Tweed on the steed

Winter is hanging around these parts, but the weather has been just sunny and dry enough that bicycle commuting is still an option most days.


I tried to pull a little bit more color out of the subtle weave of my trusty tweed, so I went with a purple/blue mercerized cotton v-neck, the flowered cotton Gant tie from this haul, my Florsheim monk strap boots and some chinos.


The nice thing about wearing items that skirt the line between two colors is that they can veer in different directions depending on what they're paired with. Here, my university-stripe oxford in blue and white actually seems to be leaching a bit of the purple from the sweater, along with the navy tie (which also has a similarly vague tone). The pocket square is strictly in the corner of purple and cream, and holds a surprise of its own...


It's actually a women's souvenir scarf, and while it's technically a little on the large size to use as a pocket square, the thin density of it allows it to work without too much thickness in the breast pocket. I actually have several women's scarves that I use in this way; I don't hold a grudge one way or another and actually really prefer some of their colors when I'm feeling like I should let my peacock side fly. In this particular case, I just liked the checkered pattern and colors, so that's all I chose to show. Whatever works, right?

It was actually quite apropos that I rode my bike while tucking away the Mackinac Island scarf, as the resort island has had a ban on nearly all motor vehicles for quite some time. I think retreating there to bike around in its giant state park sounds like a great idea to escape from the blistering summers at some point in the future.