A Friday Meeting in March Style. . .

The upper half on this chilly Friday afternoon.

And the lower half, featuring a pair of well-worn olive corduroy pants and some suede Allen Edmonds brogues. The unseen suede belt matches the shoes.

A close-up of today's pocket square in use. Now, the funny thing about this particular pocket square, which gets a lot of use, is this. . .

It's really a small lady's silk scarf (Surprise!), but at about 17" square, it's just the right size to masqerade as a pocket square. Not really that much difference between the two items when you think about it though. I stumbled upon it six or eight years ago in a thrift/charity shop for 50 cents or a dollar, and it works nicely in repurposed form.

Normally, I am not on campus most Fridays since most of my courses are of the Monday through Thursday variety. Occasionally, however, there is reason to make the 15-minute trip into campus for some committee meeting, faculty learning group, visiting scholar presentation, or similar event, all of which provide a nice excuse to shower, shave, and make myself somewhat more presentable than the usual rugby top and corduroy jeans for Fridays at home between late October and mid-May each year.

Here's an example of today's get-up for very early Spring. Once you reach a critical mass of sorts with classic menswear, it's really easy to mix and match and toss on an interesting combination of clothes without too much thought. And voila. . . Instant semi-responsible and capable adult! Or at least the appearance thereof.

We know otherwise, don't we?

-- Heinz-Ulrich

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J. Press Goodness. . .

F resh out of the UPS box, three examples of J. Press goodness on a Friday morning. These shirts are replacements for three recently worn-through, more than 20-year old OCBDs from Land's End (two) and L.L. Bean (one). They were purchased shortly after I took my first teaching position at a now defunct local college outside of Minneapolis, immediately following graduate school, as the fall semester kicked off in September 2003. While some professional gear hung in my closet already, a few additional items were needed at that point to round out the weekly rotation. Said shirts all finally fell prey to small rips showing up in the now very thin, but incredibly comfortable, fabric within six weeks of each other this winter and early spring. So, time for a few replacements. The old friends will find new life as summertime lawncare shirts. Of the three new items above, my favorite shirt is on the right, but one cannot go wrong with a light blue OCBD either, so we're in good

Time for the Ol' Switcheroo?

W ell, here we are approaching mid-April. And it might just be about time to swap the cool and cold weather attire for warmer weather gear this coming weekend. Mid-70s Fahrenheit yesterday, and low 70s today. Cooler after that later in the week, but I can probably stow the heavier wool items and cords in the cedar closet and safely bring out the warm weather suits, odd jackets, and pants until the fall. Still time of one last hurrah today however. Cooler enough this morning for a tan pair of cords paired with that recently arrived J. Press jacket. The latter is light enough, although it is wool, that I might just keep it handy since we can certainly have chilly days in May and June. While classes end on the April 19th this year, I'll still be on campus occasionally into June, so it's not exactly time for khaki shorts, Madras, seersucker and short-sleeved polo shirts just yet. There's also conference coming up in New Orleans at the start of June, so still some oppor

Job Talk #3. . .

C andidate #3 is, for my money, the person for the job. Considerable experience, broad perspective, well-connected throughout the college and university due to an array of collaborative pursuits of one kind or another, coherent and detailed vision laid out for the next three years and beyond. Yes. I am not on the committee that makes the recommendation to the dean, who will make the final decision and send the letter, but, were it up to yours truly, this is the guy. And he wore an actual suit (mid-gray), dress shoes, white shirt, and necktie as an added plus. 20 years or so my junior, but someone gets it. -- Heinz-Ulrich

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