I took a rebel stand on my outfit for this year’s “Andrew Olle Media Lecture”. Though I’ve been attending the lecture for over twenty years (only missing one, the year I lived in Western Australia) dressing for it is pretty simple.
As a man, all you need to worry about is a tuxedo and a bow-tie. In contrast, a friend/colleague mentioned on Facebook earlier in the week, she was struggling with her outfit, while trying to maintain her carbon footprint. “Do I what I’ve done”, I told her, adding “only two outfits in twenty years, and the only change has been a few different bow-ties”.
For this year’s lecture, I splurged on some new socks and jocks, but when it came to the bow-tie, I ummed and ahhed. I looked through my collection of bow-ties, which ranged from the traditional black, to blue, green, red and rainbow (worn in the run up to the Same Sex Marriage Survey) and I wasn’t impressed. “They’re all so boring”, I thought to myself.
Not wearing a tie was a really wonderful thing. I felt much more relaxed than in previous years. A couple of friends agreed it was terrific not to have to spend the night relaxing and not having to worry about “networking”. Oh yeah, and this year I was seated outside of the “main camera view”, so I didn’t have to worry about looking too much like a “lush” by drinking during the televised part of the speech!!
2 responses to “Andrew Olle Media Lecture 2019”
While I can’t imagine why I did so, I came across a photo in my mother’s collection of me wearing a a skinny tie at my sister’s 21st. I don’t think I have worn one since. Ties are pretty stupid now.
They have their place!