With temperatures rising, but formal dress codes remaining the same, Tom Chamberlin and Sophia Money-Coutts tell us how on earth they keep their cool–or, if not, at least remain standing–at the smartest events of the Season
The gentlemen
LAST summer at Ascot, I found what must be the only complimentary bit of shade in the Royal Enclosure, up against a hedge. From there, I had a wonderful view of the several marquees on parade, Cavalry & Guards on one side, the Garrick on the other, White’s and so on and so forth. As it was too hot to have a regular conversation with anyone, I lit up my Cohiba Siglo VI and people watched. There is a particularly British form of masochism that requires men to dress in a three-piece suit with a long coat, rather than a jacket, in the summer months. On the one hand, if you’re unlucky enough for the weather to be wonderful, it requires the kind of pluck and stiff upper lip that won us the war. On the other, it’s likely the weather will be dreadful and, in that instance, all is well.
What I obser ved from my shady nook was how every man was clearly struggling. No one pranced as if their clothes were airconditioned. Nevertheless, those who refused to let standards slip were nothing if not inspirational. It brings to mind Cecil Beaton’s quote on style: ‘Be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.’ If you need glamourous examples, look up Gregor y Peck and David Niven together striding purposefully into Ascot.
Every year, I attend with the same friend, Shary Rahman, and our wives. He shares my enthusiasm for people watching, rather than people engaging, so we wander together and see if we find someone beautifully dressed towards whom we doff our top hats approvingly. ‘The same thing happens each time,’ he says. ‘At first, there is nothing interesting to see, and then all of a sudden someone pops up and restores your faith in civilisation. It is a bit like shooting on a rainy day, lots of birds come out and fly too low, but you know that, at some point, one will soar high and, if that is all you get on the drive, you’re happy.’
One such high bird is former cavalry officer Francis Roseman, who looked absolutely splendid with his silk plush top hat, a tie pin and slips under his waistcoat. He looked as regal as The King, who was present that day to see his horse Desert Hero notch up His Majesty’s first Ascot win.
The best top hats are made by Lock &Co or Herbert Johnson. However, may I recommend looking into the secondary market for silk plush versions. New hats are mainly rabbit felt, because, in the 1960s, the brothers who made the silk got into a fight and one burned the factory down, so the material can no longer be made. If you can find a silk one in good condition online, it
