Basic Instinct#3 (Manqué): Creating a Picture of Sartorial Eloquence

The other day, I dug around for the classic "Desiderata" for a fellow blogger, and realized there were some bits in it that I needed to heed, such as "take kindly the counsel of the years", which I never really understood that well—till last week, which I presumed to mean "appreciate the advice of the older generation."

So it was not going to come as any surprise that I would take kindly the counsel of none other than my parents, especially my Dad, who both offered a homily-cum-coaching of "sartorial eloquence", some two weekends ago.

Now, a quick google search brings up a slew of lyrics from the classic 1980s song by Elton John, which, btw, is a great song. As for the actual definition, it takes some time getting it, and when you do, it’s juicy, especially because the term that is most apt is "sartorial elegance", as in this BBC news report here, entitled "A picture of sartorial elegance": http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6264721.stm, which I am quoting:

"A picture of sartorial elegance, his suits are tailored from Savile Row in London."

The interesting answers.com website defines sartorial thus: Of or relating to a tailor, tailoring, or tailored clothing: sartorial elegance

Now, the reason for the homily was my Dad reckoned I need to renew my wardrobe. A basic instinct that has been mine since I started working professionally in 2000 was to wear a suit at best (2000-2004), or at worst a shirt and trousers—but no jeans. Jeans do not see the day of light at the office, and it never will, unless it’s our customary institutional retreat, where we feel more casual than normal.

He made a point about having a few blue, and white shirts—rather than one or two, which I think makes sense. As a son of a father who was in the international civil service milieu (from Ghana’s Foreign Ministry to ECOWAS, then OAU to Brussels) for over thirty years, I knew I was going to get some serious dressing down, without stretching any pun;-)

Dress down, he did do well. He intoned that it might be vanity, but it’s better to make a good impression and be considered vain, than be considered a slob. You can be the most intelligent person in the crowd, but being sartorially eloquent/elegant underscores not just your intellect, but a consideration and some might say respect for yourself?

In short, it behooved me to buy more shirts, of the blue, white and brown hue, with (fewer) t-shirts, and trousers that fit well and loosely;-)


Brown, especially of the beigish colour, is one that suits me fine down to the ground, so I’m going to concentrate on getting more of those, but upon great reflection, I do agree about all those points, as well as getting good shoes, including a brogue, among others.

Any more tips on dressing well? Clearing clutter from my bag, and my room is the next battle!

Thank You!!....Managing Time; Mobile Browsing (WAP); Ghana at 50 years!

...to all well-wishers. I particularly appreciated Daniel's suggestion of Milk of Magnesia; it certainly stopped the loose stool!;-)) And to those of you whom I don't know, thanks for lurking, but do please pin your name on the BRAVENET map to the right of the screen.

Oh, I'm trying to get my head round the new BETA blogger; I had resisted...up until last week, when I decided to transform all the blogs into beta-mode. Now the cogitation over what posts to put under what labels is pissing me off without end!! It basically means going through ALL the entries and sussing out what adequate labels they need to fit under!!

Ouch...


Apart from a number of "new" things, and re-formulating of old ones like the Basic Instinct series, I bought this book [Simplify Your Time by Marcia Ramsland] from a Christian bookshop last week; it's a fun read, and it would be even more fun if I made more time to read it consistently!;-)

Is the irony lost over you?;-)

Just to end, my humble country of Ghana will be celebrating its Golden Jubilee on 6 March, 2007. The country has set up a website to countdown the days leading to the big day of 6 March, our independence day, which you can find here:-->http://www.ghana50.gov.gh. Ghana will have a number of foreign dignitaries coming in; Kofi Annan, former UN secretary-general arrived in the country last night to much pomp and pageantry.

In short, Ghana, being the FIRST African country to have achieved independence from the British in 1957 (the same year--in fact 19 days later!-- when the European Economic Community was kick-started by way of the Treaty of Rome), is set to blaze the trail in the West African sub-region and the continent this year. A number of things lined up, apart from the 9th Summit of the African Union to be hosted here in Accra, the capital city, in June:

1. uniform for taxi drivers


2. re-denomination of the Ghanaian currency, the cedi, into an equivalence to the US dollar


3. introduction of ID cards into the country


4. ...and much more!


I have been currently enjoying very cheap and affordable mobile browsing on my phone on my ONETOUCH network, which is Ghana's semi-privatised national mobile/landline operator. There are fantastic wap sites on WAP review.com, which you might want to check out if mobile browsing is all the rage...;-)