As a 7-year-old child, I wore a suit and tie at every holiday, sitting in the living room of The Pink Palace, the Oliver ancestral home in Albany, NY. The attire was mandated by my parents, who got dolled-up too. When neighbours and relatives visited, they were similarly arrayed. Clothes lent a specialness to the proceedings, in addition to decorations and seasonally appropriate food and music. We now live in an age with markedly different sensibilities. Tennis fans wear T-shirts in the stands at Wimbledon. Royal Ascot gift shop sells themed baseball caps, but they’re currently sold out. Last year, Leesa and I went to Bemelmans Bar in Manhattan, a swank joint in the Carlyle Hotel, famed for wealth and sophistication. One patron, a Hollywood-handsome Black guy, wore a T-shirt, jeans and sneakers and nobody seemed to notice. Here’s what I think’s been lost in all this modernity.
© 2024 John Oliver
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