‘There are moments, Jeeves, when one asks oneself, ‘Do trousers matter?”’The mood will pass, sir.’
Not only do trousers matter in the crazy world of P. G. ‘Plum’ Wodehouse, they speak volumes: as does one’s choice of suit, shirt, cuffs, studs, collar, tie, socks, shoes, spatterdashes, hat and stick. Jeeves, Bertie Wooster’s ‘infallible’ valet, is always there to guide us through this sartorial minefield, his trained eye able to spot the microscopic detail that separates the chic, de rigueur, and le dernier cri from the outré and farouche.
The seventh of Paul Kent’s occasional essays on matters Wodehousean takes us on a fascinating and informative tour of what the well-dressed man (and woman) should wear in order to look just right, transporting us back to an era of top hats, white ties and tailoring that positively reeks with 1920s and 30s elegance.
Sobre o autor
Paul Kent is the Vice-Chairman of the P G Wodehouse Society (UK), and has been a fan of the great man for longer than he cares to remember. Between 2019 and 2022, he published a trilogy of books that offers a comprehensive tour of Wodehouse’s creative imagination – ‘This is jolly old Fame’, ‘Mid-Season Form’ and ‘The Happiness of the World’ – which seeks to prove that Plum was not just a great comic writer, but a great writer, period. Books 4 and 5 of the trilogy – respectively ‘Plum’s Literary Heroes’ and ‘Plum at the Theatre’ – are currently in preparation; and the first ten occasional essays entitled What Ho! are available now: they are Wodehouse on Food, Sport, Love, Money, Class, Cats, Dogs, Hollywood, Fashion, Childhood, and Faith.