SWELLEGANT ELEGANT
Currently on Slate, a photo album from Magnum Photos of the Mad Men era, including this shot of a 1963 literary cocktail party at George Plimpton‘s Upper East Side apartment. Plimpton is seated at left with literary agent Maggie Abbott next to him. At top, left to right: Jonathan Miller, Gore Vidal, Ricky Leacock, Robert Laskey, and Paul Heller. In background, left to right: Ralph Ellison and Peter Matthiessen. Center: Walter Bernstein (seated on couch with back to camera), Sydney Lumet (behind Bernstein to right), Mario Puzo (leaning against mirror), Jack Richardson (tall man, front, right foreground), Arthur Kopit (foreground, right), Frank Perry (left of Kopit), Eleanor Perry (left of Frank), Arthur Penn (obscured behind Eleanor), and Truman Capote (center on couch), 1963.
© Cornell Capa C / Magnum Photos
What a contrast to today’s fashion environment, where people pay big bucks to buy jeans that look like they’ve been shredded by a farm combine. And the men are wearing those skinny ties that GQ has been advocating for the past five years (but have never caught on–makes you wonder about its true influence on men’s fashion).
If you ever have a chance, check out some of the photos of baseball and football games from the 1920s and 1930s. Even the people in attendence wore suits, ties and hats!
Comment by Hugh Cook — August 31, 2010 @ 6:22 pm