I was appalled yesterday when the latest Vanity Fair issue on Fashion weighted down my mail box! 

 

Opening quickly to see if my sartorial explorations combining Doc Martens with the Orvis catalogue had raised a stir, I was disappointed. With listings for Best Dressed in Men, Women, Couples, Siblings, All-Stars and Evergreens - a total 39 men and women- not a single Williams alum seemed to be present. And this absense in spite of Williams as a well-known elitest, lefty-righty, morally upright, culturally relative, and very expensive school.

 

Now I know that there will be some who say “What’s the Williams connection?”. Indeed, Sophmom might immediately jump to my defence by pointing out in six degrees that Count Manfredi della Gherarosca (in the Men’s Top Ten) had had lunch with the sister-in-law of his tailor whose aunt had been the mistress of a movie star who attended a Yankee’s game and waved to Steinbrenner. But I claim that the identity ‘not-Williams’ has a mathematical certainty as sturdy as the appearance of one’s name in the Alumni Directory.

 

My question for President Shapiro is obvious! With alums making news in entertainment, politics, and high finance, why aren’t we represented in this Directors Cup of Fashion and why not?

 

Now back in the day, one didn’t expect to be. My old roommate Rechtal Turgidley, Jr made the transition from The House of Walsh to J. Press and Brooks Brothers seamlessly (with the side venture into having his father’s (Rechtal Turgidley ‘28) bespoke suits from the 30’s and 40’s recut).

 

But today? When appearance is reality? When Adam Thorpe and Joe Hunter take Vexed Generation from Rave to a design deal with Puma and Yoshiki Hishinuma and Yohji Yamamoto do the same, where are additions to the curricula that help us close the Williams Fashion Gap?

 

I am interested in any reader suggestions as to who from the Purple should have been included in the Vanity Fair recognitions.