Nobody Sleeps in a Tuxedo (on casualness)

I like to dress well, and these days that involves being frequently overdressed by most peoples standards. It's very rare that any occasion in my daily life requires me to wear so much as a dress shirt, let alone a tie or a jacket. But I do it anyway, because I enjoy it and it makes me happy. This being a style blog geared at like minded folks who are also prone to overdressing, one might get the impression that I sleep in a tux. It's far from true. Much of my life is spent in casual clothing doing somewhat messy things with my two small children. Even then I find ways to be comfortable and stylish. Taking care of the wee ones demands a comfortable mode of dress that takes to getting dirty, but I refuse to spend my life in pajamas and sweat pants. Being comfortable and suitably dressed for such situations doesn't have to mean eternal slovenliness. Despite what many people would currently believe, there exists a myriad of "happy mediums" between formal wear and pajamas. To wit:

My boy is in pre-school now, which means I rise early, feed the kids, get us all dressed and rush out the door three days a week. Sometimes I don't even take a shower until I return home from dropping him off. Such is real life. No matter,on a sunny but brisk morning in early Fall, a clean blue jeans, bare ankles and boat shoes play well with a soft cotton sweater in pale yellow and simple white tennis shirt. Easy and comfortable, and yet still I felt "dressed". It really doesn't take much.

Later that same day, the weather warmed a bit, and I decided to take the wee ones for a last blast at the beach. No swimming or bare chested sun bathing, just some old fashioned fun digging in the sand and collecting clam shells to paint on later. The sweater, being by now too warm, is replaced with a soft old plaid shirt, worn jacket style over the tennis shirt. It's amazing how much something as simple as a collar on your shirt can elevate even the most casual of outfits.

Who says big puffy athletic shoes and flip flops are the final word in easy going, comfortable footwear? A tattered old pair of topsiders does me just fine, and I feel like a grown up wearing them. Crocs will never be my thing, ever, but I gotta hand it to the guy who came up with these rubber things. A better warm weather shoe for children has never existed before this.

I'll admit that sometimes the best shoes are no shoes. One of my favorite things about living in Boston is our close proximity to the sea, and the ability to get barefoot in the sand. It's incomparable. Notice how nicely those Wranglers are aging. They remain dark while they develop the perfect fade. All you have to do to achieve this look is wash your jeans when they get dirty. I bet I have them for a long time.

Not a bad match rolled with a pair of handmade New England hippie shoes either. The perfect ensemble for apple picking.

We can all lament the loss of whatever it is we lament the loss of in our modern world. We can all do what we will to hang on to the best bits of our own romanticized version of the past. Nothing wrong with any of that. But life must lived in the present. You don't have to run around in sweatpants from Target, but you can't wear a tux to bed either. The real trick lies in striking a balance.

Sorry if I got a bit maudlin there. Next time, I'll do what I can to keep it shallow.