Classic Style

  A favorite jacket, pair of gabardine odd pants, a soft old Land's End 'Original Oxford' ocbd, shoes, and green foulard necktie all converge at long last for a not displeasing combination donned for a lengthy day of face-to-face meetings on campus.  Whew!  I'm beat. -- Heinz-Ulrich

  A wonderfully sunny, yet cool and breezy late summer's day here today in Mid-Michigan.  The kind you only get in August, September, and possibly early October.  Perfect weather for dressing presentably, relatively speaking.   While, on reflection, I should have chosen plain navy or chocolate brown socks, not a bad effort.  My only defense is that it was still dark when I grabbed these from the sock drawer early this morning, and they looked about right in the gray of pre-dawn. The usual Panama hat topped off the ensemble.  As I made my way from the car to the supermarket to pick up a few things on the way home, an anonymous woman well beyond a certain age called to me from her car, "You man, you look as sharp as a tack!"   Never necessary, but appreciation from others is always nice to hear if and when it comes. "Thank you!"  I replied before entering the store. Yesterday, Day #1 of the autumn semester/term, ended up being so packed full o...

    C lasses for the fall term kick-off tomorrow, and I meet my students for the first time at 10:20 and 11:30.  So, out came the iron earlier this afternoon to press tomorrow's shirt, a 19-year old Land's End 'Original Oxford', and a stack of white cotton handkerchiefs. The shirt is one of several remaining from about 2003-2004 when I took my first teaching job at a small (now closed) college outside Minneapolis-Saint Paul.  That first year, I took the opportunity to beef up my professional wardrobe with additional jackets, shirts, neckties, and odd pants from the likes of Land's End and L. L. Bean, which had not yet gone full on stretchy comfort mode.   At the time, you could still find a number of suitably (ha, ha) professional looking items at reasonable prices.  And while I already had some of this gear hanging in my bedroom closet, a bit more was necessary to avoid wearing the same three shirts over and over again.  It wasn't quite that dire...

  W ith a little help from the usual suspects.  Gotta say that it was nice to appear a bit more dressed than has been usual the last few months.  Looking very forward to pressing a shirt Sunday evening and opening the wardrobe early Monday morning to see what might jump out at me for the fist day of the Fall 2023 semester. -- Heinz-Ulrich

  C asually cool, but looking very nice on his way to school early this morning.  The almost 14-year old Young Master will be as tall as me (5'11", or approximately 180cm) before too much longer.  Both the Grand Duchess and I have very tall relatives of Swedish, German, and English heritage, well over 6', so it will be interesting to see how tall our son becomes by his early to mid-20s. -- Heinz-Ulrich

  W ell, Sir.  The new semester kicks off in earnest next Monday the 28th although meetings and appointments of one sort or another have already been in full swing for the last few weeks, stretching back to mid-July.  Remember mid-July? Anyway, the need to appear in-person on campus yesterday (Tuesday) meant that it was time from a slightly more professional look than is usual during the summer months around here.   Easy,  just go to the shirt closet in the laundry room and the wardrobe in our bedroom, and pull out a few requisite items to put on.  Following a shower of course!  35 minutes later, you're walking out the door to the car.  Dressing presentably needn't take time, mental effort, or be something to fear. -- Heinz-Ulrich

    Early Sunday afternoon, revising course syllabi out on the back porch with a laptop.  Still, no reason not to appear somewhat "pulled together" as my maternal grandmother used to say.  Not a Madras shirt, but the University of Wisconsin-branded sport shirt is in the same general direction given its cardinal, white, and gray plaid.   My main critique of the shirt is that the collar is not button-down, but ah, well.  It's fun to pull from the shirt drawer a few times a summer to annoy the Grand Duchess, an Indiana and UCLA girl.   We met the the University of Minnesota, which is why you attend graduate school in the first place.  To find a spouse of course!  Hey, we're nothing here in the Grand Duchy if not overly edubecated. -- Heinz-Ulrich

  L ots happening here at the moment in the Grand Duchy.  The Young Master begins the 8th grade next Wednesday, so I took him to school yesterday for the scheduled brief kick-off, to receive his locker assignment, meet his teachers, find their rooms, and drop off a few donated school supplies (whiteboard markers, dry erasers, and a few other small things).   I hung back during our visit and let Paul show me around.  He was amazing to watch during these interactions, even carrying on a lengthy conversation in grammatically correct German with Frau B. (using the formal pronoun Sie ) , a German librarian (married to an American), who stationed the welcome table near the main entrance.  Usually, our son is reluctant to flex his linguistic prowess, at least with me, but not yesterday.   And not to be outdone, he exchanged a few correct sentences in French with Madame F., the French teacher, as we left.  Not sure where he picked up that! The first ...

Taking a quick break from the Sunday scramble to finish an article for submission with a few shots of today's late summer attire, featuring a freshly ironed Madras shirt that has not seen the light this season.  Two weeks left of summer vacation, and I have a couple of commitments on campus at the end of next week, the 24th and 25th, so professional attire is called for, but I can't say I'm sorry for that.     For all the talk of what is, or is not appropriate, dignified, or whatever, above all dressing reasonably well should be fun.  And I certainly have that regardless of season, setting, or related garments.     So, bring on the start of the autumn semester/term, say I!  Looking forward to some summer sports jackets, casual knit silk ties, khakis, loafers, and Panama hat.  Perhaps even the occasional seersucker linen suit as we race toward Labor Day and the traditional end of the summer season here in the U.S. -- Heinz-Ulrich

  F reshly pressed and still warm, a Madras shirt that has not yet made an appearance this summer although it has been in the rotation for at least 10 years, possibly longer.  One of my favorites though, but for some reason it wrinkles badly in the laundry, and desperately needs ironing, especially the right side with buttons just beneath the placket.   Probably why I haven't donned it sooner this year.   The shorts are a new acquisition.  Used to have a pair of navy chino shorts, but somehow, they disaapeared in the last seven or eight years.  At one time in the dim past, I preferred a 6" inseam, but somehow, on men of a certain age at least, a 9" inseam looks better now.  Just a wee bit dressier too from my point of view.   Quite a few pairs of the former (6" inseam) remain in my dresser drawer, and I still wear them, but any new shorts will have the longer inseam as we move forward.  Unless family life permits me to begin cy...

  N o wine-induced clowning on the back porch this Friday evening.  The in-laws are visiting.  In their defense, we did enjoy Thai take-out/take-away.  The new shorts (9" inseam) are mush redder than they appear here.  -- Heinz-Ulrich