Sunday, September 18, 2005
Where have the real men gone?
No, not in real life -- although that question is continually simmering on the back burner of my mind. I'm talking about in the media. A couple disturbing items I came across today prompted the question.
Item #1: "My name is Bond.Jimmy Bond." According to the writer of the next James Bond flick, the spy will be reinvented. As a 28-year-old. Part of what makes Bond so attractive is his confidence; a self-assuredness that comes with age and having your strength tested to the core through experience. Most people under 30 are just too callow. At 28, you realize that life is full of fascinating possibilities, but you just haven't been around long enough to have acted on many of them. Few men have true confidence at that age; they have cockiness.
Item #2: The New York Times Men's Fall Fashion Guide. OK, the cover -- with a black & white photo of Joaquin Phoenix -- was promising. As was the article about Rudolf Nureyev. (side note: I met Nureyev many years ago when I was working in Guest Relations at the St. Anthony Hotel. Not a handsome man, but I've never seen anyone with more charisma. Whenever he entered a room, people would turn around and their jaws would drop.) Anyway, lots of androgynous, Tilda-Swinton-ish models. And lots of silly, silly clothes. Zoot suit pants? Shirts made of toile? The worst was an article on new look in jackets; i.e., shrunken. The trendy, but too-small jacket made the model look slope-shouldered. And the hat? Well, that was just unfortunate. Porkpie hats should be worn only by Cuban mambo singers on vacation, and only with a guayabera.
Item #1: "My name is Bond.Jimmy Bond." According to the writer of the next James Bond flick, the spy will be reinvented. As a 28-year-old. Part of what makes Bond so attractive is his confidence; a self-assuredness that comes with age and having your strength tested to the core through experience. Most people under 30 are just too callow. At 28, you realize that life is full of fascinating possibilities, but you just haven't been around long enough to have acted on many of them. Few men have true confidence at that age; they have cockiness.
Item #2: The New York Times Men's Fall Fashion Guide. OK, the cover -- with a black & white photo of Joaquin Phoenix -- was promising. As was the article about Rudolf Nureyev. (side note: I met Nureyev many years ago when I was working in Guest Relations at the St. Anthony Hotel. Not a handsome man, but I've never seen anyone with more charisma. Whenever he entered a room, people would turn around and their jaws would drop.) Anyway, lots of androgynous, Tilda-Swinton-ish models. And lots of silly, silly clothes. Zoot suit pants? Shirts made of toile? The worst was an article on new look in jackets; i.e., shrunken. The trendy, but too-small jacket made the model look slope-shouldered. And the hat? Well, that was just unfortunate. Porkpie hats should be worn only by Cuban mambo singers on vacation, and only with a guayabera.
# posted by Peggy @ 10:41 AM 
