Why would one ignore Chloe? She seems like a sweet girl. Ahh, but look how she's dressed. Now compare her clothes to those of the scholars around her. Notice what's she's not wearing? That's right - a sweater! Clearly the scholarly mind requires extra bodily insulation. As far as I can tell, the more scholarly someone is, the greater their dependence on the sweater. Bernard (below left) makes an effort, but cannot maintain the look throughout, an obvious clue to the quality of his theories and his research.
Valentine (right above and second from left below) is an actual scholar, but he is young, and so must wear the sweater vest. At some point in the future, he will graduate to the full-time sweater, as is evidenced in scene 5. His future's so bright...
Septimus and Chater, while lovely young men and very attractive in their regency-era clothing, are also not wearing sweaters and so I cannot see them.
I cannot see Septimus even when we are stage together and he sits next to me. Such is the power of the sweater on the scholarly mind.
I can still see Valentine, even in his regency-era wear, but as I am also wearing no sweater in this scene that is not inconsistent with the Unified Sweater Theory.
Erin and I have spent a fair bit of time insisting that the Sweater Vest is probably the most manly, the most virile, the most testosterone-driven garment a guy can wear.* I think that all of the above proves our case for us.
Sigh, sigh, all sigh.
Photos used with permission of the photographer
*Although that's not strictly true. They are the most manly, etc, garments that a man wears in Arcadia. The most manly, etc, garments ever are, of course, bow-ties, knickers, or plus-fours (that last established for us by Payne Stewart of blessed memory). Largely because if you are going to wear any of those things, you'd better have a pretty solid sense of your own masculinity.
3 comments:
A.I lessthanthree the fact that I can post to your blog w/ my LJ
2.I feel waaaaay loved that I was a part of your lovely bit of interweb space today!
III.In all honesty, I love a man in velvet! I wish the fashion world would wake up and finally combine my two loves in men's attire to create: the velvet sweater vest!
Cheers,
Chloe
Ahhh, costuming! For most of the play I had the impression that Chloe was a grad student/research assistant. I realized later that the boys lived in the house and not students, but still thought she was. Then when she was in the black dress, I was thinking Huh?
I was also cringing at Hannah flipping those book overlays around without wearing white gloves. Have I spent too much time in the back rooms of museums?
Is it inappropriate to mention that perhaps another reason is that Chloe is smokin' hot?
OK, perhaps my new-found singledom is getting the better of me... ;-)
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