Happy New Year!

I was very nearly going to wear jeans and a polo on New Year's Eve owing to how hot and muggy it was with that sultry weather that was only fun if you had nothing but your board shorts on with a fan directly overhead.

But New Years Eve? What was a man to do in this weather? It just so happened that on the very same day we had a visitor at the Studio from New York, the jazz singer and dandy, Dandy Wellington. He was in town doing shows at the Sydney Opera House. 

When he came to the Studio I was in my board shorts. He was dressed in a boater hat, a striped vintage prep jacket, shirt, bow tie, trousers, socks, loafers. How did he do it? How did he not sweat?

It inspired me to step it up for NYE and so I did an all out assault. Totally over-dressed for all three parties I attended. They could all wear shirts and blazers and jeans, I was going to get some use out of my P Johnson navy tuxedo and I wasn't going to let me Albert Thurston's rot on the rack. 

To add a touch of je ne sais quoi I decided to ride to all three events on my bicycle which is an old vintage Dutch village bicycle - weighing more than 20 kilos and definitely not designer for the hills of Sydney. I was drenched in my own sweat when I pulled up to my second event, the same for my third. Only the first had I maintained composure, owing to the fact that it was at the bottom of a hill and along a flat road.

It was Dandy Wellington I must credit for having the courage to go balls deep in dress on NYE - and though I will need to get my tuxedo dry cleaned and pressed and I probably road the pants out of it, it was worth it for the car honks and the turning of heads as I sped past the the pedestrian New Year revellers in my Sunday best.

There is that too often bandied around the internet expression - you can never be over-educated or over-dressed - and for the first time I was in agreement with the latter part of that expression. It's still fun to dress well. Especially when you are getting a cream pie in your face, it makes for a better photo.