Katharine Whitehorn: here come the boys

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/jul/15/katharine-whitehorn-boys-clothing

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It must be a reaction to the recession. As well as all the red, white and blue decorations left over from the Jubilee, London's Oxford Street is awash with clothes in loud colours with flowers and unlikely stripes. There's hardly a single subdued window display on show. The other morning I spent a couple of hours there, having come to the dentist on the wrong day, and felt like someone who'd set out for a concert and found themselves in a circus by mistake.

This defiant bravado is fine for some, of course, but those of us who have more and more bits to which we don't wish to draw attention would rather have clothes less explosively eye-catching. American seniors seem to be able to wear shorts and skimpy tops in bright or kindergarten colours without being in the least self-conscious, but we older Brits mostly resemble the Nancy Mitford character who said, "My aim in dressing, then as now, being not to appear remarkable."

I drifted enviously through the men's departments. There seemed plenty that was restrained and straightforward, but most were just too huge and hefty for me. Before the morning was out I glimpsed a hopeful possibility to explore another time: a section of reasonably shaped clothes, in wearable colours and not too mountainous. They were labelled "boys occasion wear".