If you think Seersucker Day is ripe for retail promotion, you would be right. Anthony Paranzino, AKA Tony The Tailor, has been celebrating it since 2009. He is currently
preparing for his sixth-annual Seersucker Day on June 19th. Whether the politicians are celebrating or not, Tony goes on.
Seersucker Day 2013 saw 50 people visit his Charleston, West Virginia shop. Paranzino sold 14 suits and 10 sportscoats. The popular accessory last year was neckties made by High Cotton.
We cannot promise that he can make the soft shoulder of your dreams, you would have the to discuss that with him. What we can say is he has put together an interesting web page dedicated to Seersucker Day. The fact that he is plying consumers with a cocktail called the Seersucker would certainly get us in the shop to see the wrinkly samples.
If you cannot make it to West Virginia you can celebrate at home with this recipe. “Seersucker,” as you surely know, comes from a Hindi corruption of the Persian phrase “milk and sugar.” You’ll need stronger ingredients to make this. — CHRISTOPHER SHARP
The Seersucker
2 ounces Flor de Cana white rum
1/2 ounce cinnamon schnapps
1 ounce lemon juice
Muddle one strawberry, shake ingredients with three ice cubes, and strain into a pilsner glass with crushed ice. Garnish with 1/2 strawberry.
A Scotch Solace may be more appropriate.
http://cocktaildb.com/recipe_detail?id=2076
The word “seersucker” does indeed come from a Hindi corruption of a Farsi phrase meaning “milk-and-sugar”. At first sight, this may seem to bear little connection to the cloth, probably because many of us think of “milk and sugar” as a solution of sugar dissolved in milk. The phrase, however, means milk and sugar separately and apparently refers to the different textures of the alternating stripes, the smooth stripes being likened to milk, and the puckered stripes being likened to grainy sugar. I have no idea what color sugar was in Persia, but it may very well have been yellowish brown, if it was unrefined. If so, the seersucker cloth might have had yellowish brown stripes, in which case likening it to sugar would have been a reference not only to its texture but to its color as well.
Sugar for most of history was always brown. Not just in Persia or India, but everywhere. White refined sugar is a modern innovation.
@Cameron
That would lead us to believe that the original seersucker cloth was, indeed, most likely brown-and-white striped.
Yep. Perhaps the sugar makers should take a cue from the fashion world and introduce blue sugar . . .