Summer Kit: Tropical White

Do you own a white sport coat? The closest thing I have in my collection is a linen coat in a light sand colour. I am considering a few numbers at various fogey distributors. I am too young to recollect these advertisements (at left), but I do remember watching 1980s films set in Africa and Asia in which strong white chaps always seemed to be clad in khaki and white linen, crumpled and stained with sweat. Fighting off the bloody natives is hard work, after all, and a chap is bound to work up a lather. During my research period at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) I spent days poring over colonial documents from places such as the Dutch East Indies and German East Africa, my Afrikaans and German helping little, my eye automatically drawn to old photos of European colonial life. Pictures of huge shaven-headed German administrators in bright white linen suits on the train to Tanga, or groups of smiling Schutztruppen officers sitting on the verandah drinking cocktails and discussing the latest campaign. It was not so long ago, and not so alien. Today, as Britain, Europe, and North America begin to resemble third world areas--with Europeans in the role of despised settlers in our own fucking countries!--the least we can do is play the part with dash and composure before the serious work of reconquest begins. But I am getting carried away here. I am sure I will let you know how it all works out.