Boston Style

Last week, Put This On ran a q&a post about wearing loafers with a suit. I'm sure many of you have already seen the article, but for those who haven't you can read it here. While I find Put This On to be a very informative website and I agree with everything they say in this post, I feel I compelled to point out one glaring omission. What about tassel loafers?

The only reason I mention it is because the end summary is that one generally shouldn't wear loafers with a suit. Oddly, I almost always wear loafers with a suit. I'm not alone in this, but perhaps it's an East Coast thing. Here in Boston, tassel loafers worn with business suits are a common sighting, or at least they were when there were more men around in suits. It was/is so common in fact, that as a kid, before I knew the proper name for tassel loafers, I called them "lawyer shoes" because I only ever saw them with suits. I see plenty of guys with penny loafers and suits too, but that's a look I can't get with, excepting of course the case of seersucker suits. Tassels and suits go together like khakis and a blazer, at least in Boston. Why else would a thing like the black tassel loafer even exist if not to wear it with a navy blue suit? Then again, we are the same people who not only accept but tend to prefer button down collars with suits, another combination widely avoided almost everywhere else, so take my opinion with the appropriate grain of salt.

Context of course plays a big part. What's acceptable in an office environment here may not be elsewhere and these unwritten rules should be your guide.I tend to prefer the look because I wear my suits purely by choice, and I don;t want to look like I'm going to a board meeting. Often, a slightly less formal shoe is all I need to tone down a navy or grey suit. However, at a wedding or other formal event, I still wear black lace-ups.

Let me close by reminding you that I also like to wear black tassel loafers with my tuxedo, so it's entirely possible I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about anyway.

Casual Black Tie, Again

Lately I've been taking a bit of a stab at the nitpickers, and a reader told me to cut it out. Point taken. So even though this post yet again deals with our notions of the meaning and practice of arcane sartorial law, I will do my best to refrain from attacks on the overly uptight. Instead, lets take a step back and see whether these actually were as relevant to the storied and glorious past as we like to think the were.

Recently, this bit of formal wear joined the ranks of the Affordable Wardrobe. Look closely and you'll find a lot of the big rules have been thrown under the bus here. For one, there's the lapels. Though the may be faced in grosgrain silk, they are notch cut, a style commonly held to be anathema to evening dress. Furthermore, the pockets have flaps. Again, anathema. But all that aside, it's a well made tuxedo in the classic American soft shouldered, undarted cut.

It's a beautifully constructed garment. The lapel facing really is something, that old fashioned thickly corded grosgrain silk. The stripe down the side of the trousers is the same. The bulk of the suit is of a mid weight true black hopsack material, perfect for Summer formal when you don't want a white jacket.

Four button surgeon cuffs, the Dracula red lining is a bonus. And just look at the hand work on the button holes, lining, all of it. And yet, the buttons are not covered in satin or silk. Hmmm?

The overall quality is no real surprise, given its provenance at the Holy Church of the Andover Shop. What is in a way surprising, besides its flagrant disregard for so many of the rules of formal dress, is it's age.

This tux was made in 1961, in the very heyday of the cocktail party and formal wear scene, in the very meat of this monolithic Ivy League past we let intimidate us. It hails not only from a time used as the very reference point for all of this, but from a small shop known as one of the hot spots of the real thing. The Andover Shop in its day not only outfitted the Ivy League elite, but also the best of jazz musicians. One and all they were men who knew their way around evening clothes. How then can such an "abomination" as a notch lapel, flap pocket tuxedo have come from such a place, and at such a time?

The answer to me is simple. Clearly, the "rules" were not as stiffly enforced back then as we like to think they were. True, people may generally have carried themselves with an overall greater deal of comportment back then, but can it be that they were actually comfortable enough about it not to care too much about the minutia? Lest we forget, back then they even tried to sell us the button down collar formal shirt.

Then theres the lost of art of the truly "semi formal". The man who owned this tux likely wore dinner clothes frequently. He likely had more than one set of dinner clothes. He might have worn "formal" white tie to the opera,and he may have had a more proper peak lapelled tux for more serious occasions, but I bet he wore this to "semi formal" house parties on the weekend where both black tie and casual nonchalance were required.  Other guys at the same party likely wore madras jackets with satin faced shawl collars, and still others wore dark suits with neckties. I've written about casual black tie before, and I still believe we need to bring it back. Very Playboy Club, you know?

This suit is in my size, and I'm keeping it. At $29.99 in a thrift store, it's price sits well above my normal outlay, especially for clothing as truly un-neccesary as this. But you have to love the idea of being formal and laid back all at once, without resorting to a long tie or weird black shirt like some Hollywood slob. There's nothing like being the most formal guy in the room and the most comfortable all at once, is there? A suit like this, worn with a plain black bow, plain white shirt with French cuffs (no pleats), no cummerbund and black lace up shoes would do the trick nicely. Have me over for drinks some Sunday at 7:00 p.m. so I can prove it to you.

p.s. the Shop is more stocked than ever, especially if you have a shoe fetish or happen to be a 46 regular. Check it out.

Torture and Anguish

Warning: if you're the sort of person who is a sartorial nit-picker, trolling the internet looking for evidence of someone having broken some inconsequential minutiae in a  hardbound book of rules of dress that no longer exists just so you can inflate a false sense of superiority by leaving mean spirited and uptight anonymous comments, look away! What follows may cause health problems:

It's not even me this time. This display was spotted while rambling through Harvard Square yesterday in none other than the window of J.Press. Yes, it's true. A tuxedo and pleated formal shirt with a red v-neck sweater, in one of the brick and mortar cathedrals of American traditional style. It's so shocking one almost fails to notice the fact that jacket has flaps on the pockets or the clashing burgundy repp striped tie. Will there be no end to this torture?

I'm not writing this to either praise or malign this unusual combination. Truth be told, I think it's pretty silly looking, but who cares? I don't find any more enjoyment in trashing specific examples of other peoples stylistic chance taking than I do in wallowing in a strict adherence to rules.

The clothing we wear is fraught with meaning. Many people don't realize it, but whether you wear a tux or pyjamas tells things to the world. Dressing well is a sign of respect for those you will deal with in a given day. It should also make you feel and behave better. Above all, it should be fun. If it's all about torture and anguish, what's the point?