Casual Attire for a Sunny Spring Day at Home. . .

Please ignore the skinny, pale legs and concentrate on the shoes themselves!  Up top, I'm wearing tan chino shorts with a navy blue polo top.  A little chilly now, but I'll warm quickly up once the raking starts.

Today is Earth Day, and since classes wrapped up for yours truly yesterday afternoon, I am about to head outside to pick up sticks and rake up any grass thatch, to help along our poor excuse for a lawn.

Until late August, I am realtively free, save for some student term papers to collect later this week, reading through them, and then final course grades to submit after the weekend.  That means, sadly, that dressing up is on hiatus for the next three months.  Sigh.  Yes, there is an article I want to write and possible a translation or two to do, but my wife and I are fortunate enough to be able to do that from the confines of home offices, which means that more casual clothing is the rule until about August 21st or so.

However, that does not mean that one need descend into the depths of Slobdom.  For instance, for those average guys who wondering about how to kick up their warm weather style several notches, I'd suggest three items, which are available at all price points: leather deck shoes, khaki and/or Madras shorts (with either a 6" or 9" inseam), and pique weave, short-sleeved polo shirts in solid colors, though not white for obvious reasons.  It doesn't get any easier than that. And with any luck, you can find a lot of this stuff in good used condition in thrift/charity shops if you don't want to purchase it new.

Now, some might sneer and mutter something about looking like the front of a J. Crew catalog, but ignore them.  I've noticed over many years that people say things like that when they are jealous or allow themselves to feel self-conscious because someone else looks nice.  You'll look good in any case, feel extremely comfortable in all but the hottest weather, and you won't look like an overgrown schoolboy, aping the latest music, movie, or sports star who has adopted some version of "thugwear" as his sad attempt at edgy personal expression.  Yawn. 

If you want to kick up your everyday style several notches and dress like a serious adult male with (legal) things to do, places to go, and people to see, don't go anywhere near that kind of appearance.  Nope.  Far better to keep your warm weather gear simple, comfortable, and classic.  Your boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, or partner  will appreciate your efforts to look pulled together during the dog days of August here in the Northern Hemsiphere.

-- Heinz-Ulrich