Betweeded for an Early and Frigid Winter's Day. . .

With eyes still watering from the cold outside, here's Heinz-Ulrich still in a Pendleton tweed overcoat and 20+ year old woolen scarf (a Christmas gift from Mom and Step Dad) but sans the 29-year old brown leather gloves (another Christmas gift from Mom).

Brrrrrr. . .  A frigid, and unseasonably cold, day for mid-November in my neck of the woods!  About 20 degrees Fahrenheit with a -8 degree windchill, and the sun is dropping fast at 4:43pm.  But we have nevertheless been provided with a perfect excuse to bundle up in tweed and flannel today.  

Everything show in today's pictures was thrifted for very little, or, in the case of the tweed overcoat, purchased via Ebay for very little.  Only the suede brogues, brown belt, and the dark red Argyll knee socks were purchased new.  Proof again, that a guy can look more than a little presentable in classic attire without breaking the bank.

One thing occurs to me with classic clothing items.  Whether you frequent thrift/charity shops, watch for sales, or pay full retail price, whenever you spot all-cotton light blue oxford cloth button down collar shirts, or wool flannel pants in gray, snap 'em up!  A guy can never have enough of these two items in his wardrobe.

The shirt in this instance is a very heavy-weight item sold under the Bass label, that I picked up in a thrift shop for almost nothing a week or so ago.  I'm not sure it was worn more than once.  The pants, made in Italy if that still means anything, were another item I stumbled across back in September at the other of my two reliable thrift outlets.  While I've already got a few of each item, typically one comes across so much junk in thrift/charity shops that it makes good sense to buy better quality items in decent shape when you find them.  

Of course, it is entirely possible to have too much stuff, but my way of thinking is like this.  To begin with, both of these items are extremely versatile "go to" pieces within the context of classic men's style, so it makes good sense to have a few of each clean and either folded in your drawer, or hanging in your closet.  Second, when you have a few, or even several, each of certain key items like these within your wardrobe, the general wear and tear that comes through normal wearings, washings, and dry-cleanings is spread out among them.  As a result, your clothing lasts much longer than if you depend on, for example, a single OCBD shirt, or a single pair of flannel pants.  

And there's your classic men's style tip for the day.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

And here's Heinz-Ulrich again in that recently acquired brown Harris Tweed jacket (made in the U.S.A.) from Land's End.  The subtle windowpane pattern consists of navy, maroon, and mustard yellow lines, and darned if I can't feel a partial canvas lining in the chest of the jacket.  It's certainly not fused.