How did it come to this? In a sport as heavily sedated as tennis, the final saw a man who steadfastly refuses the Covid vaccine take on the human equivalent of a Mentos in a Coke bottle recently accused of assaulting an ex-girlfriend. Not since the heady days of John McEnroe has the sport seen this sort of inflammation. And Wimbledon, the tennis-iest of all the conservative tennis tournaments, sheds a tear if its player don't wear all white. This sort of transgression then is just beyond the pale for hand-wringing officials that still call former school pals by their surname.
But for all of Wimbledon's antiquities, old-fashioned is good. Especially in the stands. With a line-up that rivals the Academy Awards in its luminosity (Tom Cruise, Rami Malek and Andrew Garfield were but three Very Famous Men in attendance), David Beckham, one of Britain's few remaining valuable exports, proved the merits of a classic Wimbledon fit just a few days ago at the tournament.
That meant a brown, fanged out suit jacket (nice), with cream trousers below (splintered tailoring, very nice), a striped shirt (yep, nicer) and a contrasting polka dot tie (niiiiiiiiiiice), all by Ralph Lauren. A strong serve. And it's one that nails that whole preppy, my-father-the-publishing-magnate thing that has always made an impromptu runway of the Wimbledon crowd.
While there is no official dress code for guests, tradition has it that fans make a bit of an effort. This can result in a lot of Jenkins with red cheeks and even redder trousers. But for men like Beckham, it's an opportunity to not just wear the wardrobe greats, but espouse their strengths. We can all look good in this sort of thing.
It's a reassuring thing during these strange times. In a fashion landscape that is continually shifting and heading left-field – which is refreshing, by the way – Wimbledon is proof that classic dressing is still permissible. Your trad suit isn't dead, actually. And, in some instances, it can still go tête-à-tête with the Haider Ackermann space suits and the Alexander McQueen watercolours. At least there was one good example to follow this tournament.
