Frown at misogyny and tradition all you like. Some part of each of us–those of us who love great novels, silk garters, gin martinis, and decadence–longs to be in a dark room, sitting in a wingbacked chair, swirling 25 year aged Scotch in a heavy glass, wearing a suit imported from London, and discussing with all the other big, important men the things we’ve published and the women we’ve seduced .
We here at sexiquette aren’t exactly invited to the Old Boys’ Club’s parties. But we love their snobbery and their good taste in liquor. So here I present the kit with which to invade the Old Boys’ Club.
best approximation of the lingerie on the cover can be found at www.whatkatiedid.com
First, you need inspiration, which means you should read John Fowles’ The Magus. The Magus is the Old Boys’ Club. It also happens to be a near-perfect novel touching on, though not limited to, topics such as boys’ boarding school, Europe, the 1950s, disaffected, self-effacing arrogant mid-twenties pseudo-womanizers, male entitlement, enormous inexplicable old money fortunes, mysterious aging rich hermits, the guest law and good manners, houseguests, academic satire, sadism, masochism, beautiful female twin sisters, and elaborate polyamorous sex games. In other words, chock full of fetish. Reading The Magus is like sneaking into the Yale Club dressed in your very finest disguise, picking someone up at the bar, taking them upstairs for a sordid adventure in the back of the library, somehow in the course of this dalliance having your heart utterly broken, and yet walking away from all that heartbreak with your lingerie still perfect.
note the fireplace in the background.
And speaking of lingerie, once you read The Magus and are therefore inspired to invade the Old Boys’ Club, you will of course want to put on fully-fashioned French heel seamed stockings from Secrets in Lace. Secrets in Lace is basically lingerie by the Old Boys’ Club, for the Old Boys’ Club. Its vintage recreations hearken back to a time (namely, the ‘50s) when femininity was so extreme as to be a type of daily female-to-female drag. Dressing up in their silks and nylons and bullet bras makes you feel like men should light expensive cigars whenever they look at you. The seamed stocking is, of course, the ultimate fetish item in women’s lingerie, as well as the ultimate coveted piece for the committed cross-dresser. And let’s be honest, we know what the Old Boys do after hours in the back room of their club.
courtesy of www.brilliantcocktails.com
The only possible accompanying drink for The Magus and for fully-fashioned stockings is, of course, the Old Fashioned. Widely agreed upon as the ultimate Old Boys’ Club cocktail, the Old Fashioned consists of brown sugar, orange bitters, high-end bourbon (Brilliant Cocktails recommends Knob Creek), a maraschino cherry, a lemon twist, and patience. The slowness of the Old Fashioned is the slow unconcern of old money and earned arrogance. And a lady drinking one is as perfectly surprising and titillating as a lady in the old boys’ club at all.
Tags: Book, Cocktail, John Fowles, Knob Creek, Lingerie, Old Boys' Club, Old Fashioned, Secrets in Lace, The Magus
January 16, 2009 at 7:16 am |
I think I just outcrushed you.
This book sounds like it would make my mind explode. It was working overtime just to hold your entire (luscious and violently titillating) description in my head at once.
February 8, 2009 at 11:33 am |
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