Garden Party

September is here. Many Americans see the month as a miserly riposte to their carefree summers.  This is a mistake. September is summer's final fling. It represents your last opportunity to wander into a garden party. It's one last excuse to don sun-faded shorts or a floral party frock and catch up with friends over a glass of lemonade.

And while we're on the subject of sun-faded wardrobes and garden parties, has anyone on this side of the pond paid attention to the Prince of Wales? This September the Prince's new Start project, a charity foundation dedicated to inspiring sustainable living, has placed the Clarence House Garden directly into the spotlight. Opened to the public through the 19th of September, Clarence House Garden reminds me of all the reasons why I love a British garden.

Photo: The Royal Collection

Photo: The Royal Collection

Steve Manning's topiary art adorns the Clarence House Garden.
Photo: DailyMail

Prince Charles has taken advantage of the press attention in more ways than one. This month the Prince and Vogue magazine have teamed up to promote hand-me-downs and upcycled clothing. The Prince has urged Vogue's readers consider the beneficial role that the fashion industry can play in creating a more sustainable lifestyle.

While I must admit to applauding the idea of hand-me-downs and upcycled clothing, the rubber-meets-the-road application looks quite different for HRH than it does for me. Not all of us have the sartorial attic reserves that old money (or an old title) can provide.  If one does not have the fortune to descend from a long line of sartorial opportunity or means, one cannot hope to one day brag about possessing a pair of "'totally indestructible' shoes made from leather salvaged from an 18th-century shipwreck" (HT: Aslet).  Heck, finding an unadulterated wool jacket is hard enough these days.

But let's not be too unfair. While Prince Charles may suggest wild applications, good marrow lies at the heart of his admonition.  As Clive Aslet of "Country Life" so dryly puts it:

There is a joy in parsimony. Excess makes us feel morally queasy. I suspect that this is the Prince's real point. Wearing natural materials won't help the planet: the Aral Sea has dried up because so much water has been abstracted to grow cotton. But they're reassuringly expensive, and so more likely to be treated with reverence than the man-made equivalent.

I suppose I will be getting into the spirit of the thing this weekend after all, albiet in a far less dramatic fashion than the Prince; I've scheduled a trip to the cobbler's shop to resole my pair of much loved and well-worn Brazilian (alas, no shipwrecked salvage here) leather boots.