Never mind the words, just enjoy the pictures.
Dear Santa,
I’d like one aquamarine Kokoshnik tiara in my stocking, please…
There’s one young woman wearing a formal gown and what appears to be a military cap. Is this just an unusual fashion choice or does it represent actual military service? For all I know, she’s an officer in the Swedish Navy and this is their ceremonial uniform.
The Duchess of Cambridge wore the Cambridge Lover’s Knot tiara for the first time this week as well - but it was a private event without photos, so the only pictures are when she is in the back of a car.
(this tiara is heavily associated with Diana).
Here you go: Oh It's A Tiara! - YouTube
I’m going for ceremonial uniform. If you scroll down the Daily Mail site, there’s a shot of several Nobel laureates on a staircase. To the right are guards/aides de camp standing at attention, all wearing formal wear, a blue and yellow sash, and navy covers. The men are in white tie and tailcoats, and but there is a young lady in a black gown just to the right of Paul Modrich. Is the aide de camp at the top of the staircase wearing a monocle?
Gotta be a monocle!
See, this is why I turned down MY Nobel prize – the dress code.
Yes he is!
“I’m shocked, Shocked to find that such opulence is going on in here!”
“Your Nobel, sir.”
“Oh, thank you very much…”
In Literature?
It’s her high school (gymnasie) graduation cap. In the past it was common for graduates to wear their caps often but nowadays it’s worn mostly on special occasions. Here in Finland it’s pretty much only worn for first-of-may celebrations.
Not sure about Sweden but here you can add tassels to your cap to display your university major. IIRC for engineers the tassel is black.
a quick primer on white tie formal. Even a Nobel math laureate would know that the odds of getting a correct fit off the rack is impossible.
Hirohito being shown up be the Prince of Wales in the 1920’s. This would inspire revenge later.
I think we find this sort of event interesting because some of us never attend formal events. I only wear a business suit once a year or less and I think I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve worn a tuxedo. (And those times I wore a tuxedo, it was a cheap, adjustable polyester suit.)
And I’ve never worn a tailcoat or a morning coat. But I suppose if you’re a member of royalty, an elected head of state or a member of the diplomatic corps, you might do so regularly.
I wouldn’t even know where to acquire full formal attire, including the tails. I checked the websites for Macy’s, Nordstrom, Sak’s and Barney’s; none of them listed tailcoats in their men’s collections. I figure; maybe it’s an American thing. So I checked the Harrod’s website. No tails there either.
In the very unlikely event that I needed to acquire formalware, I suppose I could show up at Savile Row, and say, “I need help. I’m to be presented to the queen/attend the Nobel Prize banquet/etc.” and I need a formal outfit." I suspect those people wouldn’t bat an eye. (And I think they could coach me on the etiquette involved in meeting the queen.)
Another thing; remember the episode of Downton Abbey in which Lord Grantham wore a tuxedo to dinner at home, shocking his mother with his informality? That’s because normal men’s dress for dinner at home (even without any guests) involved wearing tails. So the way people are dressed in the photos of the Nobel banquet is exactly how a lot of people dressed every night. at least during the early part of the twentieth century.
Good God, man, no-one gets their formal wear from Harrods!
1 Savile Row is Gieves and Hawkes. They’ve got an online presence, so they are probably a bit vulgar, but y’know.
Another Savile Row shop is Henry Poole (which also has a web presence, but also has a royal warrant). And they’re apparently the guys who invented what we vulgar Americans would call a tuxedo but they call an evening suit or a dinner jacket.
My parents were more formal than I ever was, although even my father never owned a tailcoat. A few years ago, he presented me with a bolt of very good suiting material; the fabric from which a suit could be tailored. He’d had it for a while but never got around to having a suit made from it, and was giving it to me so that I could. I had to break it to him that there was very little chance I’d ever do that and that I hardly ever wear a suit anyhow. I don’t know if he quite got it.
Here’s some history behind that aquamarine tiara.
The whole nine yards?
(Flees the wrath of longtime Dopers)…)
Anyone ever read James White’s sci-fi short story “Custom Fitting”? It’s one of my top ten favorite short stories in the genre.