Oscar Tong
Familiar Face
- Messages
- 76
- Location
- Vancouver, BC, Canada
How do you do! My name is Oscar Tong. I am 23 years old. I live in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I discovered this message board through Atomic Magazine's Web site. After lurking here for weeks in order to get some good information, I have gathered up my courage to create a new user account. I would now like to tell you all a bit about myself.
My fascination with clothing from the 1930s and 1940s started with some computer games that starred a character named Tex Murphy. Seeing Tex in his fedora and trench coat inspired me to buy my own fedora from a local hat shop called Edie Hats, which I highly recommend to anybody who happens to be in Vancouver. Unfortunately, lacking money and knowledge, the best I could manage was what I now consider a rather cheap-looking hat.
Shortly after buying my first fedora, I began researching hat etiquette. Doing so sparked my interest in old-time etiquette in general. (The first edition of Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home by Emily Post, published in 1923, is very, very interesting, provided you have many hours to sort through the hundreds of pages of the book.) I thought that if I was going to dress the part, I should at least know a little about how to act the part.
Later, I began watching a TV show called Nero Wolfe. This opened my eyes to the attractive styles of the early mid-twentieth century. Although Nero Wolfe took place in the 1950s, the clothing that the characters wore was fantastic.
Several months later, I found on the Web excerpts from Clothes and the Man by Alan Flusser. This book taught me many good points about clothing, including how trousers were supposed to be worn on the waist, not the hip, and how each shirt-collar type had a different degree of formality. Clothes and the Man is vastly superior to Mr. Flusser's latest work, Dressing the Man. Sadly, it is out of print.
It took me about a month to identify the kinds of hats that I liked. It has taken me much longer to discover what I liked in suits, sport jackets, and such. Presently, I still have one major problem—lack of knowledge.
What information I could get over the last three years came from a very small handful of movies, recent resources like Clothes and the Man, and this message board. As pleased as I am with my clothing, I feel like a pale imitation, that I can do better. I am hoping to expand my knowledge of clothing and styles of the 1930s and 1940s by being here, reading others's posts, and asking questions.
Maybe I'll even upload some pictures of myself and my clothing in the future. My modest little collection is not nearly as authentic as what many of you have, so please be gentle in your criticism. I am doing the best I can with my limited knowledge, money, and resources.
Thank you for reading my introductory post. I think I am going to like it here. Being on this message board is a refreshing break from the obscene casualness and accompanying ignorance that pervades Vancouver.
—Oscar Tong
My fascination with clothing from the 1930s and 1940s started with some computer games that starred a character named Tex Murphy. Seeing Tex in his fedora and trench coat inspired me to buy my own fedora from a local hat shop called Edie Hats, which I highly recommend to anybody who happens to be in Vancouver. Unfortunately, lacking money and knowledge, the best I could manage was what I now consider a rather cheap-looking hat.
Shortly after buying my first fedora, I began researching hat etiquette. Doing so sparked my interest in old-time etiquette in general. (The first edition of Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home by Emily Post, published in 1923, is very, very interesting, provided you have many hours to sort through the hundreds of pages of the book.) I thought that if I was going to dress the part, I should at least know a little about how to act the part.
Later, I began watching a TV show called Nero Wolfe. This opened my eyes to the attractive styles of the early mid-twentieth century. Although Nero Wolfe took place in the 1950s, the clothing that the characters wore was fantastic.
Several months later, I found on the Web excerpts from Clothes and the Man by Alan Flusser. This book taught me many good points about clothing, including how trousers were supposed to be worn on the waist, not the hip, and how each shirt-collar type had a different degree of formality. Clothes and the Man is vastly superior to Mr. Flusser's latest work, Dressing the Man. Sadly, it is out of print.
It took me about a month to identify the kinds of hats that I liked. It has taken me much longer to discover what I liked in suits, sport jackets, and such. Presently, I still have one major problem—lack of knowledge.
What information I could get over the last three years came from a very small handful of movies, recent resources like Clothes and the Man, and this message board. As pleased as I am with my clothing, I feel like a pale imitation, that I can do better. I am hoping to expand my knowledge of clothing and styles of the 1930s and 1940s by being here, reading others's posts, and asking questions.
Maybe I'll even upload some pictures of myself and my clothing in the future. My modest little collection is not nearly as authentic as what many of you have, so please be gentle in your criticism. I am doing the best I can with my limited knowledge, money, and resources.
Thank you for reading my introductory post. I think I am going to like it here. Being on this message board is a refreshing break from the obscene casualness and accompanying ignorance that pervades Vancouver.
—Oscar Tong
