The well dressed man at the coffee shop

After almost a life time of going to a coffee shop for my first coffee of the day, I gave it up to save money for our trip to Spain last September, that and the fact I needed to switch to de-caf and it just didn't seem worth the price.  I did successfully add $600 to my trip piggy bank.  But these last two Fridays I've gone to Panera's after 6:30 Mass at St. Andrew's with my notebook and current reading in hand.  I'm a people watcher--I like to see a man (or woman) take pride in his appearance--it just feels like they are going to accomplish something that  day.  I'm good at spotting the "interview costume," because the person just doesn't look comfortable. Twenty years ago I could tell the workers from the retirees, professionals from housewives, but not any more.  It's equal opportunity sloppy, casual Friday even on Wednesday.

So when I saw him--my eyes followed--not in a lustful way, although he was very nice looking and well proportioned in a 20-something sort of way, but in wonder and awe like visiting a new city.  He was wearing clean, pressed khakis, a tucked in shirt with a collar, and well fitting loafers.  He had a touch of facial hair, neatly trimmed, and a good hair cut.  No visible tattoos, no studs, no earrings.  In short, he looked like he cared about himself and his job.  Praise God.  He was washing the windows.

When I gathered up my things to leave, he was working outside in a coat--also neat and clean.  I stopped and inquired if he were a Panera's employee or a private contractor, and I think he responded,  Ohio Window Cleaning Co.  I complimented him on his work, and he gave me a smile that could light a cloudy day and said, "Thank you."

 This company, which has obviously invested time and energy in training its employees, could give workshops on the side.

Dinner attire at Downton

Today we’d be lucky if they just pulled up their jeans, covered the butt-crack  and took off the baseball cap.

Shades of the 60s!

I remember seeing these tight, patterned pants on campus when I was in college.  Although I think they wore socks.

I guess it’s in again.  Ah, the bold, strong American male.

http://www.zegna.com/us/home.html

Ermengildo Zegna.

Why these sell is beyond me

Torn, faded jeans with platform high heels on an anorexic model.

But that’s the fashion and they do sell.  I guess it is because most of the fashion designers are gay men who prefer the form of  young boys.  So why do women fall for this?  If there is anything worse than the baggy look of a few years back, it’s the “back in skinny jeans” look that have Gen-Xers yearning for the body of their middle school days.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/08/fashion/thursdaystyles/08FASHION.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

And it’s suggested you are homophobic if you notice!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/nov/06/1

And men’s fashion too has to look like it’s for young boys. “Media trends are created by famous designer labels which have been managed by homosexual men for decades, and for several years they have been using stick-thin male models.”

http://www.examiner.com/article/straight-men-are-being-destroyed-by-gay-fashion-designers

I can't begin to tell how sick I am

of seeing Bonobos butts on every website I look at. They are everywhere. The pants are always tight and when it's not a rear view, it's the crotch. Reminds me of the cattle magazines we used to get in the Veterinary Medicine Library showing the business end of the bulls.

I love you, but . . .

Elizabeth Bernstein has a fashion article in today's WSJ that has a lot of wisdom about relationships. She writes: "Woe to the man who tries to makeover his woman." She's talking fashion here ("Do you like this outfit?" can be a relationship killer if a woman asks it; a man probably won't ask.) She says women are more insecure and harbor perceived insults like an elephant--they NEVER forget.

If you're the laundress/laundryman in your home, you can sometimes sneak out the old, frayed, worn and way too comfortable clothing. If your guy is outside raking leaves, he may see more people in a glance than several hours at church. If I never see that never faded, gold colored t-shirt with a button neck that formerly belonged to one of our daughter's boyfriends in the 80s, I won't miss it. I think it was worn for yard work about 20 years.

I love the program on TLC cable "What not to wear," but I sometimes wonder if the makeovers are like diets, and if you checked back in 2 years, would their closets be just the same.

Ratty jeans

When loading some of my husband's jeans and cotton casual slacks into the washer today, it occurred to me that the jeans were well past their prime and I decided to look for some new ones when I went to Kohl's to buy a watch battery. The "new" jeans are so awful, so distressed, so ripped, so wrinkled and faded, I decided we'd stay with what we have.

Neither of these were brands at Kohl's, nor did I actually see any this awful (bottom one is $350), but you get the idea.

Happy Birthday

Easter was a two-fer. Sometimes Thanksgiving is a Three-fer, since we have two birthdays that week. It's always the same question. "What shall I get for Dad?" " He wants a Dick Blick gift certificate." "I always get him that!" So I suggested that his summer print knit shirts were getting a bit shabby (probably 10 years old at least). "Oh Mom, the prints are no longer in style--it's all plain or stripes now!" So this summer, Lakeside will be shocked to see my husband in some new shirts! If it weren't for our daughter keeping tabs on fashion trends, we'd both look like yesterday's mashed potatoes.

We're eating apple pie in the photos (sugar free), but the "cake" is in the center of the table--Cheryl's Cookies, Sugar-Free in a wrapped birthday box. They are quite good.

Naked legs

We live across the street from a golf course. 99% of the men seem to wear shorts (knee length) when they play golf. Why is that? And mostly the same color--khaki, beige, buff, cream or taupe. Are there no bugs on golf courses? Do your calves need to be exposed to hit a golf ball? They even wear shorts when it's cool. When it rains. In the fog. When it's 87 in the shade. All the golfers in the TV and newspaper Flomax commercials are wearing long pants. They seem to have a good time and play a decent game. Tiger manages to wear long pants and he's a pretty fair golfer, so what's with the naked legs?

Men's fashion

At the coffee shop this morning I consulted with one of the regulars, a man who formerly managed a men's store, about this photo. I'm not up on floral ties--at least not since I used to make neckties for my husband back in the early 1970s. And I think he took a few resembling this with him on the Haiti mission and left them there.

This photo is in the March 2008 Architectural Digest in a double page layout featuring a yellow sports car in front of a stone mansion (or it could be that stone house in Attica, Ohio). This photo nips off the top of the model's head a little. My consultant shook his head and said, "No, blue with a small print would work." I went all through the Lauren web page looking for this photo, finding instead the same model in the same suit with a blue tie. Finally, I located it in a style guide. The model has a nose like a hockey player, and that makes his face interesting and less effeminate. The slickered hair and large lapels give him a sense of history--1930s or 40s. He's the most featured model at that web site. And I don't think the point of the right lapel sticking up above the shoulder line is an oversight. . . it seems to be purposeful to draw your eye there to linger for awhile. And yet, the leaf of the flower is perfectly centered in the knot of the tie. The model's eyes repeat the color scheme and the horizontal white chair back peeking over his left shoulder is repeated in the white hanky.

A man dressed like this . . .well, anyway, it is a very purposeful, artistic composition.