Super fly
I flew first class once. Fresh from college grad, I was dressed in my schlubby uniform of striped T-shirt and tatty old khaki skirt (not so different from how I dress at the moment, now that I think about it). I thought nothing of my collegiate garb, which practically screamed discount bin, till a well-dressed lady entered the cabin. With a black wide-brimmed hat topping her coif, a snug jacket and a lean pencil skirt hugging her slender frame, she appeared to be someone important, someone worth knowing.
I never figured out who she was, although I did glean from the flight attendant that she had been upgraded from business class to first when the section had gotten too crowded. It was a great lesson: good clothes open all doors — especially the ones leading to first class.
Unfortunately those taken to travel of late haven’t heeded the call. Flip-flops, tanks and tees have become the uniform du jour of the weary tourist. Some people yearn for the glory days of travel, when setting on some transatlantic journey meant kitten heels, a well-cut jacket and some red lipstick.
Designer Joey Samson waxed nostalgic about the days of yore, noting, “When I was a kid, I remember seeing my relatives wear bespoke suits whenever they went abroad. My parents dressed up when they left for business trips.” Samson longs for that bygone era, when men and women wore suits to meetings, whether at the airport or the local Peninsula Hotel, adding, “I particularly love how my female relatives would sometimes pair their suits with matching hats or bags or even luggage.”
“Now that was fashion,” he says. Samson, who considers a purple satin jacket and taffeta jodhpurs with lace overlay (as seen in this editorial) as a statement-making suit for sartorially-adventurous nomads willing to make a splash, isn’t a harbinger of obscenely-priced luxury travel or anything of the sort. Unlike Donatella Versace who boasted in a recent interview that she travels with a dozen hand-stitched trunks in purple deerskin, he makes no claim that vulgar amounts of money automatically equals class. (I think Posh Spice is proof of that).
“Personally, I’d love to see women dress up again whenever they travel,” he says. “It doesn’t have to be so put together or contrived. A suit that’s slightly mismatched speaks volumes about the kind of character you have. It’s got more personality.”
Designer Ivar Aseron’s take on the summer suit is something light and slightly whimsical. Sorbet shades of lilac and mint beautifully set off the ensemble’s structure.
Randy Ortiz and Dennis Lustico play up the white suit in their retail collections at Myth, the elegant store in
Ronaldo Arnaldo plays homage to the classic suit, with its nipped-in waist and sharp, tailored silhouette.
With designers channeling such icons of class as Tippi Hedren, the ladies of Man Men and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy circa her first official trip (she was dressed in Dior, natch), it won’t be long before globe-trotting travelers follow suit and make an effort to dress for the trip, instead of heading to the tracksuit department.
Everyone knows the journey begins as soon as you dress the part — not after the plane lands. And who knows? Your newfound wardrobe might gain entrée into the most exclusive of arenas: first class. After flying economy most of my life, I’d be willing to dress up in a gorilla suit if it meant a comfy seat and all-you-can-drink mimosas. A polished, tasteful suit sounds like a good compromise to me.
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Ronaldo Arnaldo is available at Backstage at 2/f Serendra, The Fort,
