Totaal aantal stemmen: 114
Ik vraag me af waarom op die plaats... hij had het toch ook in de boord kunnen laten zetten...
Dat vind ik eigenlijk nog best leuk. Valt waarschijnlijk weg onder de boord als je uit een normale hoek kijkt?
Is Monogramming Classy or Tacky?A little while ago, I wrote a post about Bernie Madoff’s former possessions from his New York Penthouse that were auctioned off this month. Of the many expensive, often ostentatious, items sold–including a 1917 Steinway grand piano and a leather stool shaped like a bull–the one that had the most lasting impression, at least for me, was a pair of luxurious black velveteen slippers, embroidered, in gold thread, with the ex-financier’s monogram.The slippers were just the flashiest of many items emblazoned with Madoff’s initials–ranging from the rather ordinary (dress shirts) to the bizarre (boxer shorts!!!). It’s easy to interpret this fondness–or compulsion–for branding his belongings as a symbol of the hubris and vanity that ultimately led to the Ponzi schemer’s downfall. And, I admit, it played to my own stereotypes of the kinds of people who wear monogrammed sweaters and dry their hands with monogrammed towels and sleep in monogrammed sheets. (As Hugo Macdonald, design editor of lifestyle magazine Monocle, so succinctly put it in an e-mail, “Smacks ‘identity crisis’ to me.”)But like most things related to personal style, monograms are much more complex, with a history that reaches back to antiquity; a dizzying, highly subjective and often contradictory set of rules; and an uncanny ability to inspire impassioned, contentious responses–from enthusiastic embrace (“My Klean Kanteen has my name engraved on it,” Clare Perretta, a writer and editor living outside of Philadelphia,” told me) to revulsion (“pretentious,” “tacky” and “makes me feel a little queasy” were some of the responses I got when asking people’s views on the subject).Monograms date as far back as Ancient Greece, where coins often bore the first one or two letters of a city’s, or later a ruler’s, name. During the Middle Ages merchants and artisans, as well as tradesman painters and publishers, used monograms–their own or their guild’s–to sign or brand their work. But monograms really flourished in the Victorian era with the rise of the bourgeoisie, who monogrammed everything from linens and shirts to lockets, seals, cards and even carriages. (An article in Appletons’ Journal published in 1871 called the phenomenon an “epidemic” and described those who engaged in it “monogramaniacs.”)Over a century later, monograms continue to inspire such lunacy–a cousin of mine recently pointed me to a site for monogrammed walls–and derision. It’s tony and classy when on your grandmother’s vintage sterling silver, but desperately nouveau riche when on boxer shorts or the cuff of your sleeve. So want to sport a monogram? Thinking of getting an item personalized for a gift? Here are some guidelines.For gifts, stick to keepsakes and accessories, not apparel.Monograms on shirts, sweaters or slippers are rather controversial, but many of the more discerning critics I asked cited pens, handkerchiefs, picture frames (when commemorating a special event, like the birth of a baby) and jewelry as classy monogrammed items. Be wary, however, cautions Monogram editor Macdonald, “I think today it’s a bit of a token gesture in the direction of making something ‘bespoke.’” Pick something that, then, seems a little more thoughtful–a pen for a writer, for example–or something that could be handed down from generation to generation, such as a bracelet, cuff links or silver.Vintage is always better.I usually shirk from all things monogrammed, but for some reason I gravitate toward vintage jewelry with initials engraved in them. (I am not alone, a friend of mine who works at the Fashion Institute of Technology has several letter pins from the 1950s and frequently wears her relatives’ old monogrammed jewelry.) Monogram enthusiast Perretta says that her initials are CJP because her mother wanted her to inherit my father’s monogrammed things. Even Macdonald agrees that a vintage keepsake is a wonderful gift: “I was left a pair of cufflinks by my grandfather with his initials on them and they are one of my most treasured possessions.”Have your monogram somewhere unexpected.This is a trick for the very style savvy. Amy Prince, an editor at men’s magazine Details, knows a restaurateur in Texas who monograms his button-down shirts not on the breast pocket or the cuff, but, she says, “midway up the sleeve and stitched upside-down on the inside of the shirt. That way, when he rolls his sleeves up, as he does everyday, the monogram appears at the elbow.” Pretty sharp.Monogram with a wink.So many tastemakers says to monogram discreetly and quietly, but Prince suggests going the complete opposite way–as long as you do it with a bit of irony. “There’s a stylish financier in New York that tops his bed with two giant pillows, one emblazoned with his first initial and the other with his last,” she says. “It’s ridiculous, but he’s in on the joke.”Monogram with discretion.The most important rule of all.
Zie de allereerste post van dit draadje.
Poll
