Form and function

During a trip to San Francisco last year, I acquired a jacket that was a bit of an oddity. It's a Kenneth Cole (try to stifle your laugh) 3-button number that's styled to close up with a Nehru collar. It's actually one of the nicer garments I've seen from their label in general, with a cut that fits me nearly spot-on. Plus, I got it for cheap. So yeah, no complaints.


Being able to close up the jacket has also served a real and important purpose on several morning commutes, as many times the temperature is still freezing when I leave the house. It blocks the wind (which was especially important riding into a 25mph northwest blast this morning) and the closed collar helps me conserve some heat on the ride to work.


Once I get to work it transforms into a somewhat normal-looking three-button jacket, albeit with the interesting lapel details. Today, I paired it with a blue OCBD, a silk/cotton blend vintage Lands' End tie, and a cream-colored pocket square with just a bit of a pattern.


I'd mentioned these vintage Florsheim Imperial ankle boots a couple times in recent posts, but I hadn't really gotten a good picture since I'd re polished them. They're a little odd looking, but the leather on them is really taking on a great color after giving them some love.


Here's the whole get-up, along with our other dog Zoey, who amazingly had yet to be pictured on this blog. She had been laying in a sunbeam sleeping just before walking over and joining me for this picture, which explains her sleepy pose.

Sporting birds and a sporting dog

As I write this, sleet is clicking off the windows, and while the temperatures weren't bone-chilling today, it looks like we've locked into a cold-weather cycle that isn't going to crack any time soon.

During these winter patterns, I often find myself going without a true jacket at work. Unless the temperatures are going to be warm enough where I can get by with something lighter (and by lighter, I mean a heavier tweed or my favorite camelhair herringbone), my cold weather uniform usually consists of a shirt and tie with a sweater of some sort over the top, with a heavier coat (like the pea coat mentioned in this post) to get me through the outside elements.

True enough, I could get an overcoat that I could then layer over the sweater combo and a regular jacket, but alas, I haven't yet found anything in my budget that fits my ape-arms.

At any rate, there's still plenty of ways to make things work.


This combo features the great pheasant tie I found recently paired with a Land's End pinpoint dress shirt and a Brooks Brothers cotton v-neck knit sweater. The red Pendleton scarf makes another appearance as well. If one can believe it, each of those previous four items were $2 each from a thrift store. Down below is a pair of black wool pants and some newer Florsheims that I wear when I think the weather is going to turn to muck (as it now has).


Minus the jacket, the outfit doesn't turn too slouchy, although it may be a bit on the Mr. Rogers side (but really, who isn't a fan of Mr. Rogers?). Elsa the sporting* dog enthusiastically agrees with my tie choice, and makes me look positively sleepy in comparison.

*If "sporting" is defined as an insatiable urge to chase tennis balls and any small toys that squeak