Selected Short Subjects

Walk shorts for office wear? We might as well pull up our knee socks and wade right into the hassle.

The answer, gentlemen, is primarily one of geography. Those who toil away the day in the concrete canyons midtown or downtown would be crafty lads to keep their knees covered up and their walk shorts in reserve for--well--for walking. Your regular summer suits (the ones with long pants), these days done up in a frosty cotton and dacron blend, are as cool as a Collins and carry you crisply from conferences to cocktails to dinner to theatre. As far as comfort and breeze-ability go, you gain little by unfurling a pair of walk shorts in the city, except maybe a couple of squeals from your secretary. We feel that being well dressed does not include carrying individuality (concluded on page 72)Short Subjects(continued from page 31) to the point of eccentricity, so that a man juts out from a crowd like a torn-T-shirt artist at a white tie ball. We'd certainly think twice before legging it up Madison Avenue or Michigan Boulevard in short pants--for the very same reason we'd never (well, rarely) go swimming in a dinner jacket.

But for those of you fortunate enough to park your briefcase in a suburban office, walk shorts and jacket form the perfect duo--especially if you're planning to go right to the club for lunch and an afternoon of golf. For your evenings in the country (summer theatre, concert, yacht club, patio party) nothing could be more correct than a walk short and jacket combination. In the proper surroundings, the outfit is even right for semi-formal summer wear: light silk jacket with shawl collar, solid color walk shorts, dark knee socks and black loafers.

An open-neck sport shirt would not be appropriate for any of these occasions (except possibly the patio party). Rather, you would choose a lightweight cotton shirt in one of a choice of collar styles, then top it off with a rep or foulard necktie.

Several other recommendations are called for when you do step out in walk short garb. Always wear knee length socks, never the ankle variety. Most men's legs are knobby, scarred and hairy, and the high socks afford good coverage. Unless you have some ringing reason for drawing stares to your dimpled knees, we suggest you stick with any of the handsome solid color knit socks in a cable stitch or ribs. Unless they are very subtle, argyle patterns--though quite good looking--will pull undue attention to your lower regions and also present one helluva problem when it comes to choosing your shirt and tie.

Always wear loafer shoes with walk shorts, never laced models. Somehow, laced shoes always give the visual impression that you're gliding around in your undershorts.

Designers these days are engaged in a ripsnorting battle over the question of the right length for walk short jackets. Several eminent lads stiffly maintain that the jacket must be one inch shorter than the standard suit jacket for proper proportion to the wee trousers. Others equally eminent counter that a jacket, no matter what the trouser length, should shield the same portion of posterior. We'd say that the short jacket certainly adds a distinctiveness that balances just fine with the entire outfit, but the investment in a special coat for wear with walk shorts only is somewhat of a luxury. The differences between the two are not so great as to rule out the traditional length coat, and either will serve you nobly with walk shorts.

We've seen an extremely good looking short Kilt jacket put out by Brooks Brothers that is woven of dacron and cotton and finished off to look like linen. Pocket flaps and cuffs have a distinctive peaked cut, and the short coat can be beautifully accessoried with a pair of pleatless, handwoven shetland walk shorts with a subtle brown and gray striping, also from Brooks.

Winners in a walk: the gentleman pondering the proposal (on blueprints) wears a suburban office outfit of traditional length, three-button cord jacket in a practical dacron-nylon blend, a blue rep tie that is color mated to his grosgrain belt. His navy blue walk shorts are of Kenya cloth (orlon and viscose) and the summer weight navy high socks, with elastic tops, are woven of fine Egyptian cotton; his dull finish black calf moccasins were made in Italy. For an evening at his yacht club, the gentleman chooses the Killarney Plus walk coat (dacron and viscose in a linen-like weave) that is shorter than standard length, with double vented back and single button closure, by Gordon of Philadelphia. His companion jet black walk shorts are woven of the same fabric with pleatless front and back buckle strap; button down summer oxford cloth shirt is worn with bright cotton madras tie and matching belt. His black high socks are lightweight wool and nylon by Burlington Mills, and his smooth-grained black loafers are by Bally of Switzerland.

Winners in a walk: the gentleman pondering the proposal (on blueprints) wears a suburban office outfit of traditional length, three-button cord jacket in a practical dacron-nylon blend, a blue rep tie that is color mated to his grosgrain belt. His navy blue walk shorts are of Kenya cloth (orlon and viscose) and the summer weight navy high socks, with elastic tops, are woven of fine Egyptian cotton; his dull finish black calf moccasins were made in Italy. For an evening at his yacht club, the gentleman chooses the Killarney Plus walk coat (dacron and viscose in a linen-like weave) that is shorter than standard length, with double vented back and single button closure, by Gordon of Philadelphia. His companion jet black walk shorts are woven of the same fabric with pleatless front and back buckle strap; button down summer oxford cloth shirt is worn with bright cotton madras tie and matching belt. His black high socks are lightweight wool and nylon by Burlington Mills, and his smooth-grained black loafers are by Bally of Switzerland.