10 April 2010

In Between, part III

I really do love the 'in between' season. I guess that's why I can't help but write about it so much. It may be a little more challenging to dress in a way that requires one to draw from both cold and warm weather elements and fuse them into a style that is appropriate to both the attitude of the season and the actual weather. But that's the fun part. Today, I did my best to combine Winter and Spring elements in way that was appropriate for a sunny but chilly April day in the Northeastern United States. For what it may or may not be worth, I give you the results:


Tweed jackets, jeans and suede shoes have a history of playing nicely with one another. An extra dose of warm weather dandyism is achieved when the jeans are white, no?

I'm not one to fall for Summer fever too quickly, but I'll admit that this jacket was already stashed for the year. But given the high temperatures in the mid fifties, I dug it back out for one more go-'round. It's a two button darted number from Cricketeer, "Made with pride in the U.S.A. by American craftsmen" (just like this other jacket). Had for all of $6.99.It kept me as warm as I needed to be today. But the yellow square and khaki cap speak to warmer days. So do white pants. But while straight ahead white pants would be an egregious breach of all things holy, these get a pass...because they're not pants, they're jeans. I have no doubt this rig will likely send the old hardcore rule-following set into a dread frenzy.

It's true, regular khakis or grey worsted's would have finished this outfit well. But...

I dress this way because I enjoy it, certainly not because it is required of me. In fact, some might say it would be preferable for me to take a far more casual approach to my personal presentation. For that reason, I look for ways to rub the pretentious edge off of these sort of things. A thing like white jeans will do that well, as will knit ties, un-ironed oxfords, and battered old shoes. This kind of thinking allows me to find a middle ground where I can be the person I want to be without becoming an overdressed pretentious snoot.

Besides, those white jeans really are the jam rolled just a bit too short with dark argyles and suede brogues.

And before one of you says it, here's a note on vanity:

Blogs are all about vanity. Al of them are, to some degree. They are one person saying what they will in a highly public way with the assumption that anyone else gives a damn. I'm no different. This problem is compounded by both the fact that this is a clothing blog, and the fact that I'm writing about my own clothing, a real self proclaimed expert...the very pretentious snoot I just complained about in the last paragraph, as it were.

Am I a little full of it?

Of course, but it makes for some fun reading and writing and that is the point, right?

Because a blog should fall in the crack right "in between" egoism and self deprecation, on a good day anyway.

15 comments:

Theo said...

you know i love this outfit, i just wish you'd stop justifying the way you dress and being apologetic to the 'hardcore'. like you say, the blog's about vanity so just go with it.

Laguna Beach Fogey said...

Lovely outfit. Very inspiring. You are doing a swell job. Do not think about it too much or you will trip up your natural sartorial instinct. Stand by the jams.

Paul said...

Since you brought it up...

I think you've just given yourself a very convenient all-access pass for tooting your own horn. I'll grant the point that blogs are about vanity, but you still control the keyboard. Most of your "rig" commentaries contain at least one self-congratulatory remark ("it's the jam, no"). You write these comments; they do not appear via some deus ex machina from blog Olympus. There are other blogs out there whose authors let the clothes speak for themselves...as posters do on AAWAWT, a web institution that it clearly vanity-driven.

I happen to be a huge fan of Patrick Sullivan (Coiled Pleasures), whose example actually started me thrifting. In my view, he "falls in the crack" every time out.

Giuseppe said...

Paul,

Point taken.

And you're right about Sullivan. I think that guy may have invented "the crack".

Theo,

It's less of an apology and more of a way to cut those guys off at the pass before my comments page becomes an orgy of wailing and gnashing of teeth over all of the "rules"that have been broken. I just can't stand such a rigid way of thinking.

Anonymous said...

While I think that the best dressed gentlemen know how and when to break the rules, I simply think this did not work. I love a good tweed blazer, but mixing it with the yellow square, blue ox, and driving cap? A bit on the absurd side to me. I don't really see this as a "fun" getup, but I suppose it is a matter of personal taste.

Giuseppe said...

I'll grant you the yellow square, but since when do tweed, oxfords and driving caps not belong together?

Young Fogey said...

G,

You have no need whatsoever to justify your blog, or your clothing, or your choices. You can see the stats that show how popular this blog is; you even have external validation in the form of other blogs' links, the overwhelmingly positive comments, the friends you've made via your corner of the Internet, and even being named one of the best menswear bloggers.

Let the nay-sayers and nanny goats bleat all they want: you're the man. (Even if you do have a thing for patch madras and gaudy pants.)

Anonymous said...

Last time I checked, white jeans and tweed jackets weren't exactly the norm. I feel as if white jeans are generally best when slimmer fitting and not bleach white, more of a wheat. The whole ensemble feels like a mish-mash to me; there's not definitive point of view. It's as if you changed your mind as to what you wanted to wear half way through dressing.

Regardless of my opinions on this particular post, keep up the good work. I may not always agree or like your style, but I certainly respect it, and occasionally steal from it.

Anonymous said...

Last time I checked, white jeans and tweed jackets weren't exactly the norm. I feel as if white jeans are generally best when slimmer fitting and not bleach white, more of a wheat. The whole ensemble feels like a mish-mash to me; there's not definitive point of view. It's as if you changed your mind as to what you wanted to wear half way through dressing.

Regardless of my opinions on this particular post, keep up the good work. I may not always agree or like your style, but I certainly respect it, and occasionally steal from it.

Anonymous said...

The tweed jacket and oxford are clearly classic. However, I am simply not feeling the bleach white denim with the tweed, or oxford and tie for that matter. Personally, I think white denim is acceptable all year round; but I think a slimmer fitting off-white, or wheat wash is best. I feel as if you were getting dressed and half way through you changed your mind.

Regardless of my opinion on this particular post, I greatly respect and appreciate what you are doing. I do not always agree or like your personal style, but I appreciate it, and steal ideas from time to time, nonetheless.

NCJack said...

Hey, if I haven't tracked you down and strangled you (with a $1.98 Robert Talbot sevenfold) over your thrift score crowing, I sure ain't bothered over a little "check me out, folks!" (insert imaginative smiley here)

You're just giving some rather interesting examples of style, not orders that I have to wear it. For each "nay", I figure five or six "yeas", which adds up to a hearty "carry on"

Thornproof said...

Like the top half ... but I have something personal against white pants! If you like them, more power to you, but I just don't like them and it does not matter what the material happens to be.

Anytime that I see white pants, I think that you are either a house painter or a golf caddy.

FIXED BAYONET METAL SOLDIERS said...

I think G is an ok geezer. I always crit him but unlike most whining yankees hes fair. So I'm a fan of his blog and a fan of him. I've always been honest with him as well. Like the Tweed Jacket

M. said...

Ohh, that jacket is smashing. I wish I had one fer myself!

gee said...

yeah but you need to wear something òlike light grey flannels with it and a union jack tie