I bought a bowler hat last November because I’ve always wanted to be a hat guy, but didn’t want to fall in line with the fedora trend. I wore it a few times but the constant strange looks and weird comments eventually turned me off from it. Apparently I was about a year too soon. This article in the Times today relates how the Victorian style is coming back in full force, Tweed Vests and Top Hats where there used to be skinny girls’ jeans and colorful sneakers. It mentions how many people are starting to tuck their fitted pants into their boots and wear more classic patterned fabrics (I won’t claim to be any sort of prophet, but a look through old posts will prove prescient). These trends are outcroppings of groups like Tweed.cc and other niche areas of Dandyism.

Tweed.cc is a bicycling club that rides in England, keeping alive traditions of leisurely jaunts through the country side, dressed to the 9’s and carrying the essentials: picnic, wine, finger foods. The Tweed.cc style guide claims that bicycle technology reached it’s pinnacle in the 1970’s with full steel, simply designed bikes, and that fancy new carbon fiber technology “will be rendered irrelevant by a cheese-and-pickle sandwich and a thermos of soup.” Merino wool jerseys keep the rider cool in the summer and warm in the winter, while silk scarves and patterned hats become necessary only on brisk fall afternoons. Luckily for us, this idea has crossed the pond.

Dandies and Quaintrelles, a dandyism blog that organizes such events around the US, has put together the first ‘Semi-Annual DC Tweed Ride’ which will transplant the elegance and attitude of the Londerer’s rides to our nation’s capital. The ride route carves a path through Downtown, painting Pennsylvania and Constitution Ave’s in houndstooth and plaid.

I’m 100% behind this trend, as I believe it is ripe time in America for some sort of return to formality. This country has turned into a nation of slobs, content in their denim and sweatshirt material wardrobes, bemoaning any occasion where a structured jacket or piece of neckwear is expected. If this takes a mainstream track and gets more and more people on the street into hats and coat tails, we will all be better off.