05 May 2009

Flannel for May

They say be careful what you wish for. It's true. Today I had the opportunity to wear my newly acquired tartan jacket, which is good. This came at the cost of a raw, wet, windy and cold day, which is somewhat less than good this time of year.



On the bright side, plaid jackets are cool. If you're ever in the mood to go out fishing for compliments, try a nicely cut tartan sports coat. All day long, strangers on the street felt compelled to tell me how dapper I looked. An older lady in an elevator even went into a mild rapture over how nice it was to see a well dressed man for once. Even the hippies shilling for Greenpeace out on the sidewalk complimented me on it's green color.



Cripes, I blushed all day.

9 comments:

Andrew M. said...

I commend you for being brave enough to wear a tartan jacket. Being fairly short in stature, I tend to shy away from bold patterns. I do love the look, though.

FIXED BAYONET METAL SOLDIERS said...

I don't understand your need for green? it never works in bottle green or most greens

John Patrick George said...

You have been on a tear lately, my brother.

Well done.

Dhr. DeLuxe said...

My Blackwatch sports coat has black 'horn' buttons, and I've been pondering the possibility to turn it into a 'blazer' with brass or other 'regimental' buttons. Seeing your jacket, I think I actually WILL do that. (I recently purchased a dead-chep, dead-ugly and way too big a jacket, just because of the great gilded buttons. The jacket 's gone already, the buttons are winking at me...)
Oh, and something really peciuliar happened today: I found some second hand AMERICAN classic items, IN MY SIZE, in The Netherlands! A very rare find indeed: A Brooks Brothers oxford blue/white striped shirt, (Euro 1,50: say 2 USD), a pin-striped Kenneth Cole shirt, same price and a pair of Eddie Bauer classic, two-pleated chino's, or khaki slacks (euro 2,50).
Oh, and did I mention the dove-grey, powder blue striped Strellson summer suit for 15 Euro? :-) Not American, but very neat anyway.
(Strellson is a -rather expensive- Swiss suitmaker, owned by two grandsons of Hugo Boss, and their look is very crisp, very 'NW-Europe': British in tailoring, Italian in cut and fabric, French in elegance and German in wearability, if that means anything to you...

PS Remember Basement 5? Another non-caucasian (how in the world are we supposed to call people we used to describe as being 'black' nowadays?! "With an African complexion?" In London, it would be described as 'being from the West-indian community' or something like that, in Holland we say 'With Negroid Exterior' litterally translated...) punk/dub band from the UK. No live footage on UT, unfortunately.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_gAVZBKoMI

Giuseppe said...

Bayonet,

There have been an awful lot of clothes produced in this plaid, most recently by a good number of the more fashionable brands.

Green is indeed a tough color, but perhaps I don't understand your abject hatred of it as much as you don't understand my occasional use of it.

Young Fogey said...

Did you wear the Blackwatch pants?

;-)

Giuseppe said...

Grey wool pants.

Anonymous said...

Is that one of the handkerchiefs you purchased at target? It looks like a good size to wear in the breast pocket. Most I've seen end up being rather too bulky.

FIXED BAYONET METAL SOLDIERS said...

I was looking at a guy on Italian T.V the other night , he had a very expensive wellcut but bottle green suit on.The question is WHY?
When there are great suits in a variety of blues greys and browns.It always reminds me of a group of Protestant Ulstermen on a beer outing