Good Grief Charlie Brown!

Anybody that knows me knows my love for Peanuts. Snoopy and Charlie Brown have been a main stay for me for a long time, the sharp mix of cynicism and humour is hard to beat. I was very excited when I heard there would be a new Peanuts film this Christmas. I love the tv series, the clunky animation is so great and I love the one liners: "I love mankind – it’s people I can’t stand!" I was pretty excited to see the trailer for the new film however, to my disappointment it's all been digitised to the extreme and is so incredibly slick. I'll still definitely be trekking to see it but I can't help but feel that something of the charm has been lost in it's reimagining. 

Today marks 50 years since A Charlie Brown Christmas was first shown on tv so I of course had to celebrate this event with a Charlie Brown inspired ensemble. Charlie Brown is a pretty hard guy to mimic style wise so you'll have to settle for a loose interruption.  

The hat is of course integral to his Christmas outfit.

A Charlie Brown Christmas, 1965

Which of course riffs on Holden Caulfield's hat in Catcher in the Rye:

"I put on this hat that I’d bought in New York that morning. It was this red hunting hat, with one of those very, very long peaks. I saw it in the window of this sports store when we got out of the subway, just after I noticed I'd lost all the goddam foils. It only cost me a buck. The way I wore it, I swung the old peak way around to the back—very corny, I'll admit, but I liked it that way. I looked good in it that way." 

and both Charlie and Holden's style in turn influenced the character of Max Fischer in Wes Anderson's Rushmore. If you haven't seen it definitely make time to watch it, it's one of my favourites to watch during the festive season.

Rushmore, Wes Anderson, 1998

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On a small side note I recently put together a Max Fischer inspired ensemble:

All three characters have always been a big influence on my style, it's a combination of the humorous cynicism, intellectual but chic vibe and great hats.  Anyway I tried to a pile a little of all this into my own interpretation. The t-shirt I'm wearing is from the Peanuts collection that Uniqlo did a couple of years ago it says 'Love is getting someone a glass of water in the middle of the night' - I think that's mostly true as it takes a lot to make me want to hop out of my toasty warm bed! 

My little velvet Woodstock belonged to my auntie when she was little. It was bought from the big Biba on Kensington High Street in around 1972. If I could travel back in time I'd want to visit big Biba so I always like to think about his life there. He's lived in all my various homes and remains with me to this day - a faithful companion. I have another Woodstock which is a tiny little knitted one from 1965 and my brother also won me a Charlie Brown from one of those grabby machines at a service station. I'm starting to sound like a super fan...!

The cape is one of my favourite wintery items of clothing. I bought it in a Worcester charity shop about 6 or 7 years ago. I've nearly given it away twice (what was I thinking?!) but it's recently become a bit of a staple. It's very handy during the cold months as I can wear it over lots of other layers. It's also completely reversible. I generally only wear the red side as it's waterproof but I might start swopping it over and wearing the tartan when it's cold but not raining (a rare event).

I hope you are all well. I'll leave you with a clip from A Charlie Brown Christmas because whats a post on Charlie Brown without a little wisdom from the man himself.

Outfit Details

Peanuts t-shirt - Uniqlo

White bell bottoms - American Apparel

1960s reservable cape - Charity shop

Faux fur hat - Joules

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