The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1909-07-29
a SARTORIAL CENSOR.
London Hotel Rule That Only Per
sons in Evening Dress be Admitted.


Something of hubbub has been
raised in London by the refusal of
the directors of the Savoy Hotel to
rescind their rule that only persons
In evening dress shall be allowed to
dine in the restaurant. This hotel
is the last in London rigidly to en-
force this rule. and the recent re-
fusal of the management to allow
distins suished earl and his wife to
enter the restaurant in ordinary
street clothes has aroused consiicra-
BILE protest The directors have
maintained their position but have
begun a postcard canvass of their
regular patrons to get their views
as to the continuation OF their iron
clad law of clothes. They argue that
to relax the rule means that diners
in ordinary tourist costume will mix
with those in evening dress and mar
the harmony and brilliancy" OF the
scene
II would seem that under sensible
standards the purpose of the hotel is
to furnish lodging. food and drink,
real solid comfort. to It's guests. and
not harmony and brilliancy; that aly
man decently clad and decently BE-.
haved, with the money to ray for
the service should be admitted to all
the precincts given over 10 the use
of guests; that the managers are eX,
erclsing their powers when they be-
gin to ordain wha, shall be worn IL
their dining rooms. But IL IL found
both in law and popular opinion taat
harmony and brilliancy are essential
to hotel dining room along with
food and drink, If they earnestly seek
to have in their halls that sarto.ial
harmony which is in perfect accord
with the mural decorations and the
music, then they must post some
Bear Brummel a. the door to see
that no discord is admitted In the
way of a man with diamond studs
To the eye sensitive to the niceties of
masculine attire nothing is more Of
fensive than a group of indiscrimi-
nately selected men in evening
clothes. The average man wears his
old office coat with more grace than
his hammerclaw, and as inebriation
reveals his true character, so evening
dress reveals his breeding. The
swallow-tail is one of the most hid
eous garments ever devised by tail
ors. and 1t is not given to more than
one man in hundred to wear it with
perfect harmony and a correct ac-
compartment of shirt. ties and shoes.
Look around any of our great New
York restaurants at night and you
will find a hundred men dressed to
the Savoy standard and yet hardly
more than handful properly attired
according to the requirements of per-
feet taste and correct form. Bril-
liancy there may be, but harmony
never. Here Is a one with dinner
jacket and a white tie; there another
with a soft pleated shirt front and
diamond studs binding us with their
garish light; another with a waist
coat cut shockingly high and heavy
feTtoons OF gold chain across 1t.
Sometimes even tan shoe will poke
out from the white folds of the table
cloth. Drive out the sartorial goats
and hardly enough sheep will remain
to raise an audable baa.
A far more harmonious clothes pic
ture is found in our quick lunch res
tcurant at noon than in the evening
in the palatial caravansaries of the
avenue. The average man when he
seeks to beautify himself for dinner
goes far astray artistically.