Several otherwise respectable writers and publications have dipped their toes into menswear blogging recently, spurred by an ongoing debate on the propriety of shorts (aka “short pants”). In The New York Times, Jake Flanigin traces the argument to a 2011 interview in which Tom Ford assailed shorts and flip flops. Many would insist that certain climates demand shorts, but reasonable people disagree, including Andrew Exum, who made the flowchart above. (We’ve weighed in before, too.)
I own and wear shorts. Not to work. Not to anything that could be called an occasion. I am aware that I look better in other, longer leg coverings, because I’m an adult man and our legs look like they belong to a primate ancestor. But we make compromises for culture and comfort, and refusing to wear shorts on principle is the sort of rulebound thinking that makes people roll their eyes at rules. So: wear shorts. Fortunately, it’s September, and we can hide our hairy Neanderlegs comfortably until next June.
-Pete