Best Dressed
At the end of November 1935, New York City tailors picked Edsel Ford as the best-dressed man in the U.S. Fred Astaire, the only Hollywood pick, was number ten.
Edsel, 41, is a modern, urban, ingenious, early 20th-century businessman with moral principles. Al Esper, his boat mechanic, said Edsel was a square shooter with no two-timing, no trick work. He was known as his generation’s most outstanding young American industrialist.
He’s living a creative, adventurous life styling, building and selling automobiles, racing powerboats, building airplanes, supporting the arts, fishing, and playing golf while managing a billion-dollar company for the past sixteen years. He was always doing something, always in gear, the real McCoy.
His style voted Best, is unsurprising since Edsel’s a visual artist with a keen eye for composition, shape, and color. His visual attention, as expressed in his dress, is evident from childhood, with his mother’s encouragement. It’s said he’s an artist camouflaged by his creations.
He’s naturally elegant, with a classical style that doesn’t age. It’s said he’s as cool as a Greek column: simple lucidity. His wealth undoubtedly supported this singular preciseness, but money didn’t make it happen.
After Edsel’s award, a local newspaper wag piped up that until recently, Michigan men tagged along behind their women folk who wore all the evidence of the family’s social position. But now that Michigan has the nation’s best male dresser, the spirit of general emulation cannot be far behind.
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