Reaching That Critical Mass. . .

Ignore the stiff, goofy expression, please. My wife either snaps a photo after my natural smile has waned and a pained expression takes over, or before I've relaxed and can give her a genuine smile. Maybe one day, we will get ourselves coordinated a bit better. A mix of Brooks Brothers and Land's End items here with Cole Haan tasseled loafers on the feet. These shoes my black rainy day pair, the reason I have not yet replaced them with something a bit better.

How do you know when you've got the right amount of stuff? When you can easily assemble a different combination of clothes at the start of your day almost without thinking about it. A guy does not need a huge amount of stuff in his wardrobe either. Neither does kicking up your everyday style several notches and dressing better than average need to take a lot of time (a common misconception). The main thing to keep in mind is, with all acquisitions, add only items that can be combined, without too much trouble, with stuff you have already in your wardrobe.

As for things that work with relatively few other items, either jettison them from your wardrobe, or don't buy them in the first place. I'm actually in the midst of weeding out a number of items that just don't get much wear, or aren't as great in practice as they seemed when I first got them.

The ensemble shown above took about two minutes to assemble after showering and shaving this morning with maybe another five minutes to put on everything. Add the necktie, and I was back downstairs and ready to walk out the door about 15 minutes after replacing my shaving mug and brush on the shelf. Factor in the shower and shave, and we're talking 30 minutes tops to appear reasonably presentable for public consumption.

Looking decent does not, repeat does not need to take an inordinate about of time. The belief that dressing better than average somehow will take more time that you have is fallacious and an excuse. I'd be willing to bet that very few average guys are so busy that they can't find half an hour to pull themselves together a bit more than has become the sad, pathetic norm in our pilled fleece world of 2014. Heck, you can always get out of bed 20 minutes early, right?

Tomorrow is the Friday of Homecoming Weekend at my small liberal arts school. While administrative offices will be open, there are no classes. Yes! Time for yours truly to take two recently thrifted wool flannel suits -- a double-breasted Ermenegildo Zegna number in creamy Glen Plaid and a chalk stripe three-piece by Polo Ralph Lauren -- to my tailor Mrs. V. for a few minor alterations before I can wear them. I must also drop off a pair of gray flannel pants and corduroy sports jacket and retrieve my wristwatches from the jeweler between walking our son to preschool early in the day and picking him up in the early afternoon. Somewhere in there, my wife and I will meet for our semi-regular Friday cafe date too. Busy, busy, busy. . . but a nice kind of busy

-- Heinz-Ulrich

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

MattOctober 2, 2014 at 3:47 PM
My first purchase of Royall Lime was received this morning after your recommendation. Subtle warm lime scent, very pleasing to the nose. Next job is to sort out the socks -I am working from the ground up here!
WSTKS-FM WorldwideOctober 2, 2014 at 3:55 PM
Glad you're enjoying your new Royall Lime. It's my absolute favorite.

Best Regards,

Heinz-Ulrich

Classic Style

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