Showing posts with label society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label society. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

A modern old-fashioned gentleman

Thank you, Tom Ford. Finally someone respectable, successful, and truly debonair is teaching men how to act like a gentleman in today's world. What happened to taking off your ball cap when singing the national anthem? What happened to pulling out a lady's chair or opening up the door for her? And do men ever wear suits (besides for work) anymore?

There's a certain amount of class and breeding associated with well-mannered gentlemen. No movie star of the modern era can ever hold a candle to the legends that were Cary Grant, Jimmie Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, and Gregory Peck. They abided by a golden standard of behavior that radiates an aura of class and dignity. And with impeccable manners, they reached a level of attractiveness that good looks (even Brad Pitt level good looks) can never achieve on their own.

Luckily, Tom Ford is bringing "class" back.

Tom Ford

Tom Ford – fashion powerhouse, film mogul and old school romantic – is the cover star of the spring/summer 2011 issue of Another Man. AnOther presents Tom Ford's five easy lessons in how to be a modern gentleman, taken from Jefferson Hack's intimate conversation which appears in full in the issue.

1. You should put on the best version of yourself when you go out in the world because that is a show of respect to the other people around you.

2. A gentleman today has to work. People who do not work are so boring and are usually bored. You have to be passionate, you have to be engaged and you have to be contributing to the world.

3. Manners are very important and actually knowing when things are appropriate. I always open doors for women, I carry their coat, I make sure that they're walking on the inside of the street. Stand up when people arrive at and leave the dinner table.

4. Don't be pretentious or racist or sexist or judge people by their background.

5. A man should never wear shorts in the city. Flip-flops and shorts in the city are never appropriate. Shorts should only be worn on the tennis court or on the beach.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Apparently monsters shop at Abercrombie and Fitch

When I was growing up, I loved scary movies. And my favorite creature of all was the vampire. Now, let's get one thing straight -- I'm not talking about sparkly vampires with perfectly tousled hair that glitter in sunlight and prance around in fields falling in love with stupid, boring, clumsy humans. I liked vampires when they were actual scary monsters (which if I recall correctly, are what they were supposed to be in the first place). Back in the day, when you saw vampires you weren't attracted to them and certainly didn't want them to bite you. In fact, they were scary and you would run away screaming if you saw one!  But of course, like everything else that somehow has gotten twisted in today's society, vampires have taken on a whole new identity. Now they are sexy creatures that humans want to sleep with (and who, in turn, actually develop feelings for humans instead of wanting to kill them).

Vampire from the 80's (from the classic movie Fright Night):

Vampire from the 00's (from the insanely popular Twilight series):


Vampires were created to be scary, corpse-like monsters but have been somehow morphed into sexy, attractive human-like teenage boys in today's society. Today's "monsters" look like they belong in GQ magazine. Which brings me to my current conundrum: What the hell happened to Halloween?

Halloween = Scary. Right? Weren't classic Halloween costumes traditionally scary vampires, creepy witches, ghosts, zombies, etc.? Weren't skeletons, bats, and spiderwebs the traditional decor? So why are the most popular costumes this year turning out to be Lady Gaga and Snooki? Since when did Halloween become a holiday celebrating slutty outfits and troubled celebrities?

Maybe I'm just bitter because my love for vampires has been interpreted as some teeny-bopper bandwagon infatuation with all things Twilight. So let's just get one thing straight: I liked vampires before most Twilight fans were even born. I liked vampires when they were actually scary creatures that you were afraid of. Halloween is supposed to be a scary holiday, not a chance for you to go out in the town in your skimpiest lingerie. Even on Halloween, wearing only a bra, panties, and hooker boots will still make you look like trash. Society is creating these wimpy, sex-crazed teenagers with no traditions who will undoubtedly grow up into wimpy, sex-crazed adults with no traditions. Which when you think of it, is actually kind of scary after all.