Return of the tartan

A long while ago, I ran across a rather insane tartan sport coat at the thrift store. I simply couldn't resist it, and stashed it away amongst some other clothes, only to forget it about it last fall in the midst of trying to pack up all our belongings prior to a house purchase (which subsequently fell through).

This summer, though, I took a couple pieces to my tailor and re-discovered the tartan jacket, so I took it in as well and had the requisite work done. It again got stashed for the proper time, which happened to arrive this week.

Work holiday parties are as good of a time as any to kick out the jams, and while this particular piece got me some snarky remarks, I felt like it also worked pretty well (and I received some compliments as well).

Of course, the trick with a jacket like this is to not go too crazy and look like a clown (although some would argue it's bad enough by itself). It's loud enough that there's really nothing more needed, so I tried to limit my color palette to ones already in the jacket. A simple white OCBD and navy wool trousers were the base, then I tried to pop the gold with a vintage gold grenadine and a black and gold pocket square. A black belt and captoe oxfords rounded it out (I'm wearing house slippers in the pictures because it's been mucky around here).

As I mentioned in the original post, it's likely not something I'll wear more than a couple times a year, but that's part of the joy of thrifting, knowing I only have $25 dollars invested in it, and it will easily provide me with many, many times that amount in terms of sheer enjoyment.

Happy Holidays to you and yours. I hope that 2013 treated you well and 2014 is even better.

Trip to the tailor

Although I've been lucky (and persistent) enough to find a solid rotation of clothes that fit me well at thrift stores, I've also been known to purchase things that are close, but not quite there. What usually happens is that they stack up in corner of a rack somewhere until I get off my butt and get them altered, and that doesn't always happen immediately.

About nine months ago I made a post with pictures of a sport coat that I picked up that I liked quite a bit. Made entirely of rough silk, the navy/off white herringbone pattern goes with a lot of different combinations, and adds a subtle texture to just about everything. When I put the sport coat on that day, it felt a little bit boxy, and despite getting a nice compliment on it at work, the photos in the aforementioned post made me realize that it needed a bit of work.

After an alteration that I was less-than-flattered with at another tailor, I grabbed a stack of three things and took them to a fellow in town who had been recommended to me by two others. In total, there were three sport coats, two of which I had brought in at the waist, and all three of which had sleeve adjustments.

The aforementioned herringbone sport coat came back, and I immediately felt better when I put it on. I didn't have it aggressively brought-in, as I have a tendency to pop a v-neck sweater on sometimes under just about everything, but the fit is enormously better.

Here they are side-by-side, just for good measure. With the alterations, this coat has gone from an afterthought in the back of my closet to one of my favorites. Considering what I paid for the changes (roughly $35*), I'd say it was worth every penny.

Oh, and yes, those are red suede bucks down there.

*$35 is just an estimate, as my total bill for all three pieces came out to just under $80. This cost was about 60% of what I figured I was going to have to fork over, but when the the tailor that I took them to (an older Greek gentleman with a small paper full of chicken-scratched numbers) told me the price, I happily paid and didn't even ask for price breakdown. Needless to say, he'll be getting a lot more of my future business.

Camera as a mirror

I'd seen references to surcingle belts popping up in my reader more and more lately, and with a nice rush of warm air to round out the week, I decided to break one from an estate sale I went to last year then build my outfit around the colors in it. I picked the navy and red one (which happened to be unworn), and went from there.


They were certainly fertile colors to work with, and I pulled out a vintage Lands' End tie, my blue and white herringbone silk jacket, and some navy pants.


Down below, I went with burgundy penny loafers, which actually happen to be the same exact color of the leather on the belt (not that anyone would see it).


Red and white university striped OCBD and a burgundy pocket square with a red flared edge rounded things out, and I felt like the colors and textures played off each other pretty nicely, with little accents of red popping nicely out of the blue. I even got a couple nice compliments on it from co-workers.

And really, I should leave it there, because I felt good wearing it and that should probably be enough. When I got home from work and looked at the shots I'd taken at lunch, though, I realized that things didn't look quite as good as I'd thought. Since this blog is about the process just as much as anything, I'll go ahead and post what I saw to give a bit more context.


It's pretty obvious what the problem is, and it's something I should have realized even sooner (as this was far from the first time that I'd worn this jacket). It was, however, the first time that I'd gotten decent photos of myself in the jacket, and after doing so I realize that it needs to not only be taken in at the waist a fair amount, but the arms need to be taken in a smidgen as well.

I went back and forth on even posting the above picture, as it's not very flattering. At the same time, though, I felt it was important because it's something I can learn from. I don't really view this blog strictly as an outlet to post pictures of my own personal style (otherwise I would have ended this entry after the first three pictures) and finds, but more of a document of progress in the overall journey.

I don't know it all and won't ever pretend to, and while I've learned a ton from my readers over the the past 15 months or so, sometimes a single click of the camera is all it takes in order to take another little step forward.

Slim Fit Blues or: The Curse of the Cyclists Thighs

Although modern and "relaxed" fits have gotten entirely out-of-hand as of late (often leaving inches of fabric billowing around my legs), I have the opposite problem a lot of times when trying on pants that seem like they should fit me.

In short, I have thunder thighs.

Okay, so I'm certainly no Alberto Contador, but more often than not, pairs of pants in my usual sizing (34x34 or 34x36) that were made in the mid 80s (or so) and before often look like they were painted on my legs when I put them on.

For your sake, I'll spare you the visuals. For reference though, I'll call forth these very cool gray pinstripe Levi's jeans from what I'm guessing are the early to mid 80s or so.

Gray and light gray pinstripe. New wave, no wave, way cool.

34x34? Sweet!

Like the kick-ass cords in this post, the pictured Levis were only $1, so I didn't even bother trying them on at the thrift store before making my purchase. I had the same problem with these, though, that I had with the aforementioned corduroys, as it looked like my legs (especially my thighs) had been vacuum-sealed when I put in the work of slipping them on. Actually, "slipping" is probably the wrong term, as I nearly needed outside assistance getting them off again.

I ran into the same problem in recently buying some vintage madras pants off ebay. The waist fit great, the length was just about right, but the legs were nearly as tight as the lycra I wear when I'm actually doing long distance rides.

Damn, did I just admit that I sometimes wear lycra?

Oh dear.