The Chap Olympiad 2018 took place on Saturday 14th July in Bedford Square Gardens, Bloomsbury. Never in the field of human clothing was so much worn by so many; especially considering the 28-degree heatwave that swamped London that day.
Ignoring details such as climactic conditions, Brown-in-Town, appropriate daywear for a civilised garden party, the guests at the event gave it their sartorial ace-in-the-hole, turning up in a more eclectic and extraordinary range of outfits than one would believe possible, to an event whose dress code only stipulates “Dress Up” and “No sportswear”.
We had Madame Pompadours, eccentric travellers, a multitude of fezzes, vintage tea dresses, cosplay heroes, retro nurses, flappers, dandies, preppy fashionistas and kinky exhibitionistas. No shade of any colour was missing from the lush and conveniently shady environs of Bedford Square Gardens, which for one day in July was the very hortus conclusus of Anarcho-Dandyism.
A very hearty Thank You to our sponsors and collaborators Boodles Gin, Peter Christian, The Camden Watch Company, all of whom provided prizes for our winners.
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Next year please ensure the DJs play appropriate/danceable music. I participated in The Chap Olympiad in 2017 and everyone danced into the night to early rock’n roll, r&B, swing etc. This year few people danced – I had a couple of goes myself, but my heart wasn’t in it. I asked the DJs twice to play more danceable music, but they didn’t have any.
As a long term subscriber, I love the Chap but I’m somewhat irritated by the On going use of these nasty metric measurements. 28 degrees was reported as the temperature at the Chap Olympiad. Sounds like 4 degrees below freezing to me and unlikely for July.