Christmas Week Style. . .

The lower half of yesterday evening's casual ensemble.

Just because it's Christmas Week, there's been no real reason to venture out, and classes don't resume for your truly until January 8th, is no reason not to dress up a little bit when time and occasion call for it. Yesterday evening, my wife and I were joined by a former colleague and her husband, retired professors of the German and French languages and literatures respectively. . . and wine aficionados. It seemed, therefor, like the perfect time to wear the Dapper Classics socks show above, which were a Christmas gift this year from my better half. Here are the details of the full ensemble:

* Polo Univeristy Club navy wool blazer -- thrifted
* Brooks Brothers OCBD shirt red and white university stripe -- Ebay
* Land's End dress chinos (these hold a crease) -- sale
* Land's End braided belt brown -- sale
* Dapper Classics to-the-knee dress socks -- Christmas gift
* Allen Edmonds loafers -- Ebay
* Italian silk pocket square in dark red with yellow hand-rolled edge and golden/orange paisleys -- thrfted

The evening was full of pleasant and interesting conversation, good food, and, of course, wine. Best of all, our guests last night left just before 11pm, which is always nice when facing a formidable kitchen and dining room clean-up. Such a timely and considerate departure is not something that always happens with many of our other guests, who tend to overstay their welcome (sometimes by hours) every time and never seem to return the invitation. Time to sidestep their social awkwardness and find some new acquaintances. Or do something about our chronic body odor and halitosis. Yeah. That must be it.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

And, for good measure, the combination of things I put on for Christmas Dinner this year. It sure beats showing up for what should be a special occasion in warm-up gear, sunglasses, and one of those godawful backwards baseball caps. The red plaid thingy peeking out is a repurposed 16" swath of cloth from an old, worn out pajama top. I had my seamstress hem the edges to make a color pocket handkerchief.

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Up North Style. . .

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Classic Style

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