Retro Rampant

IT was the first time a murder made me want to go shopping. New Yorkers have been carefully observing the trial of Corey Arthur, accused killer of high-school teacher Jonathan Levin. It’s slightly embarrassing to admit that what struck this observer most forcefully about television broadcasts on the story was Corey Arthur’s lawyer, Anthony Ricco. In particular, Mr. Ricco’s natty retro outfits. Sharpest of all: the immaculately pressed tan suit and bow tie combination, accessoried by matching Homburg and black half-frame Malcolm X glasses, that made the attorney look like he’d escaped from a 1940s hard-boiled detective novel.

Retro everything is hip these days, and it turns out Anthony Ricco was representing more than merely his client. In fact his suit represents a global trend summarized in the title of a book published a couple of years ago: Possessed by the Past, by David Lowenthal, a professor in England. With many examples Lowenthal illustrates his contention that people the world over have become obsessed with “heritage” or “authenticity”: not history, exactly, but the past in such manifestations as can be put to use fulfilling very pre-sent-day needs.

About the Author

David Klinghoffer

David Klinghoffer, a former literary editor at NR, is a senior fellow at Discovery Institute and co-author of The Gift of Rest: Rediscovering the Beauty of the Sabbath, and other books.

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IT was the first time a murder made me want to go shopping. New Yorkers have been carefully observing the trial of Corey Arthur, accused killer of high-school teacher Jonathan Levin. It’s slightly embarrassing to admit that what struck this observer most forcefully about television broadcasts on the story was Corey Arthur’s lawyer, Anthony Ricco. In particular, Mr. Ricco’s natty retro outfits. Sharpest of all: the immaculately pressed tan suit and bow tie combination, accessoried by matching Homburg and black half-frame Malcolm X glasses, that made the attorney look like he’d escaped from a 1940s hard-boiled detective novel.

Retro everything is hip these days, and it turns out Anthony Ricco was representing more than merely his client. In fact his suit represents a global trend summarized in the title of a book published a couple of years ago: Possessed by the Past, by David Lowenthal, a professor in England. With many examples Lowenthal illustrates his contention that people the world over have become obsessed with “heritage” or “authenticity”: not history, exactly, but the past in such manifestations as can be put to use fulfilling very pre-sent-day needs.

About the Author

David Klinghoffer

David Klinghoffer, a former literary editor at NR, is a senior fellow at Discovery Institute and co-author of The Gift of Rest: Rediscovering the Beauty of the Sabbath, and other books.