Dressing Less Formally. . .

 The upper half for today.  Even with a biting wind, I have been able to cross campus without actually buttoning my coat.  Counting my t-shirt, I'm wearing four layers on my top half here.

And the lower half.  Not shown are a pink OCBD shirt beneath the sweater, an olive green surcingle belt, and a pair of wool skiing socks.

It's hard to argue that campus is not beautiful in the snow.  I could easily endure this for four or five months each year if the jet stream would cooperate.  Here is one vista I captured on my phone this morning while on the way to class.  You'll quickly grasp why dress shoes even when covered by galoshes or overshoes might not be the best choice.  The Red Cedar River, which runs through campus, is in the midst of trees in the mid-distance with the old central part of MSU beyond that.

Dressing less formally -- I detest the term 'dressing down' -- need not mean that one resemble those poor souls who clothe themselves in such a way that it looks like they have fallen through the cracks of society to the absolute rock bottom of human existence.  Even during those snowy periods when the roads are less than ideal and you must brush considerable snow off the car before creeping to work at 35mph max very early in the mornings before the roads have been cleared. 

This has been the case for the last week here in Mid-Michigan, and while I naturally prefer suits with neckties and leather dress shoes, or the sports jacket with odd pants variant of that, sometimes you've got to concede to the weather like it or not.  So, besides putting the ol' Subaru Outback with all wheel drive -- the state car in Michigan it seems --  through its paces twice daily, the attire shown here illustrates, more or less, how I've been dressing for the last week.  Let's keep possible dry-cleaning to a minimum by wearing tougher clothing that withstands the elements a bit better than most so called tailored attire. 

That said, you don't necessarily need one of those olive green, fleece-lined one-piece boiler suits like the kind sold by Dickies.  That's great if a man drives a salt truck and plow for the township, county, or state, but it's not quite right for the office or classroom.  Instead, you can get considerable mileage out of a few pairs of corduroy jeans, a few different sweaters, a few different shirts, and some trusty old L.L. Bean 'duck shoes' or similar, along with some cotton rag or wool ski socks, for those messier winter days.  Yet, you can still manage to look reasonably pulled together if and when you absolutely must brave the elements.

-- Heinz-Ulrich