Sis Boom Bah! (The Polo Look, sans Polo)

I'm as impressionable as anyone, I guess. Recently, I visited the Ralph Lauren store in Boston, just to look around, you know? I can't afford anything in the place, but it sure is a treat for the eyes. Say what you will about Ralph, his stores are like going to some magical menswear theme park. The furniture, the lighting, the carpets, and that red tartan jacket with the black velvet collar they had displayed with formal wear (you should have seen it!), it's all perfect. You gotta give 'em that. In any case, the next day, I left the house in this get up:

I'm usually not big on wearing a knee length overcoat without a jacket underneath, but every now and again I can pull it off. Besides if I didn't try, I'd hardly ever get to wear my vintage cashmere number, and that would be a shame.

A vintage bow tie ($1.99), a vintage football sweater emblazoned with a number hard earned by another man long ago, and a cashmere scarf in Black Watch tartan ( generous gift of Mrs. G.) play pretty well together.

Finished neatly with a pair of J.Press charcoal flannel pants ($5.49), yellow socks and a battered old pair of Florsheim penny loafers ($19.99).

I could romanticize the past, and imagine a time when a man might actually have worn such a get up to a football game, but I don't care  for football . I could spark up the tired old discussion about old Ralph, and the "look" he created, or stole as some would say, but I won't. For one thing, aside from the socks and the shirt, none of this outfit is Polo, it's all actual old stuff. For another, I happen to like that "look", on occasion. Being a little too old for the demographic this look is currently aimed at, I find it best to tone it down a bit. On a skinny 22 year old, you might see this with jeans, and the shirt inexplicably un-tucked on one side, likely without socks despite the bitter cold. On a 34 year old father of two, dress pants, a tucked shirt, a clean shave and of course a pair of socks go a long way toward making the look a little more "grown up". Or maybe I'm just out of my head and this is just a silly imitation Polo imitation football get up. That's more likely, but I liked it anyway.

Next time, I'll carry a vintage megaphone with me, and we'll all have a tailgate party out of the trunk of my Honda Civic.

p.s. It's cold outside! Plenty of new items to keep you warm available in The Shop. Stop by sometime.