Classic Style

  A beautiful, warm autumn day here in Mid-Michigan.  The kind of day you only really get in September and October.  Perfect for having some fun with a few warm weather items, topped off by the usual Panama hat.  It'll be time for the tweed, flannels, and corduroy soon enough though. -- Heinz-Ulrich

  I t's the end of September already!  Can the tweeds, flannels, and corduroys be far off?  Although we might still have a few unexpected warm days here in Mid-Michigan, certainly by this time next month.   In the meantime, here's the attire for the end of the week.  Not a bad combination, but I really must take this blazer to the dry-cleaner's to get rid of those very old chalk smudges on the lapel and have it pressed in the process.  I know, I know. . . The necktie is by J. Press, snagged some years ago for pennies on the dollar from the Put This On shop if memory serves me correctly.  One of my favorite so called critter ties, it reminds me of my youth in rural southeastern Pennsylvania, when Ringnecked Pheasants were a very common sight during the autumn months once the cornfields were harvested.   Haven't seen or heard pheasants in the almost 30 years since I left Pennsylvania for the Upper Midwest.  Here in Michigan, it's very common to see and hear wild turke

  S till hanging on to the summer attire for a wee bit longer although the calendar has shifted ,and more comfortable temperatures have arrived.  It will soon be time to swap out the warm weather gear for the tweed, flannels, and corduroys.  But in the meantime, a not unpleasant combination of items for Monday.   The only miss in the mix is the cream-colored socks, or rather than dove gray chinos.  In the pre-dawn darkness of the bedroom, I thought I grabbed the cream-colored pair of khakis from a hanger to go with the socks.  Alas, I discovered the error sometime after I was on campus and ensconced on my laptop with coffee in the building where my two classes for today later met.  Grrr.     Ah, well, you can't hit it out of the park all of the time, and when standing my sartorial gaff was not visible. In short, I was the only one who knew.  Or cared if we are brutally honest for a moment.  Tomorrow, it's onward and upward as we try, try again. -- Heinz-Ulrich.

  A not unpleasant combination of warm weather items for the last day (?) of summer yesterday, when temperatures climbed to 79 or 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.6 Celsius).  My friend and colleague from South Asia really appreciated the vintage Madras necktie by Rooster. Made in India, it still features the New Hampshire ski shop label from where it was purchased sewn to the rear of the smaller blade.  Other items shown are from among the usual suspects that I typically combine for my "non-suit" days. -- Heinz-Ulrich

  A nother Brooks Brothers suit with a vintage Polo self-tie bow tie and the usual suspects, including my Panama hat, which I've been wearing again daily since mid-August.  With the shift to autumn, at least according to the calendar, I'll phase back into felt fedoras.   Unless we have a spell of unusually sunny and warm weather. Then, it's back to the Panama hat for a time or two more before I stow it in a hatbox until late Spring 2024.   And no, fellas.  A trilby is NOT a fedora.  -- Heinz- Ulrich

  Y et s till warm enough for lighter weight attire, so I pulled out this particular suit from the closet for wear yesterday (Monday) morning.  Not just any old brown suit, however, but a Brooks Brothers number made with Loro Piana fabric.   A heathered, understated pattern that looks almost textured up close, but from a distance has a nice, understated look to it.  Coincidentally, the shirt, now that I think of it, is also vintage Brooks, both worn with the usual suspects where accessories are concerned.   Despite the fact that it was a Monday, I felt almost jaunty as I went about the day.  Funny about that.  So, why not add a spring to your step and wear a suit once in a while?  Even if it's not required. -- Heinz-Ulrich

W orking from home Thursday morning, but already dressed to shuttle the young master to a doctor's appointment midday with two others following his arrival home from school.  People tend to treat you better when you're dressed, a point we take great pains to convey to our almost 14-year-old son, who looks pretty pulled together most of the time.  Now, if only he would tuck in his shirt and put on a belt without being reminded. -- Heinz-Ulrich        

L ast Saturday, September 09, 2023, would have been my maternal grandmother's 106th birthday.  In bearing, "Granny" was not unlike Maggie Smith in her Downton Abbey guise, but somewhat warmer and intentionally funny, nevertheless in that same self-assured way as the Dowager Countess. "Oh, my dear!  She has the soul of a chamber maid!" she once said about a distant family member according to my late mother.   Pointed and judgmental?  Yes, but it sums up nicely certain aspects of Granny's personality and worldview. I laugh quietly to myself whenever that particular statement crosses my mind.  More for the warm memories it conjures than derision. A mean Scrabble and Gin Rummy player, my grandmother once mentioned to me that, had times been different during her younger years in the 1930 and 40s, she would have liked to become a lexicographer.  She loved words, reading, and crossword puzzles, working religiously each week through the Sunday New York Times Magazin

  A cool, damp day, perfect for a little Glen Plaid, university stripe, and etc.  with one of two Phi Kappa Phi neckties.  I know, I know. -- Heinz-Ulrich

  T he waning days of summer, and already kind of cool here in Mid-Michigan, but I'm determined to enjoy my warm weather gear as long as is feasibly possible.  Admittedly, the almost chilly gray day today (Friday) has me thinking about tweed, oxford cloth, wool flannel, corduroy, and suede. But let's talk about yesterday's tan cotton suit.  Brooks Brothers, I think, although I can't swear to it.  Might also be Southwick.  Haven't checked the label(s) inside the coat in ages.  In any case, it's lightweight, airy, and comfortable.  I always chuckle when I pull this one out and think back to 2012, possibly 2011, or maybe 2013, when there was quite a kerfuffle among the political right in the U.S. in the wake of then President Obama showing up for a summer press conference in a tan suit instead of the usual navy or charcoal. Questions of color and pattern related to differing levels of formality aside, past presidents have ALSO been photographed carrying out their d

  J ust off campus at a certain internationally recognized cafe chain frightfully early this Wednesday morning (just after 6am).  Only because the new one -- same internationally recognized chain -- in the main library has yet to open.   But it was blissfully quiet with some innocuous music overhead and stable internet, so I was able to enjoy a large cup of fresh coffee, wade through the usual mountain of non-specific email clogging my inbox, and accomplish quite a bit of actual work before 8am when I moved onto campus and the library, where it was also wonderfully quiet,did some writing, and had a quick planning session with a colleague via Zoom. It still amazes me what you can get done before anyone else is out of bed with interruptions of one kind or another.  And I say that as a one-time devoted night owl and late riser the next morning in the days before our son arrived.   30+ years ago, before getting serious about life and returning to school, the young, long-haired Heinz-Ulrich

  A blissfully quiet September 2nd here,  Cool, partly sunny, and breezy.  Perfect late summer-early fall weather in my book.  So, what better way to cultivate that relaxed long holiday weekend feel that with ultra comfortable, well-worn though still serviceable attire?   Hence a decade (or more) old pair of very faded Nantucket red shirts and a 25-year-old polo shirt given to me by my late mother.  Amazingly, I had the foresight to mow the lawn late yesterday afternoon and during the early evening after dinner, so all there is to do today is sit around and, ahem, watch the grass grow. -- Heinz-Ulrich 

  A favorite jacket, pair of gabardine odd pants, a soft old Land's End 'Original Oxford' ocbd, shoes, and green foulard necktie all converge at long last for a not displeasing combination donned for a lengthy day of face-to-face meetings on campus.  Whew!  I'm beat. -- Heinz-Ulrich

  A wonderfully sunny, yet cool and breezy late summer's day here today in Mid-Michigan.  The kind you only get in August, September, and possibly early October.  Perfect weather for dressing presentably, relatively speaking.   While, on reflection, I should have chosen plain navy or chocolate brown socks, not a bad effort.  My only defense is that it was still dark when I grabbed these from the sock drawer early this morning, and they looked about right in the gray of pre-dawn. The usual Panama hat topped off the ensemble.  As I made my way from the car to the supermarket to pick up a few things on the way home, an anonymous woman well beyond a certain age called to me from her car, "You man, you look as sharp as a tack!"   Never necessary, but appreciation from others is always nice to hear if and when it comes. "Thank you!"  I replied before entering the store. Yesterday, Day #1 of the autumn semester/term, ended up being so packed full of stuff that I negle

    C lasses for the fall term kick-off tomorrow, and I meet my students for the first time at 10:20 and 11:30.  So, out came the iron earlier this afternoon to press tomorrow's shirt, a 19-year old Land's End 'Original Oxford', and a stack of white cotton handkerchiefs. The shirt is one of several remaining from about 2003-2004 when I took my first teaching job at a small (now closed) college outside Minneapolis-Saint Paul.  That first year, I took the opportunity to beef up my professional wardrobe with additional jackets, shirts, neckties, and odd pants from the likes of Land's End and L. L. Bean, which had not yet gone full on stretchy comfort mode.   At the time, you could still find a number of suitably (ha, ha) professional looking items at reasonable prices.  And while I already had some of this gear hanging in my bedroom closet, a bit more was necessary to avoid wearing the same three shirts over and over again.  It wasn't quite that dire, you understan

  W ith a little help from the usual suspects.  Gotta say that it was nice to appear a bit more dressed than has been usual the last few months.  Looking very forward to pressing a shirt Sunday evening and opening the wardrobe early Monday morning to see what might jump out at me for the fist day of the Fall 2023 semester. -- Heinz-Ulrich

  C asually cool, but looking very nice on his way to school early this morning.  The almost 14-year old Young Master will be as tall as me (5'11", or approximately 180cm) before too much longer.  Both the Grand Duchess and I have very tall relatives of Swedish, German, and English heritage, well over 6', so it will be interesting to see how tall our son becomes by his early to mid-20s. -- Heinz-Ulrich

  W ell, Sir.  The new semester kicks off in earnest next Monday the 28th although meetings and appointments of one sort or another have already been in full swing for the last few weeks, stretching back to mid-July.  Remember mid-July? Anyway, the need to appear in-person on campus yesterday (Tuesday) meant that it was time from a slightly more professional look than is usual during the summer months around here.   Easy,  just go to the shirt closet in the laundry room and the wardrobe in our bedroom, and pull out a few requisite items to put on.  Following a shower of course!  35 minutes later, you're walking out the door to the car.  Dressing presentably needn't take time, mental effort, or be something to fear. -- Heinz-Ulrich

    Early Sunday afternoon, revising course syllabi out on the back porch with a laptop.  Still, no reason not to appear somewhat "pulled together" as my maternal grandmother used to say.  Not a Madras shirt, but the University of Wisconsin-branded sport shirt is in the same general direction given its cardinal, white, and gray plaid.   My main critique of the shirt is that the collar is not button-down, but ah, well.  It's fun to pull from the shirt drawer a few times a summer to annoy the Grand Duchess, an Indiana and UCLA girl.   We met the the University of Minnesota, which is why you attend graduate school in the first place.  To find a spouse of course!  Hey, we're nothing here in the Grand Duchy if not overly edubecated. -- Heinz-Ulrich

  L ots happening here at the moment in the Grand Duchy.  The Young Master begins the 8th grade next Wednesday, so I took him to school yesterday for the scheduled brief kick-off, to receive his locker assignment, meet his teachers, find their rooms, and drop off a few donated school supplies (whiteboard markers, dry erasers, and a few other small things).   I hung back during our visit and let Paul show me around.  He was amazing to watch during these interactions, even carrying on a lengthy conversation in grammatically correct German with Frau B. (using the formal pronoun Sie ) , a German librarian (married to an American), who stationed the welcome table near the main entrance.  Usually, our son is reluctant to flex his linguistic prowess, at least with me, but not yesterday.   And not to be outdone, he exchanged a few correct sentences in French with Madame F., the French teacher, as we left.  Not sure where he picked up that! The first signs of adulthood, or an indicator that our

Taking a quick break from the Sunday scramble to finish an article for submission with a few shots of today's late summer attire, featuring a freshly ironed Madras shirt that has not seen the light this season.  Two weeks left of summer vacation, and I have a couple of commitments on campus at the end of next week, the 24th and 25th, so professional attire is called for, but I can't say I'm sorry for that.     For all the talk of what is, or is not appropriate, dignified, or whatever, above all dressing reasonably well should be fun.  And I certainly have that regardless of season, setting, or related garments.     So, bring on the start of the autumn semester/term, say I!  Looking forward to some summer sports jackets, casual knit silk ties, khakis, loafers, and Panama hat.  Perhaps even the occasional seersucker linen suit as we race toward Labor Day and the traditional end of the summer season here in the U.S. -- Heinz-Ulrich