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Every August Edinburgh is packed with people desperate to catch other people’s attention: walk the Royal Mile and you’ll encounter comedians, actors and people doling out flyers for comedians and actors, all using every trick they can to inveigle you to their shows. Often one of these tricks is sartorial. There is a horrible tendency, especially among students, to adopt “wacky” attire to persuade you that they are funny, or eccentric attire to suggest that they are interesting.
Visitors should avoid being confused with performers. So ditch the pinstripe. Don’t think, either, that a logo T-shirt will prevent gibes; “Make Tea Not Peace” will never be funny/ironic. Whether you’re here to see Chekhov’s Three Sisters or experimental fire-eating in Granton, dress with a lot of subtlety and class. The festival is a spectator sport, and nothing says intelligent, accomplished and cultured better than designer threads.
Remember the Cambridge Footlights? Peter Cook and Stephen Fry’s crisp shirts and cords set an example to their plimsoll-clad contemporaries, so take their cue. Balenciaga fills the smart-casual remit with something a little continental and a Missoni scarf works for the desirable raffish look. Wear a spotty shirt to show you’re on the fashion pulse for this winter and no one will even notice when you mistake Balanchine’s Don Quixote for a tapas bar.