Wool Pocket Square Wednesday. . .

The new square in action early this morning before the first class of the day.

As mentioned in a previous post or two, 2017 is the Year of Accessories here at Classic Style, and one of my favorite accessories happens to be pocket squares. I began wearing the silk paisley variety in my jacket and suit pockets back during the fall of 2003 in my first job immediately post-graduate school when I taught for 14 months at a small college just outside Minneapolis, Minnesota. Oddly, I don't recall specifically what it was that inspired me besides the vague impression that empty chest pockets struck me as somehow odd.

The rather dandy move, in the minds of many men, was, admittedly, into uncharted territory. My nearest examples of how professional men ought to dress, my father and maternal grandfather wore suits five, and sometimes six, days a week in their working lives as Philadelphia and Manhattan-based corporate executives. Only my grandfather though ever adorned his suit coat pockets, and that was invariably with a folded white cotton handkerchief. Nothing more. Unless I wear a navy or charcoal suit, however, I tend to go in for a bit more color most of the time.

Today's example was purchased on sale from Put This On, a source of nicely made, reasonably priced full-size 16" pockets squares, last May or June. I only just got around to stuffing it into my jacket pocket for the first time this morning. Behold!

I don't bother with any special folds, unless wearing a white linen square with a dark suit, and typically just put the square in question in my pocket and, at this point, truly do forget about it until undressing and putting things away at the end of day following my return home. Neither do I attempt to match my pocket square to my necktie, preferring to have one part of my ensemble that doesn't quite coordinate with everything else. I believe that the late Hardy Amies advocated this sort of approach to one's dressing, and the idea works for me. Beauty through imperfection.

Sadly, no necktie today as you'll also note in the photograph above. I had one all laid out to put on -- a navy silk number with pheasants on it by J. Press -- but decided at the last minute that it would have made the overall look too busy. So, with head down, I slunk to the car since it was high time for yours truly to get to school.

Speaking of neckties. . . Tune in tomorrow, and I'll share several examples of somewhat irreverent, yet still attractive, neckties that are part of my regular smart casual rotation.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

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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. . .

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