Grandma Strikes Back
I had a chat with my pal Willie about all the hubub from the Washington Post No Style editor about the Roberts family wardrobe. He was stunned.
In a time when most children are dressed in Gap Kids and retailers of similar price-point and modernity, the parents put young master Jack in an ensemble that calls to mind John F. "John-John" Kennedy Jr.
Separate the child from the clothes, which do not acknowledge trends, popular culture or the passing of time. They are not classic; they are old-fashioned. These clothes are Old World, old money and a cut above the light-up/shoe-buying hoi polloi.
Willie is a top-flight athlete, member of the USA Barefoot Water-Ski team for the last 20+ years. And he's a southerner. His wife, Dawn, is also a fabulous athelete and they have 2 boys, ages about 10 and 4 or so.
Willie tells me that his mother devoutly believes that children should always wear pastels. Given his wardrobe, she may have encouraged him to think that adults should also only wear pastels. He is a handsome man and has the world's largest (or at least Sacramento's largest) collection of lemon yellow, pink, mint, aqua etc. shirts.
Last week his mom was in town and she took the family out to the Esquire Grill for lunch, hoping for an Arnold sighting. Willie was wearing Apricot colored pants and a white shirt, his brother was in plaid pants, the rest of the family was dressed to impress. And impress they did. The Esquire Grill patrons had never seen anything quite like it.
When most of them had finished eating, the waitress came around to snap up the plates. Willie's mom told them sternly "Not until everyone's finished!". The waitress put the plates down and fled in fear of being sent to the school principal's office.
I guess Robin Givhan (the No Style Editor of WaPo) doesn't know that good manners and crisp cotton is always in style.
Update: Even liberal Bob Beckel (he's the one who tried to get Bush electoral college voters to switch their votes in 2000 so Gore could win) thinks Robin Givhan is a doofus.
Friday morning 8/5/05 on Fox News...
BOB BECKEL: You want a short segment? You are about to get it. I couldn't agree more. This is the problem. This is what happens to us who are liberals, that is our newspaper of record, The New York Times, does something like this and have I to come on my favorite show in the morning and defend this stuff. Guess what? I think it is absolutely just off the wall crazy. You know what else? The Washington Post, did this on what they wear, they criticized the kid's clothes and his wife's clothes. I wish my kids would look like those kids did. The worst part on a serious note, we wonder why people are not going to get involved in public service anymore?"
Hat tip Kevin McCullogh