An early birthday gift to myself: a new pair of velvet Smythe & Digby Prince Albert slippers in navy blue, acquired via Ebay for a song.
Not really a bedroom slipper kind of guy, but I could hardly pass these up when I saw them on Ebay. I actually won the auction for a change too.
My first encounter with similar slippers/loafers was now well over 40 years ago, when I was occasionally invited over to her house to play after school by a preschool and kindergarten schoolmate, who was part of our Monday through Friday neighborhood carpool. The Maiers were a German-Yugoslav family, and I'm not sure what Herr Maier did for a living, but Mrs. Maier had their large house covered in Turkish and Persian carpets. The genuine item. Naturally, family and guests were required to change into house slippers in the entry hall, and Mrs. Maier kept a box of spares in various sizes in the hall closet for the guests to use.
Another thing that I recall vividly. . . Mrs. Maier and my mother didn't really resemble all of the other mothers I saw dropping off, picking up, or coming in occasionally as room mothers (remember those?). Both women channeled Audrey Hepburn-Jackie Kennedy with adjustments made considering it was the early 1970s by that point. Dark glasses propped on the head when inside (worn on the face outside and in the car), hair pulled back, minimal but tasteful makeup and jewelry, and fairly plain but elegant attire whether a dress, skirt and blouse combo, or pants with a blouse. Both women also carried themselves with considerable poise and dignity, a couple of concepts that seem to have disappeared for both women and men in the decades since. Sigh.
I wonder where Mrs. Maier and her daughter my former classmate 'Jasne' are now?
-- Heinz-Ulrich
P.S.
My wife, the Grand Duchess, will hate these.
P.P.S.
She replied on seeing these for the first time, "They are really you. You're not going to wear them outside of the house, are you?"
Well that does it. Now you have to acquire a silk smoking jacket with a pocket crest.
ReplyDeleteA silk smoking jacket, eh? That would be straying a bit too close to Hugh Hefner territory. Even for me.
ReplyDeleteBest Regards,
Heinz-Ulrich von B.
What about something like the jacquard silk smoking jacket worn by Pete Postlethwaite in 'Martin Chuzzlewit'? With softer shoulders, it looks like it could be an improvement on the standard dressing gown when you are not wearing pajamas. -LB.
ReplyDelete