Add Some Subtle Pizzazz to Your Look. . .

A good looking gray glen plaid pattern with a mustard yellow windowpane overlay.

The word for today is "pattern." In short, guys, don't fear it or shy away from it. Sure, navy and charcoal have their place for more conservative suits and blazers or sports jackets, but, as my grandmother used to say, "Live a little!"

Glen plaid and houndstooth are two very traditional patterns that will easily liven up your wardrobe a bit. And, contrary to what many guys fear, they'll do so without making you look like the slimy Herb Tarlek on the old WKRP in Cincinnati TV program. The trick to avoiding Herb's look is to keep everything else really, really simple. Especially because both glen plaid and houndstooth are such dominant patterns.

Herb Tarlek from WKRP in Cincinnati.

To avoid aping Mr. Tarlek's tacky 1970s appearance above, I'd suggest a plain light blue oxford cloth button-down shirt and with either charcoal flannel, or tan corduroy pants along with oxblood loafers or some kind of wingtip in oxblood, tan, or dark brown. Don't forget to match your belt to your shoes as much as possible though! Dress up the look even more with an understated wool necktie. Maybe in a solid navy or gray? Or, for a more jaunty look -- ala the late Steve McQueen -- how about a turtleneck like those shown in today's photographs?

The point is, guys, you need more than just a single suit and one navy blazer in your closet. Those two items are a start, but they are only part of the picture when it comes to cultivating a more adult wardrobe. Adding a couple of sports jackets like the ones pictured at the top and bottom of today's post will provide not only more visual interest to you wardrobe but also considerably greater versatility. The trick is in keeping the rest of your clothing simple and understated, to avoid the used car salesman look like we see in the middle phototgraph.

But with that in mind, there is nothing whatsoever to fear about patterns. They can be our friends if we just give them a chance and learn how to incorporate them into our overall look, so that the result is visually pleasing.

An equally attractive brown and charcoal houndstooth tweed.

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Up North Style. . .

Bad Dad makes a friend. YMP and Bad Dad on the shores of Lake Michigan. Or was that Crystal Lake? The Grand Duchess takes a selfie in her kayak. How NOT to impress the girls sunning themselves along the river. YMP and Bad Dad kayaking on the Platte River headed toward Loon Lake. J ust back from a week in Northern Michigan in a charming and spacious house on the banks of the Betsie River outside of Thompsonville. A largely pleasant seven days despite some challenging episodes with the Young Master, who has picked up some very questionable habits and language from his friends in the 8th Grade during the school year just ended. But otherwise, we enjoyed ourselves and contemplated remaining for a few days longer since the house was available. In the end, we decided to return home as planned originally since neither my wife, nor I wanted to spend the remaining days chained to our computers in Zoom meetings from our vacation destination. I actually managed to leave the laptop and ip

Mid-June Thursday Style. . .

A nother pretty typical variation on the theme for late spring, summer, and very early fall. I'm a huge fan of Madras and have several such shirts in the seasonal rotation. Lightweight, exceedingly comfortable, and even dressy when pressed and tucked in, which is the usual way of things here at Totleigh in the Wold. Now, if I had my druthers, I'd still rather be skiing the trails in the upper half of "The Mitten" (of Michigan), in the Upper Peninsula, or Ontario. But summers ain't so bad either, and I'd look pretty funny walking around in cross-country ski attire during June. -- Heinz-Ulrich

A Lazy Saturday at the End of June. . .

A sleepy first half of the weekend here at Totleigh. Warmer and quite humid ahead of an approaching cool front here in Mid-Michigan. Perfect for yet another pair of chino shorts an a seersucker shirt -- tucked in of course -- with the usual leather deck shoes and ribbon belt. Otherwise, not much accomplished beyond a page or so of writing and monkeying around with audio settings for an upcoming podcast episode. However, I was not completely useless yesterday! I made a huge fruit salad for dinner, which the Grand Duchess and I enjoyed a short while later at the table on the back porch. The Young Master, as is his wont on Saturday evenings, took his dinner on a tray in the TV room upstairs where he whiled away a couple of hours on Flight Simulator, flying some sort of commercial airliner to some destination across the Atlantic or Pacific. I would have loved that sort of technology at about nine or 10 way back during the late 1970s, aka The Stone Age. As it is, my sister and

Classic Style

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