Miscellaneous vestiges from the past including colourful shirts and outdated trousers may well take up wardrobe space.

When I am told by younger voices to get with it, I reply, no! I’m retired and I’ll wear what I like.

Besides, some of the clothes might come back into fashion one day. OK, I’ll admit I do need to scrub up for the occasional birthday or anniversary, but on the whole, I’m happy to venture out in my track-pants or shorts and a T-shirt.

Sure, I know all the quotes from Shakespeare that apparel proclaims the man, and by Fuller that “good clothes open all doors”. Except that at my age, I don’t need doors opening for me. I’ll dress as I please.

Even on aeroplanes I prefer to be comfortable rather than dressed for a night out.

Some years ago, I went to the Victoria Derby in Melbourne. There were thousands of guys in three-piece suits in the non-members area in 30C temperatures. In my shorts and T-shirt, I was the most comfortable person on the course surrounded by 90,000 very hot people.

And while at the races, let me take a risk and include women’s fashions in the conversation for a brief moment. French writer Anatole France once said, “Only men not interested in women are interested in women’s clothing. Men who like women, never notice what they wear.” (That one is going to get me into deep trouble from my female friends.)

OK then, I’ll admit even at my age there is a certain standard to be maintained.

Samuel Johnson said that “a man in a good coat meets with a better reception than a man in a bad coat”. So even being retired, I’m trapped to be part of a standard.

Oscar Wilde, always known for wearing some interesting clothes once said, “With an evening coat and a white tie, even a stockbroker can gain a reputation for being civilised”. Goodness knows what he may have said about them if he had been about during the Global Financial Crisis.

In his Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce pointed out, “Fashion is a despot whom the wise ridicule and then seem to obey”. So, it seems I will eventually succumb and throw out my clothes from yesteryear and replace them with something more up to date.

But before I do I am hopeful that one day someone might mistakenly approach me with the words of one who approached writer John Steinbeck as he travelled around the US. Steinbeck was accosted with the words, “You must be extremely rich to dress as badly as you do”.Read more at:http://www.sheindressau.com/short-wedding-dresses | http://www.sheindressau.com/backless-wedding-dresses-au