Feel Like a Million Bucks!

Heinz-Ulrich von Boffke models a vintage summer weight Corbin suit, Brooks Bothers necktie, and recrafted Allen Edmonds shoes.

No doubt about it, men.  When you wear a suit you enjoy (with alterations of course) along with the right shoes and accessories, you feel like a million bucks.  Even when the various elements comprising that ensemble come in at well below that price.  The items featured in today's photograph include:

1) A vintage U.S.-made (w/union labels) summer weight glen plaid suit by Corbin @ US$30 (thrifted)

2) Suit Alterations @ US$20

3) Allen Edmonds Shoes @ US$15 (thrifted)

4) Brooks Brothers Necktie @ FREE (from Mr. Midwester, a fellow menswear enthusiast)


Not custom-made bespoke British or Italian items of course, but not too shabby either relative to how so many men look these days.  Even those who work in ostensibly "white collar" office positions.   This particular ensemble certainly put an extra spring in my step as I walked to campus at lunch and home again later in the afternoon.

And an interesting thought drifted across my mind during the return trip.  It dawned on me how much I enjoy dressing nicely, and how good that makes me feel, both physically and mentally.  Sports jackets and dress pants certainly achieve that for me, but it is a suit, in particular, that really does it.  Silly, vapid, and superfical?  Maybe.  

But consider this.  If more men realized how much dressing nicely can positively affect one's mood, outlook, and attitude about oneself, one's work, and life in general on any given day of the week, these same guys might be more willing to snap out of the perpetual slob man-child aesthetic that dominates the landscape in so many places in 2013.  They might, just might then make more of an effort in how they present themselves to the rest of the world.  Just some sartorial food for thought.

In any case, when you wear stuff that fits your body type and have a little fun with patterns, you'll find that being dressed up is actually fun, comfortable, and makes you feel especially good about yourself and abilities.  So, why not dress up more often than most of us in most walks of life need to these days?  It certainly beats the alternative.  Likewise, it makes our own lives, and those of people whose paths we cross, just a bit nicer.  And isn't that reason enough to leave behind the sagging sweatpants, year-round cargo shorts, flip-flops, unbrushed hair, and backwards baseball caps?  As I say, just food for thought.