ASK THE CHAP

the Chap...

By Wisbeach

An advice column in which readers are invited to pose pertinent questions on sartorial and etiquette matters, and even those of a romantic nature. Send your questions to chap@thechap.co.uk

T. Richardson: My question concerns cravats. I own four or five of these items, but feel I have never successfully worn one. I feel I am all at sea with the cravat. The issues I have with them include: How best to knot one? Mine seems to come loose at the slightest ruction. One, or two, shirt buttons undone? How tight around the neck? How large the knot? How large the actual cravat? You can get some very large ones.

There seem to be several ways of wearing a cravat; for example, the flamboyant, let-it-all-hang-out style; the cravat almost as a tie, hanging down; the cravat ruffed up around the neck like a muffler or the plumped-up cravat to create the ‘neat neck’ which is part of the purpose of this accoutrement. When and where to deploy such styles? Is it wrong to reach for the cravat when dressing for the evening? Is it possible to wear a cravat without appearing excessively louche?

The Chap: Sir, you have embarked on a splendid neckwear adventure which, if one may say so, you seem to have overcomplicated somewhat. To address each of your concerns in order:

The best way to tie a cravat (and this will answer points 2, 3 and 4) is to start tying it with a four-in-

hand tie knot, but refrain from passing the tip through the knot and simply let the longer portion flop over the top of the knot. This adds extra security to the traditional method of simply looping the longer portion over the shorter. The latter is so unreliable that it even affected the usually sartorially perfect Cary Grant. If you use the below left image of Dirk Bogarde to guide you, you will note that one undone shirt button is sufficient.

Tootal Cravats generally provide the ideal size, and one should avoid anything linking the words ‘Ascot’ and ‘Cravat’, as these are likely to be aimed at soccer players attending weddings.

Cravats are only suitable in the evening if attending an out-of-doors cocktail party, when the dress code has been stipulated as ‘lounge suit’. They are never appropriate for evening wear. As to your final question: No, which is precisely why one should wear a cravat as often as possible. Jørgen Riber Christensen: Weather permitting, which it never does in Denmark anyway: could a chap venture outside in a Hawaiian shirt, without risking being tossed into the nearest volcano?

The Chap: Sir, your question alludes to a style of shirt that is as risky as standing anywhere near an active volcano. If you were Montgomery Clift starring in From Here to Eternity (which we are assuming you are not), then you could just about get away with wearing an Aloha shirt. Should you happen to be in a climate that precludes the donning of a long-sleeved shirt, then you would do better to follow the lead of Elvis Presley in Fun in Acapulco, and wear a striped shortsleeved shirt, in his case from Sy Devore of New York.

Dominic Buckwell: I noticed that Prince Charles often has some kind of trim (or under waistcoat) when wearing a morning coat, and also at his father’s funeral. Can you enlighten me about this? Is it a sartorial tradition or some kind of security device?

The Chap: They are called slips, sir. Traditionally made from Marcella, they are held into place behind the waistcoat by buttons. In bygone eras such as the Regency period it was a sign of opulence to wear several layers of clothing. As fashions developed, the waistcoat slips were used to give the appearance of having a second layer without actually having the bulk. Prince Charles is subtly displaying his Regency dandy credentials by wearing them, without the risk of anyone saying “Who’s your fat friend?” to his companion. Thanks to tailor Haddon Pratt of www.prattandprasad.co.uk for assistance with this detail.

Paul Dixon: There are many definitions of gentleman. Famously, Oscar Wilde claimed ‘A true gentleman is one who is never unintentionally rude.’ George Bernard Shaw averred that ‘A gentleman is one who puts more into the world than he takes out.’ The American writer William Lyon Phelps said, ‘This is the first test of a gentleman: his respect for those who can be of no possible value to him.’

Personally, I think a gentleman is a fellow who, while taking a piss in the sink, leaves the tap running.

The Chap: Ah, didn’t dear Noel Coward once utter those same immortal lines? It may be useful to combine the quotes to which you refer into one convenient maxim: ‘A gentleman is one who is never unintentionally rude to those of no value to him, while putting more into the sink than he takes out’.

The quote from Robert Smith Surtees ‘The only infallible rule we know is, that the man who is always talking about being a gentleman never is one’ seems to have cancelled out all of the above.

William Walker: Is it ever acceptable to tuck one’s napkin into one’s collar whilst relishing a jolly good slap-up lunch, a-la Hercule Poirot? Regardless that the fellow is fully fictitious, he’s still one of our most endearing dandies.

The Chap: Sir, we are back to waistcoats, as is inevitable, and the fact that no amount of slips will protect one’s favourite waistcoat from the feared splash of mulligatawny. The act of inserting a napkin into one’s shirt collar is only as acceptable as the manner in which it is done. If, like Poirot, the napkin is inserted with a great flourish, with a challenging eyebrow raised to any other diner who expresses opprobrium, then it is acceptable. n