Classic Style

  I t's the end of September already!  Can the tweeds, flannels, and corduroys be far off?  Although we might still have a few unexpected warm days here in Mid-Michigan, certainly by this time next month.   In the meantime, here's the attire for the end of the week.  Not a bad combination, but I really must take this blazer to the dry-cleaner's to get rid of those very old chalk smudges on the lapel and have it pressed in the process.  I know, I know. . . The necktie is by J. Press, snagged some years ago for pennies on the dollar from the Put This On shop if memory serves me correctly.  One of my favorite so called critter ties, it reminds me of my youth in rural southeastern Pennsylvania, when Ringnecked Pheasants were a very common sight during the autumn months once the cornfields were harvested.   Haven't seen or heard pheasants in the almost 30 years since I left Pennsylvania for the Upper Midwest.  Here in Michigan, it's very...

  S till hanging on to the summer attire for a wee bit longer although the calendar has shifted ,and more comfortable temperatures have arrived.  It will soon be time to swap out the warm weather gear for the tweed, flannels, and corduroys.  But in the meantime, a not unpleasant combination of items for Monday.   The only miss in the mix is the cream-colored socks, or rather than dove gray chinos.  In the pre-dawn darkness of the bedroom, I thought I grabbed the cream-colored pair of khakis from a hanger to go with the socks.  Alas, I discovered the error sometime after I was on campus and ensconced on my laptop with coffee in the building where my two classes for today later met.  Grrr.     Ah, well, you can't hit it out of the park all of the time, and when standing my sartorial gaff was not visible. In short, I was the only one who knew.  Or cared if we are brutally honest for a moment.  Tomorrow, it's onward and upward...

  A not unpleasant combination of warm weather items for the last day (?) of summer yesterday, when temperatures climbed to 79 or 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.6 Celsius).  My friend and colleague from South Asia really appreciated the vintage Madras necktie by Rooster. Made in India, it still features the New Hampshire ski shop label from where it was purchased sewn to the rear of the smaller blade.  Other items shown are from among the usual suspects that I typically combine for my "non-suit" days. -- Heinz-Ulrich

  A nother Brooks Brothers suit with a vintage Polo self-tie bow tie and the usual suspects, including my Panama hat, which I've been wearing again daily since mid-August.  With the shift to autumn, at least according to the calendar, I'll phase back into felt fedoras.   Unless we have a spell of unusually sunny and warm weather. Then, it's back to the Panama hat for a time or two more before I stow it in a hatbox until late Spring 2024.   And no, fellas.  A trilby is NOT a fedora.  -- Heinz- Ulrich

  Y et s till warm enough for lighter weight attire, so I pulled out this particular suit from the closet for wear yesterday (Monday) morning.  Not just any old brown suit, however, but a Brooks Brothers number made with Loro Piana fabric.   A heathered, understated pattern that looks almost textured up close, but from a distance has a nice, understated look to it.  Coincidentally, the shirt, now that I think of it, is also vintage Brooks, both worn with the usual suspects where accessories are concerned.   Despite the fact that it was a Monday, I felt almost jaunty as I went about the day.  Funny about that.  So, why not add a spring to your step and wear a suit once in a while?  Even if it's not required. -- Heinz-Ulrich

W orking from home Thursday morning, but already dressed to shuttle the young master to a doctor's appointment midday with two others following his arrival home from school.  People tend to treat you better when you're dressed, a point we take great pains to convey to our almost 14-year-old son, who looks pretty pulled together most of the time.  Now, if only he would tuck in his shirt and put on a belt without being reminded. -- Heinz-Ulrich        

L ast Saturday, September 09, 2023, would have been my maternal grandmother's 106th birthday.  In bearing, "Granny" was not unlike Maggie Smith in her Downton Abbey guise, but somewhat warmer and intentionally funny, nevertheless in that same self-assured way as the Dowager Countess. "Oh, my dear!  She has the soul of a chamber maid!" she once said about a distant family member according to my late mother.   Pointed and judgmental?  Yes, but it sums up nicely certain aspects of Granny's personality and worldview. I laugh quietly to myself whenever that particular statement crosses my mind.  More for the warm memories it conjures than derision. A mean Scrabble and Gin Rummy player, my grandmother once mentioned to me that, had times been different during her younger years in the 1930 and 40s, she would have liked to become a lexicographer.  She loved words, reading, and crossword puzzles, working religiously each week through the Sunday New York Times M...

  A cool, damp day, perfect for a little Glen Plaid, university stripe, and etc.  with one of two Phi Kappa Phi neckties.  I know, I know. -- Heinz-Ulrich

  T he waning days of summer, and already kind of cool here in Mid-Michigan, but I'm determined to enjoy my warm weather gear as long as is feasibly possible.  Admittedly, the almost chilly gray day today (Friday) has me thinking about tweed, oxford cloth, wool flannel, corduroy, and suede. But let's talk about yesterday's tan cotton suit.  Brooks Brothers, I think, although I can't swear to it.  Might also be Southwick.  Haven't checked the label(s) inside the coat in ages.  In any case, it's lightweight, airy, and comfortable.  I always chuckle when I pull this one out and think back to 2012, possibly 2011, or maybe 2013, when there was quite a kerfuffle among the political right in the U.S. in the wake of then President Obama showing up for a summer press conference in a tan suit instead of the usual navy or charcoal. Questions of color and pattern related to differing levels of formality aside, past presidents have ALSO been photographed carrying o...

  J ust off campus at a certain internationally recognized cafe chain frightfully early this Wednesday morning (just after 6am).  Only because the new one -- same internationally recognized chain -- in the main library has yet to open.   But it was blissfully quiet with some innocuous music overhead and stable internet, so I was able to enjoy a large cup of fresh coffee, wade through the usual mountain of non-specific email clogging my inbox, and accomplish quite a bit of actual work before 8am when I moved onto campus and the library, where it was also wonderfully quiet,did some writing, and had a quick planning session with a colleague via Zoom. It still amazes me what you can get done before anyone else is out of bed with interruptions of one kind or another.  And I say that as a one-time devoted night owl and late riser the next morning in the days before our son arrived.   30+ years ago, before getting serious about life and returning to school, t...

  A blissfully quiet September 2nd here,  Cool, partly sunny, and breezy.  Perfect late summer-early fall weather in my book.  So, what better way to cultivate that relaxed long holiday weekend feel that with ultra comfortable, well-worn though still serviceable attire?   Hence a decade (or more) old pair of very faded Nantucket red shirts and a 25-year-old polo shirt given to me by my late mother.  Amazingly, I had the foresight to mow the lawn late yesterday afternoon and during the early evening after dinner, so all there is to do today is sit around and, ahem, watch the grass grow. -- Heinz-Ulrich