Kan het daar wel, Paul? (Erg algemene vraag, I know.)
I think the 'no brown in town' 'rule' says more about the English love of rhyme than it does of dress. We are easily persuaded that something is likely to be true if it can be expressed in rhyme. "The family which prays together stays together". You could probably persuade people that they shouldn't wear flannel to cross the channel or boots with suits.
By statute, men are only permitted to wear black oxfords, dark grey or navy suits and bowlers while in London.Or -It's something written by an American to be clever.
I agree with this, and believe it may have been true since around the 1930s or so. Tweed coats with knickerbockers and colourful argyle socks were popularly worn in town early last century as casual wear. All in an age when morning dress was still worn as proper town wear. And, we all know that brown as a colour has no place at all with morning clothes - which, I suspect, is the real origin of the term "no brown in town".
It's interesting to see so many interpretations of this saying from people who have never even heard it before!This is a VERY old expression (at least 70 years) which comes from the same stock as 'Purple and gold for the overbold' and 'Red and green should not be seen' etc. There are loads of them and they are all very much out of date.It's all a bit 'Children should be seen and not heard'.Some of these old rules do still make sense now but not the one about brown in town.Chocolate brown suits are all the rage in London at the moment and that doesn't look like changing for a while.Of course if you work in a very conservative profession (Barrister etc.) then you probably wouldn't get away with brown but it all depends on the rules laid down by your employers.You can't go wrong with Grey or Navy and the vast majority of suits sold are in these 2 colours but brown is certainly popular in this town.
Deze is leuk.
Mogen donkergroene ribfluwelen pakken wel in de stad? Ik zit te fantaseren over een three piece.
Dank voor alle moeite, Carwo; nu hoef ik die draden op stylenet niet meer te lezen.
Argh! Make it go away!
