These days, people and men in particular dress only to get by. Wear what’s necessary to cover up and deal with the weather. If it is hot, it’s grubby shorts, sandals, and a tee. If it is cold, it’s jeans, a hoodie, and maybe a plastic puffer jacket. Done.
This habit is dull. It’s ugly. It’s degrading. But notice what is left out here: any kind of special clothes for the home. Indeed, the tendency these days is to make no distinction between public and private life. What I wear at home I will wear out, and vice versa.
This is the ritual of an unelevated life. Men in particular need to completely rethink this.
There are special types of clothing designed for the home. The center of it aside from a good pair of house shoes is the robe. I speak not for big fluffy robes you put on after the bath or shower. Women like these terry cloth beasts, and that’s fine.
But what does a man wear? It’s not about drying off. It’s not about doing your hair and makeup. It is about making coffee, cleaning up after last night’s dinner party, fluffing up the sofa, neutering the lilies, or straightening out the bar. It’s about something in which you can also walk the dog or pick up the newspaper on the lawn.
Every man needs a robe. It can be cotton flannel, microfiber, or, ideally, it would be wool, even red plaid wool (think Pendleton, with lapels!). It can be soft wool. Better, it should be a bit scratchy, thus requiring a T-shirt underneath (if you want to be truly old-world). You can find them from many sources, and they are not that expensive, and so they make perfect gifts. Hint: Shopping on eBay gives you surprisingly great choices.
Think of this. When you go to a fairly high-end hotel, they often have robes for you in the bathroom. You are thrilled. It feels like luxury. At first, you think, “Oh I don’t need that.” But then you somehow find a purpose for it: to put on to go to the pool, to tell housekeeping to go away, to totter around making coffee and checking on email.
You find every use for it, and appreciate it. You might associate such an item only with such experiences. But the same thing can be yours at home.
A quick story about this. I once was at a wonderful hotel with a great robe that had a pinned-on tag that read: “Complimentary.” Somehow in my mind I thought that meant I could keep it for free. Technically that is what the word means. I bundled it up and put it in my bag and took it home.
No extra charges appeared on my bill.
Later, I began to think about this. I wondered if I had misinterpreted. Feeling guilty, I went back a few months later and told the person at the desk what had happened, fully expecting them to admire my honesty. The opposite happened. They were shocked. The person demanded that I immediately pay $150 for the item, which I did. Seems rather unsporting, if I may say so. They should have changed the wording on the robe to: “Complimentary to use; $150 to keep.”
All that aside, you see the point. A household robe is a must. Especially for a man.
You think you might only use it in the morning. In fact, we all need a moment in the evening to turn to a new chapter in the day, some symbolic demarcation between the work phase and the relaxing phase. That sense should be embodied in clothing.
You keep on your day clothing, your tie, your shirt, your trousers, but remove the jacket. It is replaced by the robe. Hang one up and take down the other one. You are now ready to face the after-dinner hours, the time between 8 p.m. and midnight or whatever time it is going to be.
The robe allows you to stoke the fire, mend the socks, read the paper or book, even light up the cigar and hang out on the porch with a glass of brandy. If all that sounds too idealistic, it’s because you don’t have a woolen robe. Put it on and the rest falls into place.
None of it works without the right clothing.
As with all such clothing, it has its popular origin among the rich in the 17th and 18th centuries and was wholly mainstream by the 20th century. The mid-century saw the apex of the man’s robe for domestic luxury. Every great clothier offered them. Hollywood stars were photographed in them. At some point in the 1970s, they came to be associated with Hugh Hefner, who pretty much ruined everything.
That’s all in the past, but we are mercifully seeing a resurgence today. Maybe people are tired of that “whatever” look of just throwing stuff on with no distinction made between home, office, shopping, and traveling. That’s a dreadful way of living: no ceremony, no meaning, no intelligence or discernment.
Of course, I had to check for famous quotes on robes from famous men. These are marvelous.
“I have nothing to wear except my dressing gown, and I refuse to take it off for anyone.” —Winston Churchill
“I have a dressing gown for every mood: one for writing, one for telephoning, and one for feeling marvelous.” —Noël Coward
“When I get up in the morning, I put on my dressing gown, and I don’t take it off until the book is finished or I am.” —Mark Twain, who wore a red plaid wool.
“I have a passion for dressing gowns; they are the only garment that allows a man to be both elegant and idle at the same time.” —Lord Byron
“Because a gentleman should look like a gentleman even when he’s doing absolutely nothing.” —Cary Grant
“One should either be a work of art, or wear a work of art.” —Oscar Wilde
Indeed, this could end up being a man’s favorite garment, because it is mentally and physically associated with his castle, which indeed is his home.
