Style Share return - Brooks Brothers tie

About two weeks ago, I was wondering aloud to my wife whether I'd ever see any returns on my Style Share idea. As it turns out, I only needed to wait until the holidays were over until the returns came in and the recipients humbled me with their contributions.

This time out, it was the Brooks Brothers tie from January.


This tie was snagged by one Yankee Whisky Papa, who runs his own style blog over at Boxing The Compass.

photo courtesy Boxing The Compass

To prove how versatile the tie is, I'll let BTC tell it...

I went out for a 7 a.m. sledding run with my 3 year old son, and wore your tie. I happened to have exactly matching cufflinks for it, which are somewhat visible in this picture of me about to leave the house for the short but fast and icy sledding course in the Boston Common. Gray sweatshirt over a TM Lewin St. James shirt and a Mister Midwester-gifted tie. Later, shifted to wool blazer and was off to the office.

From the sled-run straight to the office, like a superhero. That's copy that Brooks Brothers only wish they would have come up with. :)

Again, thanks to everyone for rolling with this. I'm having a blast.

Style Share return - L.L. Bean shirt

Whoot! My little experiment in crowd-sourcing style is showing some returns. For the second time this week, a Style Share item that was sent out into the world has now been documented in the wild.

This time out, it was this vintage L.L. Bean chamois shirt from December.


The shirt was snapped up by The Natural Aristocrat and he worked it into not one, but two different outfits.

Photo courtesy The Natural Aristocrat

Both outfits show the true versatility of the shirt, with the second turning in a true mix of styles that really make the bright red shirt (which could be considered fairly utilitarian considering the humble origins) into a focal point.

If you click through the photo-credit link, TNA even included a bit of nostalgic memories about L.L. Bean and some history of the shirt. Good stuff.

Thanks again to everyone who has participated in the project so far, and here's to many more great returns.

Ties is a four-letter word

In terms of grammar, the title of this post might not sound that great, but in my case it's sadly true. Although I find it hard to find pants, shirts, jackets, and shoes that fit me, ties are the great equalizer. It seems like I'm always finding designs and colors that I enjoy, and because they don't take up a lot of room in my wardrobe (and they're usually inexpensive), I never to fail in justifying a purchase to myself.

Oh, and speaking of four-letter words, how about Dior, Gant, and Polo?


First up is a vintage (80s or so?) Christian Dior tie in an a color combination that instantly makes it the most beautiful paisley in my entire collection. This one is going to get a lot of play.


Next up is this beautiful Gant number (100% cotton, made in U.S.A.) in navy, with a delightful pattern of small colorful flowers. Again, this can go with so much.


Another Gant tie (100% silk, again made in U.S.A.), this is going to replace a Land's End tie I have in a similar color-combo, just because I like it more.


Purple and yellow Polo repp in 100% silk. Not sure what I'll wear this with yet, but I'm not going to pass it up for $1.


Lastly (but certainly not least), another Polo tie, this one in 100% wool with more birds. Yeah, I can't get enough.

How many ties are too many? I guess I'll find out eventually.

Style Share return - Chaps tie

As I mentioned in my last post, the first Style Share return has arrived. It comes courtesy of Kleidsam, who runs a blog of his own.


He took this Ralph Lauren Chaps tie from December and made it flourish with his usual aplomb.

Photo courtesy of Kleidsam

More textures than you can shake a stick at, but with enough mutual color interplay that it works smashingly.

Photo courtesy of Kleidsam

The little details (flower in the lapel, skull and crossbones tie bar, and herringbone pocket square) just make the eye dance a bit more, and the shoes are lustworthy as well.

Much thanks Kleidsam for participating! Hopefully more returns will soon follow.

Style Share - January

I've got one return from a previous months Style Share coming soon and hopefully more on the way, so it seems that this little experiment in crowd-sourcing is working.

No real theme to this months items, just some neat ties and a sweater that I found. There are four things to choose from (for free*), and I'll send out items to the first two people to claim their items in the comments. Once items are claimed, they're off the board, but those who claimed the item will need to contact me through the email listed in my profile so I know where to mail stuff.

As always, the only thing I ask is that the recipient of said item of clothing email me back a photo or two of them wearing it for a follow-up post on this site. It doesn't have to be lit like The Sartorialist or even show your face, it just has to show how you put it to use.

Enough disclaimers, here are the items:

This one was claimed last month, but I was never contacted so it's back in action. This tie is so versatile that it's almost hard to imagine an outfit that it doesn't work with.


Beautiful vintage Dior tie in dots with gray, red, and purple. Depending on what it's surrounded with, I could see it being either playful or subdued. Super sharp.


Vintage wool shawl-neck sweater (size medium in case you can't read the tag). Panache brand (you can't beat that name!), this one has plastic buttons, but is perfect for the couple months of winter that remain.


Vintage orange wool knit tie, straight outta Scotland. Perfect for those have Syracuse, University of Texas, Illinois, or any other number of schools as their alma matter. Or hell, just get it if you love nubby wool texture and ORANGE.

*Seriously, it's free, and yours to keep forever. No strings attached. I won't share your name on the site or with anyone else unless you have a blog of your own that you want me to link. Please note that all clothing will be used (but certainly not stained, smelly, or damaged, as I do have standards), so please only agree to participate if this sort of thing doesn't gross you out. Thanks.

Sweaters and scruff

I had a nice little block of days off over the past two weeks, and even though I kept fairly busy, I found the time to get out and thrift a little bit. I had a lot of competition (our city is full of pickers, and there were quite a few thrifters in town for the holidays), but I did end up finding a couple gems.

First up was this vintage L.L. Bean sweater. It is now easily the thickest sweater I own, and I haven't even had the occasion to wear it yet.


I knew it was something interesting the moment I saw it, and the tag affirmed it. It's old enough to have the vintage L.L. Bean font, and oddly enough it was made in Norway.


It's not 100% wool, but honestly I don't mind in this case. It makes it less susceptible to moth damage and although it inhibits the breath-ability just a bit, it's going to be layered with enough other garments when I finally do wear it that it won't make much of a difference anyway.

I also found a beautiful 100% wool sweater vest (knitted in England) and a short-sleeve (!?) 100% lambswool v-neck sweater that I'm guessing one would just wear like a sweater-vest. Some cool accessory finds (including a couple sweet ties) will be coming in another post.

It's certainly not very stylish, but I also bought this...


Frankly, I'm not a huge fan of Las Vegas as a city (it's just not my thing), but I buy vintage ringer t-shirts like this once in awhile to wear in the yard and/or around the house. It's one of those shirts that feels like it's been washed about 150 times and is soft and thin and incredibly comfortable. To each their own, I guess.


Almost three weeks since my last wardrobe post, and almost as long since I've shaved. Trying to decide whether I should chop down the ever-thickening beard or not...

I haven't had any returns from the first two months yet, but I'll unveil the items for this months Style Share on Thursday evening (Jan. 6th). Some good stuff again, so swing back and stake your claim.

Happy new year, baby.

I want to wish all the readers of this site a happy and healthy 2011. I started this blog up a little less than a year ago, and it's been a great deal of fun to write as I explore and evolve my own personal style and show off some of the interesting things I've found.

Having said the above, I've been hiding something from you and I need to tell you about it. I hinted at it vaguely in a past post, but I haven't yet posted anything about what will definitely be the biggest and most exciting news to happen to me in the year 2011.


The above picture is a profile view of an ultrasound of the baby girl who, if all goes according to plans, will enter the world sometime in the first week of April and change our life forever.

I had a long holiday break and meant to make more posts here (and even took quite a few pictures), but instead I ended up painting the room that will soon be hers and tried to make sure several other things got done around the house. There's only about 3 months to go, and I'm about 85% insanely happy and excited about what's to come, with about 15% of me still feeling afraid of all the little details and whether I'll remember everything and do everything right that I know I should. I've been reading books and trying to somehow prepare myself for it all, but know that no matter how much work I do, I'll soon be dumped headlong into something that I simply can't comprehend until the experience is actually happening to me.

I can't wait to hold the little baby in my arms that I've felt kicking me through my wife's skin for the past two months. I'm excited to see what she looks like and how she takes after myself and her mother. Most of all, though, I'm anxious but hopeful that everything goes as smoothly as possible.

Heck, I've even wondered how old she'll be when she first says, "Dad... You are not going to wear that outside the house, are you?"

Again, I wish the best for you and yours in 2011.