"What?" Ben asked.
"Weejuns. Loafers. Everyone at school wears Weejuns."
"No, they're just loafers. I don't know what kind they are."
"That's a Gant shirt, isn't it?"
"It might be. Mom bought it at the PX yesterday."
"No, it's not Gant," she said impatiently. "The PX doesn't sell them and there's no loop at the back."
"It's Ivy League, though," Ben offered. "It's got buttons on the collar."
"That's no big deal."
From:
The Great Santini, Pat Conroy, 1976
______________________________________________
"You guys have got the worst sense of style I've ever seen. Why don't you wise up and buy a couple of Gant shirts. And you're the only two guys at the school who don't wear Weejuns. Man, everyone on the team's got Weejuns."
"I don't like Weejuns," Luke said.
"Yeah, I bet you like those shit-kicking tennis shoes a lot better," he said, laughing as I laced up my shoes. "What kind of shirt is that you're wearing, Tom?"
He pulled back my collar and read the label.
"Belk's." He sneered in disbelief. "A Belk's polo shirt. Jesus Christ. That's embarrassing. I'm nominating you two for Bess Dressed in the Senior Superlatives. You've worn the same pair of khakis for two straight weeks, Tom."
"No, I haven't," I protested. "I've got two pairs of khakis. I alternate them."
"That's pitiful. That's just plain pitiful. Not at all cool. Not fitting the image at all."
From:
The Prince of Tides, Pat Conroy, 1986
[Ed. note: Setting is coastal South Carolina (the "Lowcountry"), ca. 1961]
2 comments:
I'm pretty sure my first oxfords were Gants. Back in the mid '70s South, you had to be really, really in the know to sport Brooks shirts - and I was not really, really in the know.
Actually, the PX did sell Gant. A favorite book by an amazing man.
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