and hardly Erectus.

Somewhere at the back of my mind was a quote by Baudelaire I’d read years earlier. Thanks to t’internet, here it is:

“The idea of Beauty which man creates for himself imprints itself on his whole attire, crumples or stiffens his dress, rounds off or squares his gesture, and in the long run even ends by subtly penetrating the very features of his face. Man ends up by looking like his ideal self.”

The ideal Maltese self is, alas, Homo Mediocris.

All of them.

It does, Daphne – and how!

MZPN and Pulse? That’s oddly specific, Baxxter. How about FZL and SDM?

Ironically it does, because mummy’s wardrobe choice was always questionable.

Probably most of them never chose their own clothes, but mummy did, and given that mummy probably had no style either…

Then the task passed onto the acquired wife, so unless she has a good idea of what men are supposed to wear, it remains the same or gets worse.

I detest seeing men in brown or green suits. Why do they even stock them in the shops? What I cannot fathom is how men can’t just look across at Italy’s shores to get some dress sense.

[Daphne – Northern Italy, but then the physique and carriage are totally different, and so are the people. The men in Sicily are just as bad as they are in Malta, unless they’re from the best families of Palermo, who look like a completely different ethnic group because, largely, they are (sounds bad but it’s a fact). The people at your run-of-the-mill Sicilian wedding are indistinguishable from Maltese. They cross the Atlantic and stay the same, hence Jersey Shore.]

Hence that saying about leaders being forged on the playing fields of Eton.

I know you’re not a big fan of boxing but it does teach posture. Perhaps it should be made compulsory.

And there’s far too much gormless smiling. A man’s smile should be used sparingly and kept under control.

“Wipe that silly smile off your face, boy.” Public school again.

As for the general drab greyness, my guess is it’s all about the lack of competition for the women. There’s no need to stand out from the crowd because you’re already sorted. Or maybe it’s about the lack of competition for careers.

[Daphne – I disagree that boxing teaches posture. Look at our boxers. They’re just as bad. The only thing that teaches you to stand straight is somebody chasing round after you telling you to stand straight. That said, most athletes have good posture and so do most dancers.]

The success being measured in financial gain at anyone’s cost, even the real fulfillment of one’s life. And there is still that dreaded word ‘jahasra’ in the air.

[Daphne – How does being a mummy’s boy affect a man’s physical appearance, bearing, grooming and sartorial choices, Wilson? It doesn’t.]