Buttons

Like I always say, menswear is all about the smallest of details. Take for example buttons. The right or wrong buttons can make or break a good looking jacket. Keep this in mind when thrift shopping. In the past, I've said that it's a good skill to look at menswear as raw material, and to know what difference a good tailor can make. Sometimes, a couple of bucks and a new set of buttons are all that is needed to turn trash into treasure.

Readers may remember this jacket. A madras sport coat purchased in freezing cold weather. one of my famous off season purchases, in storage until recently:This jacket is made of thin, lightweight cotton, and I love the uncharacteristically muted color scheme. Those floral brass buttons, on the other hand are ghastly. They give the jacket an extremely dated 1960's look, and not in a good way.For four bucks, these light brown horn buttons go a long way to freshening this coat up. Just like that, it's young and modern.

Then we have the pesky green suit. It fits well, and it was only $7.99. I have to admit, its a real pain to wear. It's difficult to match with things, and it has kind of a frumpy vibe, no matter how hard I try to alleviate this. Since I've bought it , I only wore it once.And there is also this killing tartan flannel. I love this jacket. It needs to be taken in a bit, but it's winter clothes, so it can wait for now:Back to the suit. Thrift stores are full of "orphans", suit jackets separated from their pants. As much as I hate this, I do have to break the rules every now and then. So the incongruous brass buttons from the tartan jacket get traded to the jacket of the green suit, producing a blazer that is infinitely more stylish and workable than the suit ever was or will be, plus a pair of pants to boot.Some of you may consider this a minor blasphemy, and you may be right. But some of you also considered the green suit to be a minor blasphemy in the first place, and that may also have been right. As I see it, I now have clothes I like, rather than a suit I felt compelled to buy because it was vintage and cheap and I couldn't help it. One of the glories of thrift shopping is that when stuff is so cheap, you can play around with it more freely, without the fear of accidentally ruining something expensive.

The tartan jacket is currently awaiting a set of braided brown leather buttons. A far better choice, in this fellows humble opinion.

In closing let me say that I switched all these buttons myself the other night while watching t.v. with one eye. Every man should know how to properly sew a button. No excuses. Its right up there with shining shoes and lighting a charcoal grill.