Obiter thoroughly enjoys a chat with legal ethics guru professor Richard Moorhead OBE – an encounter recorded in last week’s issue. But in sharing the article, Richard touched on an issue as old as Zeno’s paradoxes: how to dress an academic? Taking to LinkedIn, he wrote: ‘I was instructed to look serious for the shots. I was not instructed to wear double checks.’

His checks put him in good academic, if not sartorial, company. French philosopher Michel Foucault’s sports jacket was even bolder. A loud houndstooth is often worn by actors playing academics. And for men, academia remains one of the few safe spaces for a chap who likes to wear a bow tie in the daytime. 

Free will is real in this area, Gentleman’s Gazette notes: ‘You don’t have to be as conventional to win over clients or convince a jury. With academic freedom comes freedom of dress as well.’

While legal philosopher HLA Hart was generally seen in a dark suit and sober tie, GG advises that ‘nutty professor’ is an option. However, ‘most well-enrolled classes are those run by professors with some sort of defining personality trait, which can include their individual style of dress,’ GG notes.

In light of which, Obiter wonders if double-checks is enough – why not triple?