"... with Marine Le Pen, the opposition leader, seizing on it almost immediately. 'Don’t have enough heating? Let them wear cashmere,' she wrote on Twitter, calling [finance minister, Bruno] Maire 'Marie-Antoinette Le Maire.' The economist Thomas Porcher told France Inter Radio, 'I don’t expect an economy minister for the sixth or seventh economy in the world to tell me to put a polo-neck on.' It all came to a head this weekend when Mr. Le Maire posted a lengthy — almost 850 words —
cri de coeur on Facebook that read more like a piece of political satire from The Onion than an official statement.
Alternately angry and self-defensive, it began, 'Dear readers, forgive me for bothering you for a turtleneck' and ended with, 'In a sweater, tie, swimsuit or suit, it doesn’t matter: I won’t give up on my ideas.' In the middle he refuted any claim that he had suggested the nation wear turtlenecks and decried the erosion of public discourse into a kerfuffle about sweaters."
From "A Very French Tempest in a Turtleneck/It’s not just women in politics who get judged on what they wear" (NYT).
Have you ever garnered plaudits? I just garner "garners."
I remember the great turtleneck revolution of the 1960s. It really seemed for a time — a few months? — that men were going to replace the shirt and tie with the turtleneck. I can't remember whether that came before or after Nehru jackets and where it was positioned in and around love beads and medallions.
Anyway, here's the Instagram post of Macron's that led to Le Pen's riposte:
Posts
24 comments:
"James Bond Turtleneck."
"Steve McQueen Turtleneck." (With a bonus Redford shot).
The sickest Macron-burn I've seen was during Gilet-Jaune (the yellow-vest movement) when someone asked him when his husband's next gynecology appointment was. In French it sounded 100 times better.
It's the 'when you look at me think, Francois Truffaut' look.
I don't remember the turtleneck as a substitute for shirt and tie. But I suppose it arrived not long after gentlemen stopped wearing a tie 7 days a week.
I have no love for the French, but for their sakes (and the rest of Europe's) I hope they have a mild winter this year.
In the middle he refuted any claim
Does the Times' extensive style guide contain any pointers about the proper use of "refuted," including any explanation distinguishing it from "denied," which is a different word entirely?
Men in shorts.
Turtlenecks arrived after Nehru jackets. Love beads and medallions were simultaneous in their time which was long after turtlenecks. That's a SoCal time perspective; your times of each may vary.
Is that a tactical turtleneck?
Leaving substance aside, can you imagine Slow Joe speaking as clearly and articulately as Macron?
That look is actually flattering on Macron.
It does have a late 60s vibe.
But that’s OK. Retro can work.
Not seeing anything you objectionable here …
I'm old enough to remember Jimmy Carter in a cardigan sweater telling us to turn down our thermostats to 65 degrees. How did that go for him?
Sorry, but the only one who can pull off the black turtleneck is Sterling Archer - and he's a cartoon character.
Yes, turtlenecks can be tactical and tacticool.
I saw a picture of his wife at an official event awhile ago in which she's wearing a scarf that almost covers the bottom half of her face. She makes weird fashion choices.
BCBG (Bon chic, bon genre) was the French version of America's 1980s Preppie fad. The French were more attached to it than we were to preppydom or yuppydom. Macron plays to that side of French culture.
Turtleneck Macron does have a "James Bond" vibe. Suit and tie Macron looks like his mom (or wife) let him try on daddy's clothes. Macron isn't very substantial by world historical standards, but he does seem more competent than his closest current American counterpart, Beto O'Rourke.
I look forward to the next step. The Nehru jacket!
do do they know about thermal underwear >>> may be Madison peuple can send over some
le peuple français connaissent-ils les sous-vêtements thermiques
Sebastian said...
Leaving substance aside, can you imagine Slow Joe speaking as clearly and articulately as Macron?
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why not settle for FJB f'ing with Jake Tapper on CNN
For me, turtlenecks are just a little too warm. Even in winter I need looseness around the neck to be comfortable.
Which is why I get my dress shirts with the collar an inch or half-inch larger than my actual neck. I need the room to be comfortable when I wear a tie.
I never liked turtlenecks, which bind and are uncomfortable, and too warm for most of the year. I did like the brief flirtation with the banded collar, which looked dressy without the necessity of wearing a necktie; I even recommended them to the late Christopher Hitchens, but they went out of fashion too quickly and Hitchens died just a year or so later. The J. Peterman Company still sells them as their "Gatsby Shirt."
When I was a kid of about 10 in the mid-60's, we had fake turtle-necks, I think they were called 'dickies'; they had the turtle-neck part but weren't entire shirts, just enough material to make it look like you had a turtle-neck on under your outer shirt. Ancestor of the gaiter, perhaps. Anyway, I was glad that style had a short shelf-life; even at that young age, I could tell this fashion was bogus.
Buried the lede: do the French say “kerfuffle” now (because otherwise I want to know what it was translated from)?
Well played, mikee. Well played.
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