The S.P.C.P.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of pairs of innocent, high quality trousers are passed over and cast aside, simply for having a pleated front. Don't wait for the fashion media to tell you pleats are o.k., that comfort and style come in many forms. Won't you please help?

-Brought to you by The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Pleats

p.s. don't forget to send a tie to show support for Mayor Rivera

Plain Ball Caps

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I like a plain color baseball cap, especially in sunwashed "preppy" colors.

I like a fitted cap, but I can settle for a nice buckle.

And I'm sure I have broken who-knows-how-many inviolable sartorial laws by combining khakis, suede driving mocs, bare ankles, tennis shirt and said plain ball cap in one outfit. But what can I say? Dressing well for a hot day (82 Fahrenheit) in October ain't easy. And as I've said before, I don't really much care for the imaginary rules.

p.s. new stuff in the Shop. It will be cold one day, so stock up now.

Legend and Reality

A "Brooks Brothers Man", circa 1980s. Via The Trad

A current "Brooks Brothers Man". Photo via BrooksBrothers.com

There is a lot that continues to amaze me about the thing we have taken to calling, for lack of a better term, the "online menswear community". The very existence of such a thing in the first place is enough to astound anyone old enough to remember what life was like before such large portions of it were spent in front of any one of a number of screens. At the age of 37, I just barely make that category, but I can still remember stretching the phone cord down the hall from the kitchen to my room for some privacy.

 By and large, the world of blogs and websites devoted to menswear, or anything else, has proved to be a largely positive thing. There is no end of information readily available on any subject, and with it comes an even wider range of opinion and comment. All that's good, but it can lead to a blurring of the lines between legend and truth, and can foster a spirit of extreme narrow-mindedness about rules, regulations, and traditions, be they real or imagined. Nowhere it seems is this truer than in the circles of menswear enthusiasts, with Brooks Brothers so often saddled with the dual personality of Vanguard of Tradition/Soulless Traitor, or rather Legend/Reality.

If you're reading this blog, chances are you have at least once encountered a blog or website where some one happened to mention that Brooks Brothers clothes are not precisely the same as they may have been some time ago, which was quickly followed by a torrent of comments bemoaning everything from the difficulty one has in finding a dartless jacket to the absolute downfall of civilization as we know it.  I would never say that there is no meaning attached to the things we were, but the fervor over the smallest minutiae that tends to occur when discussing menswear, particularly "traditional" menswear, can be staggering. Too bad, really, as this sort of thinking misses the point entirely of dressing well or with style. 

Pictured above are two men representing Brooks Brothers. The first is from a mid-1980s catalog, the second from the current website. Both men wear a charcoal striped business suit. The first, a three piece, no doubt in a conservative, natural shouldered, three button "sack" (dartless) cut with flat front trousers. His hair is grey, distinguished. He is a grown up, no kidding.The second man's suit is cut in a more modern "trim" style. Some might say that his clothes look to small, and I would agree. But remember, he is a model on a website, not you. There is nothing stopping you from buying the same suit he is wearing in a size that fits you more appropriately. Lets not forget also that the first man is not  real person, but a watercolor painting.

You know the drill, you've heard it all before : "That suit is deplorable. Brooks should be ashamed.", "I blame the Italians.", or best "Why can't Brooks Brothers make things like they used to?" I mean, god help them, don;t they know there are literally dozens of us who would buy a frumpy sack suit from them, as long as it also met a further list of minute requirements?

The fact is that the world is not the same place it was forty years ago. Brooks Brothers is a huge international company making business decisions based on things bigger than the tastes and proclivities of an increasingly small pocket of men in the United States. Simple as that. You may hear people bemoaning what they see as the death knell for Brooks all over the menswear blogs, but as far as I can see, from a business stance, they seem to be doing just fine. That is, after all, what businesses do. Besides, so many of the Legends of Brooks Brothers could stand to be tempered with a healthy brick of salt. The "rules" that are regarded as sacrosanct when it comes to this stuff were never really so strictly observed by the real men of New England who wore this stuff.

I was reminded of this recently while on a consignment house call in an affluent Massachusetts suburb. The clothing I was looking at belonged to a deceased surgeon. It was all very traditional, lots of Brooks Brothers. There were grey sack suits and three patch pocket blazers, plenty of striped ties. But among the stacks of khakis, cords, and moleskins, I found as many pleated fronts as flats. There were button down and point collar shirts in the same closet. Some jackets had darts, some didn't. And they were all worn together by the same man, a real "Brooks Brothers Man" if you will. True, there was a traditional East Coast consistency in his style, but nowhere did I see rigid adherence to minute rules.

The "sack suit" has been romanticized to represent some sort of lost ideal of manhood, maybe, or something. But let's not forget that the undarted jacket and flat front pants, even the two button cuffs, were likely cost saving decisions made so long ago by Brooks Brothers, when the sack suit was the first off the rack clothing available. I love a good sack suit as much as the next traditionalist, but you might say those details also represent the inception of mass-produced clothing. We can thank Brooks Brothers for that, along with the  introduction of Dupont Dacron Polyester. Look where those two innovations led. These facts are easily ignored or forgotten in these discussions. So can we really be surprised or blame Brooks Brothers for paying attention to the market and making business decisions based not on the grousing of a few but the potential to sell as many items as possible? Isn't that kind of what they've always done? Legend/reality?

If what I've said seems negative or bleak, it shouldn't. There is a positive in all this. The world will likely never require men to dress as well as they once did, but that makes doing all the more an act of individuality and self expression. Where the suit was once a type of conformity, it now as frequently represents the opposite. So don't get bogged down in silly rules regarding pleats and vents and button down collars. Let your tastes guide you. Real style never had much to do with rules anyway. Dressing well should be enjoyable. I believe we should venerate what is good in our past, and that these days the "new" is so revered for its own sake that we tend to neglect the past. However, pining for an idealized version of the past and constantly whining about change neither venerates the past nor respects the present or future. It only shows you've missed the point. Don't confuse legend and reality.

Dress well and enjoy it. Otherwise, what's the point?

Thrifty Kids, part 4

Lands' End blazer, new with tags ($79.50), $5.99, Polo green tennis shirt, $1.99, Children's Place khakis, $3.99, boat shoes, $4.99

The other day, I had to meet someone for a brief interview at the Shop. The meeting was in the afternoon, and I had the kids in tow. I told them we would go out to lunch at the local taqueria, and that afterwards I needed them to be good and quiet for just a little while so I could talk to another grown-up. When I got dressed in a jacket and tie to meet said grown-up, both children insisted in dressing in kind. The Girl was happy to wear a cute sun dress. The Boy actually argued for a proper shirt and tie, until I assured him that khakis and a tennis shirt with a navy blazer was perfectly acceptable for a warm afternoon in late Summer. Begrudgingly, he finally agreed.

Bare ankles and boat shoes are, of course, de rigeuer. Like father, like son.

Improvements and Upgrades (or, relativity)

People who don' t shop in thrift stores tend to share the common misconception that thrift shopping is a matter of compromise, of settling for what you can get. They're wrong. In fact, shopping in places like Walmart and Target is settling for what you can get. Allow me to explain.

I'm not about to open a conversation on blind brand allegiance. Nor am I about to infer that you are less of a person for using mass market products. I am only going to suggest that it is in fact possible to do this while abstaining from participation in the mass market, and in the long run, come out ahead.

This time of year, I tend to shy away from dungarees for the go-to pants in favor of khakis. For one thing, I find jeans to be nothing but uncomfortable on a warm day. For another, khakis run the gamut from casual to dressy. For this reason, several pair (or at least a few) are best.

When it comes to khakis, or other widely produced items,  thrift shops come into their own. In the past, I've owned many pairs of J. Crew "Essential Chinos",though I never purchased a single pair from J. Crew. Thrift shops are full of them, usually for five or six bucks a pair. They're good enough, and cheap enough. I don't even have to settle for "Dockers". In Spring, I practically wear a uniform or tan pants and navy blue jackets. As such, khakis are something of a commodity for me. So I buy the mall brand khakis for cheap, and wear them out.Then little by little, they are replaced with better goods,for the same price. To wit, the current rotation, seen above,

At left we have a pair of Brooks Brothers "Madison" chinos. A nice, darker shade of tan, these chinos do dressy and casual equally well. I have this pair dry cleaned, so I wear them dressy when they're crisp, and casual when a little dirty and rumpled. A definite improvement and/or upgrade to the J, Crew models, in a very nice shade of darker tan. Nice as these chinos are, it pays to remember that once venerable stalwarts like "Brooks Brothers" are only just brand names now, and no real guarantee of quality and/or "realness". ( We used to call that 'authenticity' in the day, before that word was considered "artisinal.")

In the middle, we have the "fanciest" pair.  A custom job from Alan Rouleau of Boston,this pair is made from a lighter, more delicate cloth, a clear departure from the military/hard wearing roots of khaki clothing. I wear this pair almost exclusively with a blazer and tie. Dressy for when no one else is and confidence is your only weapon.

Far right, vintage army khakis. Thicker than the others, heavier than  the others. These are the real deal, the pair I use for working around the house, running errands, or anything that involves a lot of driving.

I still have an old pair of J.Crew 'essential chinos" too. Stained with paint from the kids' bedroom, they are soft and comfortable, perfect for anytime when I have real work to do. I even wear them out sometimes, in spite of the recent paint splattered khaki silliness some designers have engaged in lately. 

You'll often here clothing blogs give the advice to young men that when starting to build a wardrobe, it helps to find good less expensive versions of things to start with until you can afford to move up to the better stuff. This is where my point about how thrift shops can be less of a compromise than "big box" stores come into it. You can still begin with starter stuff, at a price so cheap that you're not wasting your time or money on inferior goods. You don't even have to participate in the corporate cycle to acquire them. Better still, when the opportunity to upgrade comes along, you can step up to the better stuff for the same price, and it will effectively be a reward for your patience and perseverance. 

p.s. Indiegogo, remember? Push, push, push!

p.p.s. I began writing this post last night, then saved the draft. Seems it got hacked and published with some added weird stuff at the end. My apologies to anyone who read it in its weird version. I've fixed the problem and completed the post properly.

Simple as That

We around the nerdy corners of the whacked out phenomenon that is menswear snobbery can get awfully tied up in outrageous minutiae. It can be easy to forget that simplicity, while always a good starting point, is often a refreshing reminder that all those rules, tricks, and tips you've been reading about (my own included) are to some degree so much hooey.

Few things bring it all back down to Earth like a blue oxford shirt and a crisp pair of khakis. True, I will always advise that quality should take precedence, but.....In the world of thrift shopping, few things are constant. The availability of khakis and blue oxfords is, for now, one of those constants. Good stuff does turn up, but for less than ten bucks each, there's no end of serviceable options out there. Ralphie and J. Crew do me just fine with this stuff.

Together, they provide the nucleus of comfortable casual for any man whose wardrobe is in any way classic. Here, with a navy surcingle belt and penny loafers, the effect is casual but smart. Swap the loafers for boat shoes, blucher mocs, or even canvas sneakers, and we're comfier still. Wear it all all un-ironed and we're downright slouchy. But for all that, you can be as laid back as the guy in the flip flops and children's t-shirt....albeit infinitely better appointed and taken ever more seriously by fellow grown-ups everywhere. The garden gnome agrees.

Add a classic blue blazer and repp striped bow tie and you're , ya know, like, all dressed up, or something. Foulards and knit ties, cotton or silk, work just as well.

It's as simple as that.

p.s. we're on vacation. I'll be up North with the wife and children all week, in a place that looks like this:

I'll do my best to write a post or two...or maybe I'll just drink beer on the deck of the cottage in the evening. We'll see.





Wet Feet, and How Not to Have Them

It should be clear to you by now that I have a strong tendency to like all things old, outmoded and archaic, most especially in matters of dress and general personal carriage. This may lead you to believe that I would be the sort of man to wear overshoes, or "rubbers", when Ole' Ma Nature throws us a distinctly wet welcome to June. You'd be wrong.

Over the years, I've had a few pair like the ones you see above, and I really tried to use them. I've also owned sock garters in the past, and tried to like those, too. In the end, I find both things to be just plain silly in the modern world, the exclusive province of guys who do old stuff just to do old stuff.

And don't even get me started on Swims, their overpriced and somehow fashionable off-shoots.The only thing sillier than rubber overshoes is overpriced pseudo-fashionable "cool" rubber overshoes.

So what, then, is a fellow to do? The answers vary. For many men, it's easy to simply take refuge in the fact that pyjamas now suffice as clothing practically everywhere these days and cover up in some high tech waterproof camping stuff. Or you could just stay inside.

Fortunately for me, I live in New England, near Boston, in the epicenter of that uniquely American style of dressing up with extreme elements of casual leisure thrown in, of combining proper dress with sensible dress in just the right way. Fortunately for the rest of you, this way of dressing not only happens to be enjoying a moment of fashion right now but is also far more generally acceptable in more places than ever.

To begin with, these are the shoes that will keep your feet dry. Bean Boots, Original Maine Hunting Shoes, Duck Boots, whatever you want to call them. In Winter I wear a high cut pair with woolen socks. On the second day of June, I wear slip on moccasins with cotton socks and cheap khakis.At work, I keep an old pair of penny loafers to change into. There is one and only one source for these shoes : L.L.Bean. Don't bother with any others. But of course, you knew that already.

Up top, a Brooks Brothers shirt and blazer with an tie from the Andover Shop are all kept dry and clean under a Barbour jacket. Yes, in Boston you sometimes find yourself wearing a jacket over a jacket over a shirt and tie even in June.

The whole thing enters near abominable territory with the addition up top of a ball cap to keep the head dry. Truth be told, a ball cap atop jacket and tie is a time tested option in foul weather in Boston. Tread lightly here. Ball cap and suit is likely no good; ball cap and blazer with khakis is manageable. Red Sox hats and their derivatives are best. Country club and gold course caps work too, but only if you belong or play golf there.

The overall effect is a perfect fusion of correct and sensible, if a little laid back in its way. But that is the very heart of what this stuff is all about. Don't forget that above all the clothes should fit well, if even a little slouchy. Remember that when this "preppy fashion" moment passes and you should be able to wear this stuff for the rest of your life. Then your boy can wear this stuff for much of his life.

Oh, and your feet will stay dry.

A Dash of Color

I like to make an attempt to look put-together, even when I'm not really dressing up. Since a tie is frequently too much these days (as stated here), Springtime affords a man the option of ribbon belts in a myriad of stripes and prints. They can add the dash of color of a tie, in an easy, casual way:

My own collection isn't huge, but it's adequate. A grouping of stripes in colors similar to what I might wear in a tie, one madras plaid, and  a couple of go-to-hell prints. If you're wearing khakis or go-to-hell pants with a tennis shirt, a leather belt simply won't do. If you're wearing a blazer and bow tie, and you're a brave man, try one on for size. Just stay keep them away from dress pants and suits (but you already knew that, right?)

Cheap, fun, and eminently collectible, ribbon belts satisfy my style conscious side as well as the insatiable hoarder in me. And here's a little secret: look for these in the women's accessories at the thrift shop. All the best ones wind up there.

p.s. the Shop is as stocked as ever. Check it out.