Style: wear brown in town

Part of knowing the rules of how to dress is knowing how to break those rules. Everyone knows that one must not wear brown in town – as a colour, it is more suited to the countryside. Yet does it just apply to shoes or does it extend to jackets and suits as well? More to the point, why does it exist as a rule at all?

As with most sartorial rules, it has more to do with tradition than with any tangible reasoning. According to these traditional rules of dress, black was the most formal colour, as seen in banker’s jackets (which were usually worn with grey striped trousers), morning coats, black tie and funeral attire. The greys and blues of the City were marginally less formal, and brown was reserved for leisure-wear (a brown trilby was, and in many circles still is, de rigeur for the horsetrack), strictly worn at weekends and on holiday and not as business attire.

There is little doubt that brown as a colour is still more informal than grey or blue, and there are still many professions where one could not get away wearing a brown suit to work. Nor is it recommended (on this blog at any rate) – city dress is traditional by necessity, essential to treat the business conducted with the right amount of formality and respect. Brown suggests a more relaxed attitude that is not appropriate in the boardroom, but is certainly so in the park, at the club and generally while enjoying leisure time in the city. As the picture demonstrates, it gives one the opportunity to explore the brighter side of one’s wardrobe, accessing those green, purple and orange tones of shirts and ties that one cannot always get away with in more formal situations.

So wear brown, both in and out of town.

Cocktail: the bloody mary

To my mind, the bloody mary is the king of the cocktails. It was possibly invented by Fernand Petiot, bartender at the infamous Harry’s Bar in Paris, during the 1920s. Even he did not invent it, he certainly transformed it from a simple mix of vodka and tomato juice to a far more sophisticated drink, as his own description shows:

“I cover the bottom of the shaker with four large dashes of salt, two dashes of black pepper, two dashes of cayenne pepper, and a layer of Worcestershire sauce; I then add a dash of lemon juice and some cracked ice, put in two ounces of vodka and two ounces of thick tomato juice, shake, strain, and pour.”

Over the years, the recipe has changed very little, if at all, from Petiot's original. Start off with a healthy measure of vodka over ice, and topped up with tomato juice.  Pour into a cocktail shaker and add a dash of celery salt, pepper and Tabasco. A few dashes of Lea and Perrin’s Worcestershire sauce, some lemon juice and, if you like it spicy, some pure horseradish completes the ingredients. Shake well, and strain into a highball glass. Garnish with a stick of celery or a skewer of green olives. Adding a shrimp garnish can add an interesting twist to accompany a summer seafood barbeque.

Traditionally a hangover cure, this cocktail is a great lunchtime drink or pre-dinner aperitif.