Wraping up warm

[sawyl]

Professor A.M. Boyd's article from 1958 on the hazards of not wrapping up well is a pure delight. The coy descriptions of fashion are quite charming:

I have seen many girls in nylon stockings, or even bare legs, and short skirts shivering in bus queues. These girls, I am told by my assistants, wear practically nothing under their skirts. They are therefore virtually unprotected in cold weather from the hips downwards.

I love that coy, "I am told by my assistants...", comment. It roots the article so perfectly in its time. As does the following comment about men's fashions:

Erythrocyanosis frigida is not seen in men on account of the protection of tweed trousers and underpants.

One suspects that, were the Prof writing today, the article would contain a hearty condemnation of the wearing of shorts in midwinter. Or maybe not, given the inroads made by heating technology — and global warming — over the last half century.