University of Virginia Library

Virginia's Gentlemanly Tradition
Manifested Daily By Coats, Ties

By Richard W. Hughes
Former Editor-in-Chief of The
Cavalier Daily

Students here no longer have
cocktails before dinner each evening,
as once they did, and the old
practice of tipping hats to professors
has disappeared (probably because
students no longer wear hats);
but at the University, the tradition
of wearing a coat and whenever
one goes out still prevails.

It is not a tradition set by any
ruling on the part of the University;
instead, it is based upon the
assumption that the University man
has maturity enough and sufficient
pride in his personal appearance
that he would want to appear presentable
to the outsider, as well
as to his fellow classmates.

Doubtless, the wearing of coats
and ties as everyday dress shall
strike some first-year men as being
odd. Those entering the University
from secondary schools in which
informal dress was standard might
feel especially averse to wearing
what he may have considered
"dressup clothes,"

Probably a of the days
when the school was a haven for
the of wealthy Southern
and Eastern families, the tradition
makes for a fairly fashion conscious
student body. This is not to
say that the Virginia man is always
attired; many go
out of their way to prove one
can be grungy even when wearing
a coat and tie (e.g., dirty shirt
with frayed coll and cuffs, rancid
wheat jeans, no socks and the usual
nasty sneakers or
loafers held together with once-white
adhesive tape). But at least
most students know how to be
well dressed (or "tweedy," to use
the local expression) when they
want to.

The latest major style trend is
an onslaught of plaids in everything
wearable. Glen plaid wool
sport coats are beginning to compete
with the traditional herring-bone
for winter wear: spring jackets
are now nearly all plaided and
checked in various color combinations.

The same is true of slacks,
"Fancy pants" used to be a derogatory
epithet; now it's a compliment,
for plaid and striped slacks-both in
woolens and lightweight blends-are
replacing the conservative solid
colors. (Another development:
slacks for spring in such colors as
lemon yellow and raspberry.)

Those who would probably wear
sport coats constantly at any other
school-the "super tweeds"-wear
suits at the University; and nearly
every student has one or more
suits for football games, cock
parties, concerts and other more
or less special occasions. Here, too,
the plaid revolution is making itself
felt, and cold-and warm-weather
suits in muted glen plaids are becoming
very popular. Chalk-and
pinstripes have also made a strong
entry into University wardrobes.
Vested suits are frequently worn
to dressier events, but rarely for
day-to-day wear.

The deluge of plaids has had a
profound influence in the Charlottesville
market, as any local
Despite the current plethora of
plaids, stripes and wild colors, the
average daily attire remains fairly
conservative and largely unchanged
from year to year: There is a considerable
cult of students, for example,
who are apparently convinced
that heavy cotton khakis are
the only pants made, and that they
must be worn for at least three
months straight before being washed.
haberdasher will tell you. Club
ties now predominate, and the devices
on them are steadily growing
in size and complexity (for instance,
brilliantly feathered birds-in-flight,
with wing spans two-thirds the
width of the tie). Students still fall
back on the standard rep stripes,
wool challis and silk foulards, however,
and the tie your-own bow
tie-especially in the large butterfly
cut-is beginning to catch on.

Blazers are common (though rare
in double-breasted styles), and, for
spring, a standard item is the beige,
blue or green poplin suit. Shirts
are oxford cloth button-downs,
mostly in solid blue, white, yellow
or pink, or in widely spaced pinstripes.
Shoes, naturally, means
Weejun-style loafers, although
most students own a pair or two
of wingtip or plain lace-ups ("student-leader
shoes"). V-neck
sweaters are often worn under
sport coats.

A staple of the University man's
informal wardrobe is a heavy red-and-black-plaid
flannel shirt used
as an over shirt. White ducks, worn
with blue or yellow shirts, spr
like weeds on weekend afternoons
in the spring. Bad weather brings
boots of all sorts into the open.
undergraduate's career.