Classic Style

  L et's hope 2021 is a damn sight better for everyone than 2020.  In the meantime, how about continuing to work consciously and conscientiously to improve our grooming  and attire as well as our attitudes and daily behavior, eh guys?  Looking around, many of us desperately need to do so.  So, how about making 2021 THE year to begin that journey? -- Heinz-Ulrich

  F rom all of us to all of you, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the von Boffke family. -- Heinz-Ulrich

  Sporting new specs and almost 20 pound of weight loss since the end of September.  Everything fits better!   V ery few selfie photos here lately of yours truly, but after snapping a quick photograph of my new glasses to share with my sister and step-father, our son, The Young Master, suggested I share one here too.   No tailored clothing today I'm afraid.  Classes for the semester ended last Friday, and I've taught asynchronous online from home since late August anyway, suiting up only for twice weekly office hours and brief weekly videos.   The attire shown above is pretty standard at home wear for the colder months, which is to say a tucked in flannel shirt (or rugby jersey), corduroy jeans (a rather orange-cinnamon-nutmeg shade today), chocolate suede camp moccasins sans socks, and a surcingle belt.   Casual and comfortable without straying into slob territory.  Hey, what if I must answer the door, walk to the mailbox, or pick ...

    S ince we are now firmly into the annual depths of the so called season of giving, it's important to remember a couple of points impressed on yours truly during my formative years by now late parents and maternal grandparents.   One, if you are invited to a holiday party or open house -- assuming you choose to throw continued social distancing and caution completely to the wind in late 2020 -- do not show up empty handed.  Too many do now. . .  typically along with extras in tow whose names were not included on the invitation.  Show a token bit of appreciation and respect for Pete's sake.  At the very least, bring a bottle or two of wine, or a seasonal flower arrangement as a host or hostess gift if someone has been kind enough to include you on the guest list.  Two, put a little planning and forethought into whatever gift(s) you might purchase for your spouse, partner, significant other, boyfriend, girlfriend, main squeeze, or whatever ...

  E ven though the state of the world is pretty bleak, things are looking up, and we have much for which to be thankful. - Heinz-Ulrich.

  T he 2020 Covid-19 inflected holiday season is almost upon us, and with it the annual lead-up to the rather frenetic Thanksgiving through New Year's period.  While I naturally hope that regular and occasional visitors to Classic Style will have the good graces NOT to show up to any special holiday dinners or other events dressed in pilled earthtone fleeces, hoodies, sweatpants, sagging jeans, and flip-flops or sneakers -- or, frankly, any other common attire of the sort -- this post is not about that. Nope.  Instead, it's a yearly reminder to average guys everywhere to remember and practice polite table manners.  Even if you are practicing social distancing, reamaining home, and scaling back this year sans the extended clan.  Social bubbles are sweet ideas, but let's not be foolhardy.  We don't really know yet when vaccines will be widely available after all.  In any case, and with polite, pleasant dining in mind, here is a reprise of a post from...

A Borsalino 'Classico' felt fedora is on the way.  I chose taupe this time around since I already have a chocolate brown 'Dearborn' by Optimo Hats and a different model of fedora from Borsalino in charcoal gray.   A recent birthday left yours truly with a nice little bit of funds burning a hole in the sartorial pocket, so after today's office hours online. . .  which no students attended. . .  I did something about that.  I first placed an order for another couple of shirts from Mercer & Sons.  Then, I ordered a Borsalino Classico Felt Fedora from Holland Hats via our friends at Amazon.     A blue windowpane pattern in broadcloth, replacing a similar though long gone button-down I once had and loved.  I wore it often with a necktie, navy blazer, khakis, and tasseled loafers to various department dinners and evening events as a grad student at the tail end of the 90s and into the early 2000s.    A less staid classic navy, g...

  The inimitable Jack Paar from the days when there was actually interesting conversation to be found on late night television. N ow, let's talk once again about how we can improve our daily attire, character, and manners.  Like we used to before all of the toxic ugliness took hold of U.S. sociopolitical life.  I've got to believe that we are capable of more than that.  Let's hope we are able to cleanse ourselves of the viscous excrement that has permeated absolutely everything for the last several years. -- Heinz-Ulrich.

   Just who is this funny little Austrian everyone is suddenly going on about?   I n a different context, all of this post-election wrangling might be wryly amusing.  If it weren't, at the same time, so utterly terrifying. -- Heinz-Ulrich

Not sure who the artist behind this particular illustration was, but his work seems highly apt for today, don't you think?   H ere's a modest proposal for November 04, 2020.  Let's do our damnedest to preserve those few remaining vestiges of the humanity, humility, decency, and restraint left to us.  Let's also include honesty (with others and ourselves), empathy, kindness, compassion, forbearance, civility, grace, a bit of polite decorum, tolerance, good sportsmanship, and honor as part of the equation.  None are easy, and I suppose that is just one reason these characteristics and practices have taken such a beating in recent decades.  Aren't we better than that though?  Wait.  Don't say anything.  The cynic in me suggests that I know the real answer already. -- Heinz-Ulrich

  T aking a much needed breather here this Sunday, November 1st.  And if anyone wants to know, my costume for Halloween was. . .  Sick and tired.  Of everything.   In the race toward Christmas, which here in the United States seems to end as of 11:59pm on December 25th, let's not forget that more staid, enjoyable national holiday near the end of November (here in the U.S.) that tends to get lost in the shuffle.  Of course, I'm referring to Thanksgiving with its related long weekend.  But turkey?  Please.  I'm more into all of the good side dishes and desserts that go along with it. But even if we must scale back this year and avoid the traditional large family gatherings -- perhaps enjoying the peace and calm of our own homes and immediate family a bit more as a result since all of that loony holiday travel will be somewhat curtailed (maybe?) -- let's not forget to be thankful for what we have.  It's worth taking a few quiet moments...

  The attire for working from home today,  It's hard to beat tweed, cords, and an ocbd shirt.  I seem to have acquired quite a few of the latter in blue and white university stripes during the last ten years or so. T he gear for today has felt so comfy that I have not yet changed into the ubiquitous Rugby top, corduroy jeans, and chocolate suede camp moccasins post-Zoom office hours.  And those concluded 2.5 hours ago.  Certainly every bit as cozy as sweats on a cool day.  Yes, you heard that right, but let's consider a salient point for a moment.  The vast majority always moan about not feeling comfortable in dressier attire.  While I am of the opinion that their discomfort is more psychological, let's stick to the physical world for now.  Here's an oft repeated pointer to keep in mind, guys.  If your clothes are sized properly, if they fit your actual physical dimensions in other words, you'll feel much more comfortable in them.  ...

  A jaunty looking guy in a tweed suit with what appear to be chocolatey suede shoes.  An old Laurence Fellows illustration that I don't think has ever featured here before on the Classic Style blog. M y view on dress and personal style is hopelessly out of step with much of the rest of society now.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing though.  Keep in mind that I am an aging 80s rocker metal head, who finally got with the program by the mid-1990s once I worked out in my mid- to late 20s how I wanted life to be after biting the academic bullet and returning to school.  With that experience from the other side of the sartorial and social tracks in mind, allow me to hold forth a bit.  Grooming and how we attire ourselves remain important in the 21st century if we are brutally honest about it.   For people to be taken seriously, it still helps to present a pulled together, polished appearance -- Note I did not use the term 'suit.' -- rather than sham...

The attire for today! S ince the semester began at the start of September, my go to uniform for online Zoom meetings, office hours, and weekly video production has been a variation of the navy blazer-chino-loafer-OCBD combination above.  Usually with some shade of blue dress socks and a necktie of some kind.  Comfy, laid back, and yet still pulled together.   It sure beats appearing for public consumption, online or otherwise, looking like you've slept rough beneath the 10th Street Bridge, or under some handy shrubs in a park somewhere.  And if you think that's overstatement, just take a look at people the next time you're in virtually any public space.   Polish and sophistication are not terms that come readily to mind when looking at humanity in 2020, iPhones, SUVs, branded clothing, and presumed bachelors degrees notwithstanding.   -- Heinz-Ulrich