Geek Chic

Our eldest starts school in September and his new headmistress, Mrs O’Brien has stipulated (given the amount of unidentified clothing they harvest at the end of each term) that all parts of his uniform are labelled with his name in the traditional manner. This seems a bit of an undertaking, so we’re thinking of changing his name to George and buying all his clothes at ASDA to save us the hassle.

Calvin Klein’s mum doubtless had the same problem, but she just went overboard and plastered his name over everything, even his pants. Weirdly, when I was in school, any kid whose pants showed above his beltline and whose trousers were in permanent danger of falling earthward was regarded as a bit of a spanner and was ostracized to eat his irregularly-cut sandwiches in a corner of the playground on his own. Nowadays, however, such kids are the epitome of cool.

It just goes to show that geeks are years ahead in the fashion stakes and are the trendsetters of tomorrow. Look out for Karl Lagerfeld’s new collection which includes nylon slacks worn fashionably two inches above the ankle, glasses so thick you could burn ants with them on a hot summer day and hand-me down graying shirts with substantial lapels, all sported by models whose teeth protrude at 90 degrees to the perpendicular.