The heat of the moment
With temperatures rising, but formal dress codes remaining the same, Tom Chamberlin and Sophia Money-coutts tell us how on earth they keep their cool–or, if not, at least remain standing–at the smartest events of the Season
LAST summer at Ascot, I found what must be the only complimentary bit of shade in the Royal Enclosure, up against a hedge. From there, I had a wonderful view of the several marquees on parade, Cavalry & Guards on one side, the Garrick on the other, White’s and so on and so forth. As it was too hot to have a regular conversation with anyone, I lit up my Cohiba Siglo VI and people watched.
There is a particularly British form of masochism that requires men to dress in a three-piece suit with a long coat, rather than a jacket, in the summer months. On the one hand, if you’re unlucky enough for the weather to be wonderful, it requires the kind of pluck and stiff upper lip that won us the war. On the other, it’s likely the weather will be dreadful and, in that instance, all is well.
What I observed from my shady nook was how every man was clearly struggling. No one pranced as if their clothes were airconditioned. Nevertheless, those who refused to let standards slip were nothing if not inspirational. It brings to mind Cecil Beaton’s quote on style: ‘Be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.’ If you need glamourous examples, look up Gregory Peck and David Niven together striding purposefully into Ascot.
Every year, I attend with the same friend, Shary Rahman, and our wives. He shares my enthusiasm for people watching, rather than people engaging, so we wander together and see if we find someone beautifully dressed towards whom we doff our top hats approvingly. ‘The same thing happens each time,’ he says. ‘At first, there is nothing interesting to see, and then all of a sudden someone pops up and restores your faith in civilisation. It is a bit like shooting on a rainy day, lots of birds come out and fly too low, but you know that, at some point, one will soar high and, if that is all you get on the drive, you’re happy.’
One such high bird is former cavalry officer Francis Roseman, who looked absolutely splendid with his silk plush top hat, a tie pin and slips under his waistcoat. He looked as regal as The King, who was present that day to see his horse Desert Hero notch up His Majesty’s first Ascot win.
The best top hats are made by Lock & Co or Herbert Johnson. However, may I recommend looking into the secondary market for silk plush versions. New hats are mainly rabbit felt, because, in the 1960s, the brothers who made the silk got into a fight and one burned the factory down, so the material can no longer be made. If you can find a silk one in good condition online, it is a super investment.
You need to think of the social Season and its apposite outfits like a game of golf; every hole, like every event, is different, some more difficult than others, but each offers up an opportunity to lose your dignity in front of people. As Royal Ascot is morning dress, it needs more guidance than the others. Whether for a wedding, Trooping the Colour, a Buckingham Palace garden party or the races, there are a few things you can do to make the experience of wearing morning dress more pleasant.
The first is opting for a double-breasted waistcoat, as the wrap begins much lower on the chest and, therefore, exposes more shirt, helping with temperature, especially if you opt for a linen version rather than wool. Wear pleated trousers for a bit of room and with braces, so you don’t have that horrific eventuality of your shirt untucking and spilling out under the waistcoat and over the trouser, which simply won’t do. With that in mind, I suggest, if you can, keeping a spare shirt in the car. There are no tips for contravening biology (in this case, perspiration), but there are tips for managing it and having a spare shirt will be like getting into fresh bedsheets.
Glyndebourne is straightforward as it’s dinner suits (black tie), all day. I recommend avoiding smoking jackets and, although ivory is smart and may make you feel like Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, a day—including travel to get there— in it is asking for trouble. Wimbledon and Henley are not quite so formal, but that makes presentation all the more complex, because the dress code is open to interpretation. Take advantage of how you can accessorise. A pocket square will be useful to dab yourself dry and a Panama hat is a terrific way to shade yourself and not overheat. When it comes to shoes, black works with classic colours, so long as they’re well polished. If you have brown, this is fine, but try not to wear with navy blue, better with grey or green.
If you’re wearing a jacket, I have a few dos and don’ts. Most importantly, don’t wear linen. Yes, it’s known as being the ‘summer’ fabric, but it wears terribly, the slightest bit of perspiration and the whole thing will crease up like an accordion. There have been efforts over the past decade by fabric mills to create light and breathable wools and they have done a great job. The best for my money is the Crispaire collection from Holland & Sherry. Trust in British fabric ingenuity: good outfitters, such as Connolly, Dunhill or New & Lingwood, pay a lot of attention to the fabrics they use and the people there should give sound advice on what will work best.
Navy blue is a classic for a reason and is infinitely preferable to some of the bright pastel blues and pinks you see regrettably often. A rule of thumb is that patterned clothing works much better for heavier cloths such as tweed, so single colours are more elegant. The exemplar of this is regular columnist in these pages Nick Foulkes, who is dashing and daring every year at the Cartier Polo, always with a single colour.
For the mere sartorial mortals, as much as copying Mr Foulkes may be something to which we aspire, it is his principle of dressing that you need to remember; that, past any lime greens or saffron, there is an adherence to simplicity. Get the essentials right, such as making sure things fit, that they are well colourcoordinated and you feel confident wearing them. Once those hurdles are jumped, there is very little else that can dampen your day. Oh, and on that note, bring an umbrella.
Each event offers up an opportunity to lose your dignity in front of people
The ladies
WE have it relatively easy. Back in the day, when the Season was The Season, it kicked off with debutantes being presented at Court wearing white dresses and three ostrich feathers in their hair (to denote purity). A long line of Daimlers and Rollsroyces stretched down the Mall as debs and their chaperones queued for Buckingham Palace, waiting in stifling heat potentially for several hours as crowds gawped at them through the car windows. Some debs brought a pack of cards to pass the time. The racier ones drank Champagne and hairdressers scampered between cars primping as policemen desperately tried to control the more ribald onlookers. In 1923, when Nancy Mitford finally arrived at Buckingham Palace to be presented, she had to relieve herself in a chamber pot behind a screen.
If you take all that into consideration, catching the 10.43 from Clapham Junction to Ascot clutching your hat doesn’t seem so bad.
If one’s hair doesn’t feel right or tidy, in my humble opinion, nothing else does. My advice is a Panama
Hair is always my main worry, because I can buy a new frock, new shoes, get my nails done and spend an extreme length of time perfecting my make-up to try to look as immaculate as The Princess of Wales on parade, only for it to rain, whereupon I instantly turn into Struwwelpeter. And if one’s hair doesn’t feel right or tidy, in my humble opinion, nothing else does. Of course, if you’re off to the Royal Enclosure, where hats are mandatory, you can try to hide it. Otherwise, my advice is a Panama.
Take a Panama everywhere. To Chelsea, to the polo, to the tennis. They’re not only for the chaps, you know. I even managed to get away with wearing my Panama for Royal Ascot last year, which felt like cheating, but I was short of time beforehand and didn’t want to spend a fortune on anything more outlandish. Although, as consistently immaculate racing presenter Francesca Cumani reminds me, there are plenty of places where you can hire hats now. Ms Cumani and her stylist, Sarah Kate Byrne, are big advocates of vintage clothing and not buying anything new merely because one is panicking about the forthcoming tide of socialising. ‘Although when I say vintage, it really means anything that hasn’t been bought new,’ she explains, ‘so it could be a Zara dress from a charity shop or something from grandmother’s wardrobe. But, on the whole, I think natural fibres, which were used more in the past, do work better, both in the summer and winter.’
I agree. No nasty synthetics, ideally. Silk is lovely, so long as you don’t intend to sweat like a winning horse in the paddock. Some years ago, I went on a summer date with a new squeeze wearing an emerald-green silk dress and realised, on the walk there, that I was having a Tony Blair moment in the armpits. I haven’t worn that dress since. But layering with linens and perhaps a little cashmere number can be a nifty way to combat the vagaries of the weather.
(Technically, pashminas are still out. Years ago, when I interviewed Trinny Woodall on this subject and tentatively suggested wearing one, she told me to throw it in the bin immediately. But, frankly, if you have a beloved one that can be stashed in a bag, why not?) ‘For the Chelsea Flower Show or the
dnoddgy,’ tennis, separates can be a problem solver if the weather is says Samantha Cameron, founder of Cefinn. She recommends a short-sleeve cashmere cardi, ‘and then strip down to a linen T-shirt or lace cami when the clouds disappear’.
Talking of bags, they’re another of my worries. I long to be one of those chic women drifting around at summer parties with a miniscule clutch, suggesting they need only leave the house with a lip gloss. I, by contrast, like to leave the house with flat shoes, almost my entire make-up bag, packets of Nurofen and Rennie, plasters, my book, sunglasses, mints and so on. Lady Cameron suggests a clutch that is large enough ‘to house that little velvet flat’ for the walk home. I quite like a small-ish crossbody bag (Holland Cooper has some good ones), which fits just enough items, but also leaves your hands free for Champagne or race cards.
It’s fortunate these days that we can get away with flats to pretty much everything, so we don’t necessarily have to cram a pair of ballet pumps into a bag. Certainly, ‘smart’ trainers to the tennis or Chelsea are ideal. If you’re off to the hottest, newest entry in the Season’s calendar, the Dunhill Padel Classic at Hurlingham in south-west London, then you need to be in pristine white Supergas (no yellowing trainers, please). Otherwise, a pair of pretty, coloured Gazelles will do just fine. For grander occasions, stylist Martha Ward suggests a low, chunky heel. ‘They’re comfortable, wearable for long days and look smart. Better than a wedge.’ Ms Cumani’s top tip, which I like very much, is to have a supply of talcum powder (another item to stuff in the bag) ‘to sprinkle in your shoes so they don’t rub. Especially handy if your feet run hot’.
My grandmother had strong opinions about tights and you wouldn’t catch the royal women with bare legs, but to me they smack of school and prissiness. They’re also likely to ladder if you’re going anywhere with a picnic, outdoor operas or the Goodwood car park, for instance, where you might have to lower yourself to a blanket. I tend to slap some moisturiser into my shins and hope for the best. Get ’em out, I say, because they’re shrouded for so much of the year, although I appreciate this may depend on how confident you feel about your pins.
It’s fortunate these days that we can get away with flats to pretty much everything
On the delicate matter of undergarments, seamless is best. ‘It’s in every high street now,’ says Miss Ward, ‘so you don’t need to break the bank. M&S does an excellent range. And I think, for real invisibility, supersize pants are best. They cut under the butt and sit super high, so any lumps and bumps are invisible.’ They’re also deliciously comfortable and you’ll be jolly grateful for that when you’re soldiering back to Clapham Junction on the train after a long and arduous day of Bollinger and sandwiches.
A final word on make-up, because it’s extremely easy to overdo it for summer events in the belief that you need to look your absolute best all day and that that means slapping on more than normal. Not necessarily. You don’t want anything, a vibrant red lipstick, for example, to frighten the horses. My tip is to invest in a really good tinted moisturiser—chantecaille or Laura Mercier do lovely ones, although I also swear by the £12.50 tube from Beauty Pie—and take that with you. ‘No make-up make-up is always best,’ agrees Miss Ward. ‘When the sun comes out, you’ll be grateful that foundation isn’t melting off your face. Tinted moisturiser-type base and the tiniest lick of mascara keeps everyone happy. Even the horses.’