Fashion

Fashion, as Oscar Wilde remarked, is something so awful that we feel we must change it every six months. There is a distinct difference in fashion between here and Australia, which I didn't really expect.

Now I'm going to let you in on a secret: What with one thing and another, I tend to take rather more notice of women's fashions than men's, as it walks past. There you have it.

Fashion for women is pretty rigid here at present. Tight-fitting, narrow jeans are in in a big way. Combine that with a skivvy or similar that reaches about half-way over the buttocks and a jacket (preferably leather, though others are also common) which comes nearly to the waist, and you have just described two-thirds of the women in London. Calf-high suede boots are an optional, but strongly recommended, extra.

There are, of course, the few die-hards that go out in a miniskirt and a singlet on a 7-degree London day with an East wind that bites through my singlet, and shirt, and woolen jumper, and bomber jacket. They generally look rather put-upon.

If the jacket mentioned above has a hood with a fur lining, so much the better, and damn sensible it is, too, IMHO.

For the British male, anything goes, it seems. Including the guy at the next table in the beer garden wearing track pants that just don't stay up, red underpants (visible on account of the track pants) and nothing else. He does seem to have a rugby top about him somewhere, which he puts on every time he needs to go to the bar to buy a drink, presumably to avoid getting thrown out.