Classic Style

  Hopefully, this fellow from 1935, sporting a seersucker double-breasted suit and tartan socks (a nice touch), is contemplating how to avoid becoming ensnared in anything seamy, sordid, and/or sleazy. I n our ongoing campaign to encourage a greater sense of style and self-improvement in the broadest sense, let's talk briefly today about the seamy, the sordid, and the sleazy.  You can look the words up online.  They mean about the same thing.   The seedy, the tawdry, and the disreputable are all around us in 2021.  You needn't look far to find them.  Either online, or in the real world.  But you want to steer well clear of anything, anyone, or any activity in that particular constellation.  Use your common sense here.   You remember what common sense is, right?  Surely visitors to Classic Style have and exercise it on a regular basis.  Good.  I thought so.  Then let's return to the point at hand.   My ...

  Hopefully, these two gentlemen are not talking at great length about their ongoing aches, pains, and respective tales of woe. A mong the many ideas imparted to yours truly by my late maternal grandmother and late mother are two related points.   First, whenever someone asks how you are, simply reply, "Very well, thank you."  You could, if you feel up to it, also ask "And you?"  My grandmother always instructed, however, that other people do not really want to know how you are.  They are simply being courteous in most cases, so give them a courteous (and concise) reply.   My own addition to this piece of advice?  Save the detailed, angst ridden answers for your analyst or medical doctor.  Behind closed doors.  It's far better to leave certain things to the imagination. Second, my late mother always advised to spare everyone the excruciating details of your personal aches and pains in whatever form those might take.  As she use...

F or those lazy weekend mornings at the breakfast table, whether you actually sleep in them or not, get yourself a pair or two of interesting pajamas for whiling away the time with your significant other over coffee, toast, and the Sunday paper.   But do make sure the top and bottom match.  Avoid those awful t-shirt-sweat pant combos sold in the big box stores and so many online catalogs while we're at it, and get yourself real sets of actual pajamas.   Toss in an attractive lightweight dressing gown or robe over top, brush your hair, and wash your face before you appear. You'll look a whole lot more attractive to whomever you share your living space with.  Oops!  Very poor sentence structure there.  I know.  Thank you for thinking of it though. Oddly, pajamas are not always easy to find, but companies like Land's End and L.L. Bean do occasionally offer attractive -- and sometimes colorful, interestingly quirky -- patterns in their catalogs a...

  Another wonderful summery 1930s-ish menswear illustration this time by Robert Goodman, notable not only for the well dressed gentlemen, but also for the number of ladies pictured.  I count five. T oo many people suffer from a herd mentality in 2021.  About a lot of things if you have your eyes and ears open.  One biggie is fear of standing out and neither looking, nor being like the slovenly herd.  Pshaw say I!  Right about now, the world could use more stand-outs in terms of pleasant manners, general behavior, and more pulled together attire.  Take the road less traveled, go calmly about your business, and stop worrying about not being like everyone else.  And who knows?  You might influence the way others think and conduct themselves on a day to day basis.  Hey, a guy can dream, right?  -- Heinz-Ulrich

  A couple of jaunty fellows from 1941. W ant to buck the trend of the predictable, the commonplace, and the unsavory?   Try these dozen tips on for size.   They just might fit. 1) Do hold yourself to a reasonably high set of standards where personal appearance, habits, attitude, and behavior are concerned.   Make that part of your routine.  Don’t, on the contrary, be content to sink to the bottom of the (soiled laundry) heap when left to your own devices.   2) Do be unfailingly kind, helpful to, and happy for others’ good fortune in whatever form that takes.   Don’t be petty, mean, spiteful, envious, and resentful of others. 3) Do make a habit of thinking about others.   Don’t think of just yourself day in and day out.   Sometimes, a bit of self-sacrifice or self-regulation in the name of the common good is necessary. 4) Do be clear-eyed and honest in your perception of both self and those around you.   Don’t get enmired in th...

  Part of an obviously larger illustration, and I  have no idea of its provenance, but the combination of items is pleasing.  Even the spectator shoes peeking out from beneath the cuffed trousers. A h, summertime style.  Relaxed.  A slow start to the morning.  Another mug of strong coffee.  A relaxed breakfast upstairs at the dining table with The Young Master in a few minutes.  Faded old Nantucket red shorts with a retired light blue OCBD shirt and surcingle ribbon belt for yard work today.  It's sunny here in Mid-Michigan today, and I'm catching up with lawn mowing after a ten-day stretch at the repair shop.  The mower that is.  Not yours truly.  But I am enjoying the unseasonably cool morning (about 60 degrees Fahrenheit) and the prospect of being out in it.  Later?  Maybe putting the finishing touches on another Doodly whiteboard animation for the fall with possibly some roller skiing around the neighborhood bef...

  How could I resist?  New with tags for a relative fraction of the retail price. G iven my hobby of painting and collecting 1/56-1/60 scale (nominally 30mm) mid-18th century model soldiers, how could I resist this lovely 'Makers' number from Brooks Brothers?  As close to a novelty tie as I'll get though.  No Tweety Pie, Tasmanian Devil, or Sylvester the Cat.  Sorry, guys.  I am quite sure, it is worth noting, that Jeeves would raise his eyebrow silently at this particular necktie.  In much the same way as he did when Bingo Little turned up wearing a tie with small horseshoes all over it.  Hopefully, he would not need to sit down for several minutes somewhere quiet to collect himself. In any case, let's call this addition to the necktie collection, one of my guilty pleasures, an early Fathers' Day gift to myself, or even a celebration of returning to campus in late August.  I'm ready.  Working from home was old hat by May 2020. Oh, and b...

  We're not quite as stylish as this gentleman, but our shirts are in the right direction! I got a chuckle when the three of us turned up downstairs early this morning before breakfast.  We each wore a variation of the short sleeve cotton pique knit polo top, sometimes referred to as a golf shirt.   The Young Master selected orange (his favorite color) worn with jeans and argyle socks while The Grand Duchess unwittingly opted for melon with a pair of faded olive chino shorts.  Unaware of what wife and child were wearing, yours truly appeared in the kitchen wearing a navy version thereof with dove gray chino shorts and a surcingle belt plus the ever present leather dock-siders.   As I remarked to my wife, we look like we ought to be on the Chesapeake or The Outer Banks.   My own extended family used to wear similar gear during evenings or weekend afternoons each summer once yard work and mowing were finished.  People had showered, change...