ANTI/SOCIAL
#prestigesg | JULY 2019 PRESTIGE 87
B
ritish adventurer, author and broadcaster Ben Fogle
declared his lifelong affection for utilitarian cars in
an article he recently wrote for an international
motoring magazine. He listed Toyota Land Cruisers,
Land Rover Defenders and such apt choices for his passion:
off‑road driving in tough terrain.
Moreover, such cars perfectly complement Fogle’s macho
looks – as perfectly as the finest bespoke Italian clothes, cologne
and shoes always matched the dashing looks and figure of the
late Fiat chairman Gianni Agnelli, who quite possibly was the
world’s all‑time grand master of masculine style.
We Singaporeans are fond of cars in spite of the ridiculously
high ownership costs and our good public transport system.
And despite the fact that it’s impossible to really enjoy motoring
on this island because the roads are usually congested and there
are mere seconds between intersections, stop signs, pedestrian
crossings, seemingly perpetual roadworks... you get the drift.
But cars, especially ultra‑expensive so‑called “supercars”
and limousines, seem to be treasured here in many instances,
not for Fogle‑like practical reasons, but quite likely because they
are meant to project their owners’ “style”. And indeed, why not?
However, as Signor Agnelli once pointed out, true style
must seamlessly match substance to be positively regarded. And
substance, in this context, means what constitutes us: our ages,
our looks and figures, our standing in society, etc. And it applies
to everyone, regardless of age and gender.
Take the on‑screen James Bond character, for instance. All
the glamorous actors in that role could never have looked
absolutely right in anything but an Aston Martin. Can you
imagine James Bond driving a gun‑ and rocket‑equipped 1950
Morris Minor? Or Elvis Presley’s pink Cadillac? Or Mr Bean’s
first ‑generation Mini?
Imagine the most consistently conservatively dressed man or
woman you know – perhaps your family doctor, or your child’s
school principal, or a Member of Parliament. Is he or she clearly
in your mind? Good. Now imagine that person turning up for a
public function on a rental bicycle, in a bikini.
So if we’re buying a car for “style”, let’s assess – and be
totally honest about – how we’d look in it. In this context of
ownership, it’s a lot like clothing. Just as we would try on any
clothes and seek opinions of how we look in them before we
make a purchase, let’s think of what we’d look like in that
supercar, limousine or utilitarian beast before we put six or
seven figures down on a machine whose value could nosedive
by some 25 percent in the first year of ownership.IF CLOTHES MAKETH THE MAN
(OR WOMAN), ONE’S CHOICE OF WHEELS
MAY REVEAL A BLIND SPOT FOR “STYLE”TEXT: ANONYMOUS | PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES