Classic Style

  A breezy, sunny, cool early autumn day here.  Perfect weather for the start of the fall semester and a linen suit from Polo.   The spectator shoes are from Allen Edmonds, and the tie by Mountain & Sackett (Black Watch stripe).  Pants were kept up with a pair of vintage Polo braces (maroon with tiny foulards) fastened to buttons inside the waistband.  Socks came from Dapper Classics, the shirt an old spread collar number from Land's End, and a Panama hat completes the picture.   I know, I know.  Who's the ass in the hat?   It felt good, nevertheless, to be really and truly pulled together again after a summer of very casual attire. I've managed to maintain the weight loss of 2020-2021, so no snug surprises this morning as I dressed.  Ahhhh. . . -- Heinz-Ulrich

  M ore of the same attire here, but it's hard to go wrong with blazer, khakis, loafers, knit silk tie, and a blue OCBD-collar shirt.   My female workshop organizer colleague and, later in the day, a female cashier at the supermarket both offered their approval, respectively, with big smiles and spoken compliments.  Never necessary, never sought, but always nice to hear in any case.  There are still a few people around who know. On that same note, and contrary to my private expectations, my two male colleagues, who also led the workshop with me yesterday (Friday), both turned up in navy and dark gray sports jackets, respectively, with tucked in shirts and what passed for, on cursory examination, "dress" (casual) shoes with belts and tucked in shirts.   Dressing presentably for the occasion.  What a concept!  Now, it would be easy to nitpick about their jacket lengths, lapel widths, and choice of foot attire, but they were trying, which counts...

  T hree hours today (Saturday) down here in Zum Stollenkeller finishing a script, recording, and adding post-production to a podcast that I hope will help support my students' efforts in the two courses I'll teach this fall and later.  Very casual, yet a nice, muted mix of colors.   The L.L. Bean polo shirt is just about the same shade as the t-shirts we used to get at my old YMCA summer camp outside Reading Pennsylvania, Camp Conrad Weiser.  Still in operation, but co-ed since about 1982 or '83.   I am sure things are very different now from when I was a camper, but lots of wonderful memories of summers there during the latter half of the 70s and into the very early 80s.  A much simpler time. In any case, my son, The Young Master, has a similar green polo shirt in a smaller size, which we ordered for him in the spring.  Growth during the colder months meant he needed a few new things to get comfortably through the summer and into the early...

  A delightful late summer's day here in Mid-Michigan.  I dressed accordingly for another jaunt to campus, where I was able to get in a few hours of uninterrupted preparation work for the upcoming semester plus a meeting with a (Turkish) colleague.  We are serving together on a couple of different committees this year.    A very pleasant way to spend the first half of the day, made even better with a vintage Madras jacket from Corbin and a Land's End 'Signature' oxford cloth button-down collar shirt among other items.  A fantastic collar roll today, if I do say so myself, by the way. You have to be comfortable with sticking out like a sore thumb when wearing a Madras sports jacket.  There are no two ways about it.  But then, if you are dressed reasonably well in most places outside of very large city centers in the United States in 2022, you already stick out like a sore thumb anyway.  It certainly helps if one develops and approaches the re...

  W ell, Sir. . .  Classes kick-off in a little over two weeks, and I had to rush into a meeting on campus this morning since our internet has been highly unreliable here at home following our return from the week-long holiday "Up North."   You might think that living only ten minutes from the capital of Michigan, Lansing, that something as banal as reliable internet -- we've been doing this on a large scale almost 30 years remember -- would no longer be an issue here in the U.S.  But it is.  Grrrrrrr.  It's not like we are in the wide open spaces of, say, Montana, Wyoming, or the Dakotas. That vexing issue aside, it was very easy to grab the items shown from my closet in a hurry and toss them on to look like a semi-educated professional with something worth saying and listening to.  Maybe.   Once again, a version my go to uniform that always works without fail regardless of place, time, or occasion.   The star of today's show ...

      N icks and all from the look of the thing in the upper photograph.  Don't know how I missed that before coming downstairs.  I am so ashamed. In other attire news, the recently ordered summer weight navy plaid sports jacket arrived from J. Press a couple of days ago.  It looks and feels divine.  After a trip to the tailor's for the usual small alterations, it should look great.   Watch for an eventual photo or two here.  The autumn semester kicks off in just a few weeks on August 31. -- Heinz-Ulrich