Classic Style

  Yours truly earlier today, sporting a new haircut, courtesy of a small Turkish-German place five minutes away. W e've been here in Berlin for a bit over three weeks, where my wife is teaching a summer course at The Frei Universitat on German films and Berlin, with three weeks left before we return home to East Lansing.  The weather here has been warm enough to keep things pretty casual where my son and I are concerned.  For example, I brought several pairs of chino shorts, and couple of knit short sleeve polo shirts, a madras, a seersucker, and a poplin shirt for example with my pair of Sperry dock-siders.  Truthfully, these have sufficed most days.  I did have the chance to put on some chinos, loafers, and a blazer last Friday evening to meet some colleagues of my wife's from The Frei Universitat. Sadly, I have not yet had occasion to wear either my maroon knit silk tie, or my Madras tie.  The few men I see in suits are usually poorly fitted su...

My current necktie collection after culling around 25 or so that I simply never wore, or that failed to knot in an acceptable way.  I think there are about 75 ties in the rotation now. M oving your belongings from one abode to the next is never easy.  It is even less so when moving hundreds or thousands of miles.  Sigh.  It could be worse I suppose. The packers are due here on Thursday morning, too bright and early for the two-day job of packing up our household belongings.  Everything will next be loaded up on Monday next and transported to our temporary digs just outside East Lansing, Michigan during the next few days.  Some of you regular visitors might recall that the Grand Duchess and I have both managed to land positions at Michigan State University, teaching for me and department chairing for her, slated to start at the end of August. Anyway, one of the many questions nagging at me the last several weeks has been how to pack my model soldier...

Sean Connery as James Bond in Dr. No (1962). A n oft overlooked point of personal style is how a man carries himself.  Standing up straight(er) at the very least will enable you to project more elegance, greater self-confidence, and help your clothes look better on you.  Your body language also has no small effect on how you feel about yourself.  Surprise!  I stumbled onto these related points recently in my usual evening meanderings around the 'net.  Here is what a few others have to say on the matter:   You should always be  conscious , as much as possible, of your posture.   Even if you don’t yet own a perfectly fitted suit, start paying attention to how your body interacts with your clothes. A great dose of elegance can be obtained through the right mindset and attitude. Posture is one of the least commented upon elements in the field of men’s style. Yet, the way you stand in your clothes is extremely important. We’ll have the opp...

 Nothing beats a fresh, hot steaming cup of java.  All of the time according to my way of thinking.  Anytime.  Day, or night. M y maternal grandmother used to say that the best cup of coffee of the day was the one enjoyed just after the evening meal.  Wherever she is in the afterlife, I hope Granny realizes how right she was.  Yours truly is, in fact, enjoying a large mug of joe, made with a French press, as I write this post after supper.  At present, I am home alone for roughly two weeks while wife and child visit grandparents in the Pacific Northwest prior to our looming move to Michigan and subsequent summer travel plans to Germany.  We ought to have out heads examined where the latter is concerned given the timing of everything, but I digress. The only thing nicer than a cup of coffee following supper in the evening is a cup or two of after-dinner coffee enjoyed with family, or guests when you have them.  Sadly, this custom seem...

The young Chet Baker (above) and Gerry Mulligan (center below) at work. I t's a laid back Casual Jazz Friday everyone.  Enjoy! -- Heinz-Ulrich

Yours truly hanging 'round the office at home today after tallying and submitting final grades with some classic jazz numbers playing on the ol' computer.  Ain't YouTube a great thing? F inal grades for the spring semester are in, and I'm enjoying that delightful lazy feeling that arrives shortly afterwards at the close of yet another university term.  Being able to do all of this online (instead of with the old-fashioned paper final grade forms) certainly helps.   The attire in today's photograph is pretty typical around here between the end of April and the end of August.  The weather needs to be warmer before I break out the Madras shirts though.  The Land's End cotton knit shirt dates from the spring of 1998 when I was still attending grad school in Madison, Wisconsin.  It has actually made a few different visits to Norway with me through the intervening years now that I think about it.  The shorts and dock-siders are more recent vintag...

Yet another great old illustration by the likes of Laurence Fellows (or perhaps Leslie Saalberg).  Say what you might about brown suits, but I'd wear this number in a second although the spectator shoes strike me as a bit much in this particular context. H ere's an interesting short article from The Atlantic on the origins of the modern business suit. -- Heinz-Ulrich

  Here is a close-up, sans my ugly mug, of the upper half of today's attire.  That's a Half-Windsor knot by the way, my preferred knot for spread and pointed collars.  The pocket handkerchief is white linen. T oday was the final day at my current place of employment.  Farewell to the small liberal arts university setting and hello Big 10. . .  Or Big 12.  Or whatever they are calling themselves now.   Anyway, my office was cleaned out some days ago, and I said my good-byes last week, so I only went in this morning to collect finalized student papers and turn in my ID, parking tag, and keys to Human Resources.  I felt like going out with a bang, however, and so pulled out an old favorite from the wardrobe early this morning.   The suit pictured is a vintage lightweight 60/40 wool-silk number by Corbin that is half-lined.  Although the pants feature brace buttons on the inside of the waistband, I chose a nondescript dark...

If memory serves me correctly, and it might not in this instance, the large suitcase to James Bond's left is his.  The scene in any case is from early in Dr. No. C ame across an interesting guide to packing a suitcase for a three-day trip at the Parisian Gentleman early this morning and thought it might be good to share it.  Packing a suitcase so that you don't look like a rumpled mess for the duration of your stay somewhere -- whether for business, pleasure, or a combination of the two -- is a lifelong art (or is it a science?) that, like the martial arts, golf, or fly-fishing, you always tinker with and attempt to refine.  At least that's the case for me.  Oh, the stories I could tell about the machinations my father once went through with a large Orvis fishing bag before a trip to Jamaica 40 years ago!  Anyway, see what you think, but I'll try a couple of the suggested tips when I pack a bag this afternoon for another brief sojourn to Michigan with wife...

T here was a piece on The Atlantic website yesterday on how wearing a suit to the workplace can influence and even change one's thinking in critical ways.  It's probably lost on guys who are already dead set against and see no reason to bother sprucing themselves up, practicing polite table manners, and the like, but the piece is nevertheless an interesting read for anyone with an interest in men's style beyond sweatpants, cargo shorts, flip-flops, ripped preternaturally faded jeans, and/or untucked shirts.  Can we even use the world "style" in the same sentence with those garments? -- Heinz-Ulrich

F riday, warm, and with bright blue skies.  Springtime just like it out to be, so why not break out some more Madras? Here's one possible way to do Casual Fridays a bit better than is the sad norm in many places these days.  Perhaps the most interesting item pictured here is the vintage Rooster cotton Madras necktie, which was actually handwoven in India and sold at one of the now defunct Carroll Reed Ski Shops in New England.  I stumbled on it in a vintage clothing store in Champaign, Illinois two or three summers ago and picked it up for less than US$5.  And then there are the Allen Edmonds spectator shoes, something you never see in my corner of the world.   The khakis and shirt are slightly rumpled, which strike me as perfect for a relaxed end-of-the-week morning in early May.  The blazer is one of four in my wardrobe -- two heavy flannel ones for winter and two lighter for spring and summer -- and is the lightest in weight.  During th...

It does not matter how sweet you think your dog is, or whether the dog is a large, or small breed.  If you are going to take your dog out into public on a leash, then make damn sure you leash train the dog (and yourself). I like dogs.  Well trained and pleasantly behaved dogs, that is, of many different breeds.  Terriers, Retrievers, and Poodles (toys and standards) are my personal  favorites.  Some of you might recall recent mention, here at Classic Style for the Average Guy , of my father, who trained Labrador Retrievers for hunting use in the field and the show ring although he himself was neither a hunter, nor a a dog show enthusiast.   While I have not used the skills myself for many year now, I too learned basic dog training as a child.  So, the sheer number of people with untrained dogs walking around loose out there gives me cause for concern especially since, almost invariably, the offending owners and dogs are large and potential...

Yet another great old Laurence Fellows illustration, this time from an old issue of Esquire magazine. A sunny, albeit cool spring morning here at Stollen Central.  I've broken out a pair of red, navy, and cream Madras shorts plus a navy knit short-sleeved polo shirt to wear at home today along with my usual leather dock-siders.  Jumping the gun a bit maybe -- It's not July or August yet after all. -- but for noodling around inside down here in my office, it feels perfect.   Tomorrow is May 1st.  Be sure to wear something red like the guy in the illustration above and sing The Internationale as you march. -- Heinz-Ulrich

" T he worst faux pas in fashion is to look in a mirror and see somebody else—which so many people do.  They think [clothing] is going to transform them.  They don’t realize it’s themselves and their attitude.  Because that’s what style is: attitude, attitude, attitude."   -- Iris Apfel

A great old Madmen era illustration, and while we certainly do not harbor any desires to return  to many of the problematic societal attitudes and conventions of the 1950s and early 60s, it would be nice if more men in 2015 dressed as well Monday through Friday as many men in the big financial and business centers of the world used to. N aturally, the battery in my digital camera needs recharging, so I have no photograph of today's get-up to share.  A description will have to suffice instead.  Here's the breakdown of what yours truly wore to campus for one of my final few teaching days this semester: * A solid navy 6x2 double-breasted suit with a nailhead finish (and black buttons on the coat which has moderately strong shoulders) * A shirt with a straight collar and featuring faint light blue, white, pink, and green pinstripes * A dark crimson necktie with small shield crests all over it (mostly covered by the suit coat) * Black Allen Edmonds 'shortwings' * ...

J ust a few moments to snap a photo of the season's first warmer weather combination of items.  Everything here was either thrifted, purchased new on sale, or (in the case of the Allen Edmonds shoes) purchased via Ebay.  The Brooks Bros. jacket is a linen-wool-silk blend.  Not exactly what you might call warm in our neck of the woods today, but we have bright blue skies, so I figured I might be able to get away with a distinctly warm weather look.  The jacket could do with a bit of waist suppression at some point, but overall, I am pleased with today's look.   Sadly, the spring term ends next week, so there will be few reasons for me to dress nicely until the tail end of August once we are ensconced somewhere in the East Lansing, Michigan area.  The season of (mostly) chino shorts, madras or knit shortsleeve polo shirts (rugby shirts on cooler days), and either leather dock-siders, or penny loafers is almost here.  And what of our trip to ...

An Englishman in New York , perhaps?  I can almost hear the old, jazzy Sting tune from the late 80s about writer Quentin Crisp. H ere's a link to an interesting article in The Atlantic magazine about miscommunication.  While the article itself is not about attire, it is very easy to see how what we wear might possibly send signals we would rather it didn't.  Why risk that?  Far better to get your rear end in gear and spruce yourself up (quite) a bit say I.   Admittedly, a walking stick, a furled umbrella, and/or bowler might be a bit much for most of us in 2015, but how about some creased dress pants worn with a damn belt, polished leather dress shoes (without squared toes), and a sports jacket of some kind over a pressed and tucked in shirt, hmmm?  Get 'em new, on sale, or go used/vintage, but be sure to have the necessary basic alterations as I have mentioned many times before.  You want to avoid pants and sleeves that are too long for y...