Against Pastel Neckties

First Obama, now Bill Clinton on the cover of the NYT  Magazine. How did this whole faux-aristocrat thing get started? Is it only Democrats? And why would they, at this particular time especially, want to look like old money? Baby blue, shimmering pink, with those big fist-like Windsor knots that take us back to the Reagan years--you have to wear them with an extra wide spread collar too, evidently, as if Prince Charles ordered up the whole outfit. There was a vogue for pink polos among the boys at my kids' school a couple years ago, and that was a little precious too, like the boys all spent too much time playing tennis. On the other hand I do miss pink button-downs--whatever happened to those?--which look good on us swarthy guys.