The Diaries of Sir Shash – Adventures from another Timeline

The Brash and the Beautiful – Part Deux
–By Stiffy Byng

I am back with another edition of The Brash and the Beautiful for Aunt Dahlia’s Milady’s Boudoir magazine. It is so much more natural to call her Aunt Dahlia for she possesses all of the qualities of a genial, affable and generous aunt. The editorial team reviewing my work suggests that I keep referring to her as Lady Travers instead. The only time I am inclined to call her that is when one of Bertie’s foolish friends has orchestrated yet another stunt of significant incompetence at Brinkley Court. At such time formal flattery can save the day. Since I am neither foolish nor incompetent, I shall continue with the Aunt Dahlia name and the editorial team can suck an egg.

Let us get to the matter at hand. Three of the most airheaded couples here display an excellent sense of grace, style and understated aristocratic fashion.

I use the term airheaded lovingly because if you are hiking in and around Lake Tahoe, these are not the clothes you should be wearing lest you trip and break an ankle. Pauline is dazzling in beige; Bobbie has turned elegant tailoring into Hollywood glamour and Angela is every bit the feminine English woman overseas. Chuffy, a baron though he may be, is smiling like a school boy who has won an unexpected prize. He is clearly so proud of his lovely wife Pauline. Bertie, dapper in a suit, is looking at the cameraman with a smile; he probably has seen a steak on a campfire and Tuppy has a dash of the rouge about him with that colourful neckerchief. I have to ask him if he snicked it from Angela’s wardrobe.

I love this second photograph as well, and the magical location of Castell Del Papa Luna adds a sense of exotic grandeur to the fashion.

Chuffy has gone from Lake Tahoe to the Spanish coast in what I can only assume is the same coat, possibly out of sheer loyalty to it. He remains so ruggedly handsome about the whole affair that I find myself unable to summon the energy to complain — a change of costume was clearly optional where Chuffy is concerned. Some men can wear one coat across two continents and simply call it a signature. Pauline’s headband and the lace gloves make her a vision of grace. Perhaps she is about to attend a King’s court. Bobbie’s red hair is doing the things it does and the frilly red and white top is trying its best to keep pace with the hair. Bertie has the distant, faraway look of a man doing complicated arithmetic. In his case, I suspect it is a calculation of whether it is closer to lunch or to tea, a calculation I have watched him perform with the seriousness other men reserve for speculation in stock portfolios. Angela is showing off Tuppy here even as she makes simple blue and white fashionable. She has a tinge of pride in that smile. I wonder if Tuppy wants a career in film or on stage. I would pay good money to watch that man.

This is the third picture. Paris. Well, I do know that by now the men had legged it. Knowing Bertie, Chuffy and Tuppy as I do, I’d wager they were somewhere the food was plentiful and some form of betting was involved. The girls, meanwhile, have barely touched their sandwiches, so I can only assume they’re for decoration, or for whichever gentleman eventually wanders back in search of tea and sympathy. The coats are rich, luxurious, and rather nicely contrasted. Bobbie and Pauline bring the assertive oomph while Angela plays it sober and classy. The motorcars queuing along the boulevard behind them appear to be waiting their turn to be photographed too, which is only fair, given the competition.

Now for the final word: Jeeves was a very patient photographer. Aunt Dahlia owes him one for remembering the assignment at all, let alone bringing back pictures that will do wonders for the Boudoir’s circulation.