The New England Edition - GANT HOME

From Memorial Day to
Labor Day Weekend.
Summer is never more windswept than it is
in New England, the sky is never as blue,
and life on and around the beach is never
more salt-splotched and relaxed.
In time for Memorial Day, at the end of
May, surfboards are waxed and the small
family-owned seafood shacks once again
tempt the taste buds with freshly caught
crabs, clams, tuna and lobster rolls; as
tasty as if they’d been served straight off
the fi sherman’s boat.
As you travel through the New England
states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts,
New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont,
you are constantly struck by how
authentic, traditional and down-to-earth
everything is.
Presidents, professors, media personalities
and cultural darlings can relax here
and switch off from demanding jobs in
New York, Boston and Washington without
hordes of paparazzi lurking in the reeds.
The local patriotism that abounds is almost
physical. Everyone is proud of where they
come from, and therefore eager to share.
It feels like everybody walks around with
a common, shared idea: American East
Coast Style is a style that invites everyone
to the party.
The European version of America
Around these parts, people never forget that
it was at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts,
when English pilgrims fi rst disembarked
from the Mayfl ower in 1620, that modern
America was born.
Architecture in the small villages, fi shing
communities and sophisticated university
towns is living history – for young and
old alike. They will all describe the Battle
of Bunker Hill in 1775 as enthusiastically
as last night’s homerun by baseball hero
Kevin Youkilis of Boston’s (and all of New
England’s) loved-to-bits Red Sox.
The bridge between the US and Europe is
said to start from Cape Cod, a peninsula
where many East Coast intellectuals have
their summer addresses. On closer inspection
of the map you can see just how the cape
stretches its arm straight out into the
Atlantic Ocean, as if reaching for the
Continent on the other side.
Marines and fi shermen gave
their style to the world (with a little
help from a president).
Everything is spelled t-r-a-d-i-t-i-o-n in this
“original America”. No amount of new ideas
or novelties have managed to erase the focus
on education, family life, values, sports and
culture. On the contrary, these traditions
only seem to get stronger with time.
Just take fashion. Chinos in all colors,
Oxford and button-down shirts, turtlenecks,
sweaters, pea coats and sailing
shoes are garments that embody the classic
east-coast-look for most people. Images
of Ivy League campuses, yacht races and
cocktails on immaculate, sweeping lawns
instantly fi ll your mind.
Long before they became fashionable,
however, the only point to these garments
was their function. And functionality
depended on quality. Sailors and fi shermen
needed tough enough clothes to work at
sea. Soldiers returning from World War II
had got used to more comfortable pants.
Everyone who experienced grim winters
here, with icy winds scouring around every
house and rocky shore, simply wished for
a winter wardrobe that would keep them
reliably warm. As the Anglo-Saxon heritage
blended further into the local sense for the
fi ner things in life, it was only a question
of time before the garments started looking
good too.
And yet it wasn’t until 1960 that the
style was immortalized. That was the year
John F. Kennedy became the youngest US
President in history. Folks who until then
had considered New England a place
reserved for “eccentric bohemians” and
“sports nerds” now started to see their northeastern
neighbor in a completely new light.
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