“The first Americans to go to Europe and have wine with dinner and eat Lobster Newburg, Babar would be a part of their culture.” “It was the mark of urbanity and civilization for many Americans,” Weber says.
In an era before the phrase “aspirational lifestyle” entered the popular lexicon the Babar series provided just that, particularly to American social climbers. It’s definitely what we think of as upper class.” “He’s driving a Bugatti, he’s staying in a good hotel, he’s holding forth when he gives his after dinner talk,obviously in a very elegant salon. “It’s the high end of luxury,” Weber says. In subsequent books written by the father and then son, Babar continues to live the good life, changing outfits frequently as he motors, skis, dines at the White House and otherwise lives fabulously. Later, Babar returns to the jungle after the reigning monarch ingests a poisonous mushroom, and our hero - who pulls up in a flashy red roadster, monogrammed luggage in the back and a bowler hat held in his trunk - is essentially crowned king on the basis of his slick fits.
And when he’s on two legs is when he begins to get all dudded-up,” Weber says. “I find it incredibly significant that Babar goes from being on four legs to two legs. A two-page spread - which is replicated in the lining of the Rowing Blazers green suit - shows the newly bipedal elephant in a fine haberdashery, selecting a bowler hat, spats and his trademark tailoring. But after a hunter shoots his mother, the distraught Babar runs from the jungle to a Paris-inspired metropolis, where he is adopted by a kindly old woman who foots the bill for a subsequent shopping spree. In Histoire de Babar- published in English as The Story of Babar - the infantile protagonist is introduced standing on four legs, as nude as any other member of his species. Clothing plays a key role in the character’s origin story.
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