MAX EBB — "T
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he books on the coffee table might hold some clues," I thought to myself as I studied the offerings left out for guest entertainment. It's hard enough trying to figure out what to buy for sailor friends, especially after all the obvious ideas like fancy winch handles, novel flashlights, useful tools, interesting subscriptions and hand-held electronics have been exhausted. But finding gifts for the non-sailors on the list presents an even more difficult problem, especially for those of us who can be accurately described as "out of touch with popular culture." My eyes and ears were open for clues at a recent holiday dinner party, a rare chance to mingle with total landlubbers. A well-dressed young woman was sitting diagonally across from me on the couch, and she had taken an interest in one of the larger books: Nautical Chic was the title, and it was big even by coffee table standards. "What is 'nautical chic' and why did someone write a book about it?" I asked. "It's like, high-fashion history as informed by maritime culture and functional clothing," she answered. "Not just a picture book. The text includes some good scholarly research." I was shocked to realize that the woman reading the book about fashion was Lee Helm, almost unrecognizable in a fancy dress and makeup, and the last person I would expect to have an interest in high fashion. "I know a sailor who looks just like you," I said, "except she doesn't own any nice clothes." "It's borrowed," she replied. "Still, you clean up pretty good." After some interrogation we established which friends-of-friends we had in common, and how we both came to be invited to this very upscale holiday season gathering that was completely unrelated to sailing. "Let me take a look at that book," I asked. "I know a few people who would much rather go shopping than go sailing, and this might be just the thing for them." Lee handed it over. At arm's length it nearly caused me to lose my balance and fall off the edge of the couch; the thing weighed about four pounds. It opened to page 101, and I read aloud: "Chanel opened another resort-based Page 82 •
Latitude 38
• December, 2019
Coffee table picks for the 2019 holidays.
about the who's who in art and literature from the '20s and '30s," Lee added. "And well researched, too. Check out the footnotes." "It seems that this Murphy character," I noted as I read further, "won the 'best dressed' award at Yale for wearing fisherman's hats. And then it attributes the popularity of the striped shirt to a couple of Hemingway's characters who did all their shopping at fishing supply stores." "Striped shirts are more than just fashionable," Lee added. "Wide, contrasting stripes are easier to see in dim starlight than a solid color. Same with bell-bottoms — easier to put on over your sea boots, easier to roll up for swabbing the decks, and easier to kick off when you fall overboard." "OK, that checks off at least one problem person on my shopping list. Maybe two. Any more ideas?" I asked. "The perfect gift for the confirmed landlubber," said another guest, "has to be of great interest to someone with virtually no interest in sailing. And yet, a connection to a maritime theme, however subtle, is the only way to preserve your identity and keep the process from becoming totally generic. It is, admittedly, a subtle art." This was a person who would never be caught dead giving a gift certificate. "True," I said, "but let's not overthink this. Any more ideas?" "I was once given a wonderful little
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boutique in 1923, in the former fishing village of Cannes. As with many of her designs, Chanel took sartorial cues from the Duke of Westminster and, after her first trip on board his yacht the Flying Cloud, she is said to have said that navy and white are the only possible colours. This was also the year that American artist Gerald Murphy took a trip to Marseille to get supplies for his boat, returning with striped marinière tops for himself and his guests and kick-starting a trend that continues to this day. Gerald and Sara Murphy first visited the Cap d'Antibes the previous year as guests of Cole Porter. They liked it so much they returned, creating a summer 'season' and welcoming various shining lights of the modernist movement into their 'Villa America', including Man Ray, Dorothy Parker, Stravinsky, Ernest Hemingway, Picasso and Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, who dedicated his novel Tender is the Night to the couple. The novel chronicles the Riviera as it shifted from creative colony to an over cr owded holiday spot, and the sartorial influence is noted as one character reminisces about 'the sailor trunks and sweaters they had bought in a Nice back-street — garments that afterward ran through a vogue in silk among the Paris couturiers." "Reads like a g o s s i p c o l u m n Specialized histories, for New Yorkers and Californians.
