1974: Wear Your Shirt In a French Way
It’s 1974 week, everybody! In honor of SOMEONE’S birthday (The VintageGent-ette), the Daily will bring you all sorts of retro goodness from the 4th year of the Decade of the Creepy Moustache.
Ah, Paris! The lone acordian player on the street corner. Baguettes. Red geraniums on a wrought iron balcony. Mimes. LOTS of mimes. Forget the Italian suit; no man’s wardrobe would be complete without the French style shirt. But, as the Arrow ad contests, the shirt is not merely French, the reason for wearing it is VERY French too. Does that mean the wearer suddenly decide that Marcel Marceau is a genius and started eating pom frites? This ad appeared in current events and men’s magazines in 1974.
Luckily, the folks at Arrow decide to clue us in on exactly what this all means. And it has nothing to do with mimes. Just read the fine print, Monsieur and Madame:
Is Arrow implying that the shirt was created by women so they could determine if a man was arm candy material or not? Just take away all the amply cut windowpane plaid blazers to check out what one is really advertising? But what if the gentleman is not slim and trim but rather round and um…untrim? Do ladies still want to see the “shape of a man’s body?” In the 70s, arm holes were smaller and shirts and jackets were more fitted in the shoulders than their modern counterparts. Overall, I think that it is a smart looking albeit basic shirt…relatively speaking…but the ad description is a hoot. I am sure if I went to France and interviewed 100 men I would get a few guys spitting their French Roast out their nose if I asked them “If every Frenchman wears shirts cut to show their shape.”
But is that why “American Men Look So Good?” Then why not call the shirt “American Style.” Ah, but one has to make a blue button down shirt sound a bit more exotic than that. Or maybe this shirt is put away, and in a couple of years, this guy gains some weight so he wears it unbuttoned and dons the latest fashion accessory – a disco chain.
1970s, vintage ads | Comment (0)
