Thu. January 5
Today’s Pop Culture Scene
Pop culture meets the virtues in these interesting stories from around the
web . . .
Handbags as Power (or What Margaret Thatcher Wore)—The Daily Beast
A purse can impress and intimidate, bewilder, berate, or amuse.
During Thatcher’s tenure as prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990, her handbags came to signify femininity and toughness.
Credit: AP
Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life, which plays almost like a piece of music, doesn’t shy away from considering the Divine.
From the late 1700s through much of the 19th century, the top hat was for the upper crust—the higher the crown, the higher the social ranking. Now it’s a staple of anachronistic service jobs; a prop for parodying the aristocracy; or, in my case, a party accessory.
While it’s tempting to see Charles Dickens as a fusion of his heroes and villains, on the great British novelist’s two-hundredth birthday his true gifts should be recognized: a respect for childhood and a willingness to atone for his mistakes.
The natural look. The sloped shoulder. The limp silhouette. The English drape. What to make of these curious phrases, all reliably used to describe the Anderson & Sheppard style? To the uninitiated, these words might suggest lightness and grace, but then again, they might suggest a strange clientele of invertebrates. Why the unrelenting emphasis on softness? To answer this question, it helps to know what the fledgling firm was rebelling against in its early decades.
Yes, rebelling. “Establishment” as Anderson & Sheppard is now thought to be, it was once the renegade of Savile Row. Its sign pointedly identified the firm as CIVIL TAILORS. For civilians, not the military—not the place to go for clothes that would cinch you up and make you stand at attention.
This was something of a radical stance in 1913.
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