULD probably be discharged,
] mobbed, and have all sorts Of things
happen to me If said this over IT,
the big town. but can name you at least
four American cities the men of which are
better dressed. year In and year out, than
the men of New York." said a man who
travels for a New York merchant taiior's
supply house. to the Washington Star. I'm
name them in the order of their stand
ing as communities inhabited by the best
dressed men: Denver, San Francisco, Chi
cago and Washington. How do l figure
It? just according to the rule of sight.
that's all. l don't profess to know much
about Egyptology, but / do know Il we'll
dressed man when see him. Mind, don't
say that all of the men of those four elites
are better dressed than all Of the men OF
New York; but do maintain, and any
impartial man who knows the four towns
mentioned as they are now will uphold me
In maintaining, that in ratio to their re-
spective populations the men Of Denver,
San Francisco. Chicago and Washington
are very much better dressed than are the
men Of New York. OF course. this has
been the case only in very recent years.
New York was. until, say. five years ago,
away ahead of all its rivals as a city of
the best-dressed men. At that time, If
you wanted to see hundreds of perfectly
dressed and perfectly groomed men engage
ed In doing business, all you had to do
was to take an elevated train uptown, in
the neighborhood Of 10 o'clock in the morn
ing, and watch the men, young, middle
aged and old, who boarded the train for
the downtown financial district. But the
financial men don't seem to be going liz for
clothes so heavily as they used to. OF
course. you'll still see slews of thoroughly
gotten up men down In the financial district
of New York, but not so many by 70 per
cent. as formally. On show occasions. such
as Easter Sunday afternoon, New York
will still turn out a finely-clad batch of
men, but I'm not talking about show &C.
casions now; / am talking about men who
are well-clad year in and year out, and
1t is in this respect that New York has
fallen into the also ran list. When you
meet, uptown in New York, a genuinely
swagger man-not a hashily dressed inan,
but one who Is thoroughly and properly
rugged out from his hat to his shees--yu,
are liable to turn around to get a rear
view of him: and then the fact Is he is
some member of the theatrical profession
whom you have seen upon the stage. There
are still plenty of fiashily dressed men
circulating around New York, but a flash
lily dressed man never will be a well.dresssd
man.
1.-THE reason why the men of Denver
clear to me. 1t can't be especially be-
cause there are so many wel-off men in
that town, because there are myrads of
well-off men in New York Maybe 1t Is
because, in proportion to the population,
there are probably more men with large
incomes in Denver than In any other city
on the continent, not excepting Helena.
that used to bear that distinction. You
scarcely ever see a badly dressed or an
overdressed man in Denver. Shabby men
there are in plenty, Of course, but l don.
call shabby man a badly dressed man.
A badly dressed man is one who, while
having plenty of means to equip himself
with a good makeup, hasn't the taste
to do 1t, and, therefore. makes his appear
ance as a slouch--thats the word for it
SLOUGH. shabby man Is simply a man
who is on his uppers and makes no preten-
SONS The clerks and other men of very
moderate incomes in Denver-men who
can't afford to keep in the push as far
as correct dressing goes-don't make any
effort whatever to tog themselves out in
cheap, dismal imitation of the men with
plenty of money, but like the young wom-
EN- In the song. they always dress in
black 1t is rare to see a young fellow
In Denver office in any other sort of
makeup than Il neatly made black suit,
of varying weights to fit the seasons. The
business men who run plants of their own,
however, seem to pay just as much atten-
ton to the job OF getting themselves ready
for business of weekday mornings as they
do to the task of arraying themselves for
social functions or evening appearances.
You'll always see a strapping. finely ar
rayed lot OF -oen on the thoroughfares OF
Denver at any hour of the day or night
Denver men are distinguished looking
lot, anyhow, q matter which Is probably
accounted for by the fact that a large per-
centage OF even the young men of the
town ara gray haired to some extent.
There's some quality in the clarified air