Jacket (Not) Required

The WSJ recently published a piece on the jacket/tie wearing habits and requirements of men around town. It has certainly changed. As you might expect, there are still places where both are required, but most have more often than not loosened their previous requirements to at least requiring a jacket, open collar or not. It's a great piece for anyone who does remember when people used to look at least a little dressier.

Pictures in the story feature probably the two most elegantly attired men about town: the writers Tom Wolfe and Guy Talese. Both are legendary natty dressers, and both are at least 79 years old. The devotion to their look will completely pass. But they'll be wearing suits right to the end. And a little beyond the end, for sure.

Not all is slovenly, however. Picture the talking heads of NFL football. There is a distinct competition going on with pocket squares on the Fox broadcast. Man, those guys can be sharper than Emeril's cutlery. And Tony Soprano wasn't without a pocket square, either. John Gotti, the Dapper Don, certainly cut a sharp courtroom presence with his suits, pockets squares, and double-pressed trousers. And basketball coaches? Male and female are outfitted to the nines. Especially college. Nice to see people with no visible tattoos.

Historically, there have been some slobs that stick out. When Jean Claude Talbot was a NY Ranger coach in the late 70s he seemed to be wearing pajamas behind the bench. The team then didn't seem to be wearing skates, but that's another story.

Frank Sinatra is said to become nearly violent if someone was in his presence who wasn't at least sporting a jacket. Willie Nelson stayed in a limo when asked to come into the NY Athletic Club. He balked at having to wear anything that resembled a jacket and tie just to go through the revolving doors. Times change. Clubhouse admission to a NY thoroughbred racetrack once required a jacket. My friend was once somewhat chased and made to wear a loaner jacket. It was hot. He carried it.

The WSJ story also shows a picture of a loaner jacket closet at the "21" Club restaurant. Courtrooms apparently don't require a basic dress code. Consider the current trial going on where a Mafia boss is giving testimony for the Federal prosecutor in the trail of another Mafia-linked defendant. The witness for the prosecution, Joseph C. Massino is described in news accounts as the first "official" Mafia boss to give testimony. ("Official" seems like a strange word to attach to the individual, but the NYT seems to insist. It's almost as if his name and picture appeared in an annual report.)

Mr. Massino is described as eschewing not only a jacket and a tie, but apparently a shirt with buttons. He took the witness stand "dressed in a black and gray jogging suit with a white T-shirt visible beneath." Full disclosure of his circumstances should include that he is currently serving several consecutive life sentences and is hoping to avoid a death penalty in another trial. Shopping may have been logistically out of the question. And no loaner jacket closet.

But in giving testimony as the first "offical" Mafia boss to do so against Mr. Basciano, another Mafia member, Mr. Massino is certainly guilty of two code transgressions, only only of which has to do with clothes.

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