Camden Cup Fashion: These slacks aren’t for slackers

A lot of people at the Carolina Cup stood a better chance of glimpsing Johnny Deal’s pants than a horse.

Lavishly printed with hot pink flamingos and green palm fronds, Deal’s pants were the star of the show and the true essence of the Cup, as far as he was concerned.

A lifelong Camdenite and Cup veteran of decades, Deal, 53, is a well-known presence at the annual event. The horse race draws some 50,000 or more pastel-clad people each year, many of whom greeted Deal with a handshake and a compliment to his fashion Saturday.

“It’s a rite of spring,” Deal said of the Cup. “It’s just a great occasion that we’re lucky to have in Camden.”

Fashion is the highlight of the Cup for Deal, a real estate agent and a photographer with an eye for imagery, a big fan of the event’s signature pastels and prints.

The Cup is an affair for his whole family, which includes a tight-knit group of friends from small-town Camden, where everyone is family, the locals say.

“I can’t get enough of it,” 24-year-old Jack LaFrage said of his hometown. “I always thought I wanted to get out of the small town, but when I went away from it, I was like, ‘No, this is my thing.’”

And the Cup is his scene. If Deal is Mr. Cup, then LaFrage is Mr. Cup Jr., he said.

It’s tradition for Deal to tie LaFrage’s bow tie before the Cup each year. This year, LaFrage sported a pale pink and powder blue striped model, a complement to his pink and blue printed, one-of-a-kind, 1970s vintage Lilly Pulitzer pants that he bought on eBay especially for the occasion.

That’s true Cup style, LaFrage said. Low-key khakis just don’t cut it for the Cup, he says – “If you can possibly make it to church tomorrow, that’s where you wear them.”

“I know with the Cup I’ve got to go a little bit louder than the average pants that you would find in J. Crew or whatever,” LaFrage said. “If there’s a time and place to be obnoxious with loud colors, it’s the Carolina Cup.”

The dapper duo of LaFrage and Deal spent most of the day competing for the best-pants title. In a formal vote by applause at the Deal tailgate, Deal’s flamingo fashion– complemented by a hot pink bow tie, beige blazer and straw hat – was the overwhelming favorite.

A biased electorate, LaFrage claimed.

Taking the vote to the streets, so to speak, the pair ventured into the raucous College Park to relive their glory days and let the people have their part in the day’s most exciting competition. They kept score as they walked among the thousands of drinkers and dancers and selfie-takers who had come from colleges and universities all around the region, stopping folks in their tracks to ask who wore the best pants.

Deal, though, didn’t even have to ask – people came to him from left and right to compliment his bold look. “I’m digging the pants,” one friend told him. Another young man called the pants “inspirational.”

Deal would shake their hands, share a laugh, tell them, “Glad to know you,” and keep making the rounds.

Like the Cup draws people to Camden, Mr. Cup seemed to draw people right to himself.

This story was originally published March 28, 2015 at 8:00 PM with the headline "Camden Cup Fashion: These slacks aren’t for slackers."