There is a great old Johnny Carson episode where George Gobel was the last guest following superstars at the time: Dean Martin and Bob Hope. Gobel delivers this brilliant line “ did you ever get the feeling that the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes?” Not quite the same but dark brown and navy can have that same mismatch look. About half the time when I see the two combined it looks like someone got dressed in their closet with the lights out. Each are staple colors of menswear and while beige, tans, greys, grayish browns, and heathered browns look excellent with navy, typically a deep brown and navy combined just misses somehow…..unless one can tie it in with intention and harmonization. This is what I attempted today. I started with the light blue POW patterned shirt added the merino wool sweater and then constructed from there. I tried to use accessories and the light tan coat to do so. OOTD •Tan and brown parquet weave RL hacking tweed • navy and green silk P Square • Johnathan Richards of Ireland beige with Navy Green and Ochre flat cap • Chocolate merino wool Harold’s polo sweater • CT PoW blue shirt w French cuffs • Harold’s Wool Challis Regimental Tie (1982) • RL wide wale Navy cords • Lucessee European Goatskin Ropers • Orvis green faced field watch https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=485650567408879&vanity=61556239994829&http_ref=eyJ0cyI6MTc2OTAwODE4NjAwMCwiciI6Imh0dHBzOlwvXC93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbVwvIn0%3D

As the stormagedden threatens to descend upon the south central US this Friday the wools are out on this sunny sub freezing Tuesday. I started with my white with blue shirt and built out from there. OOTD • chocolate sport-coat Donegal tweed MTM 1997 • brown with green 90/10 wool/silk P square • wine colored Orvis merino wool zip front • white w blue stripe CT cotton shirt • RL green and wine rep tie 1982 • wool flannel grey trousers Samuelsohn • Pantherella otc socks • 1982 shell cordovan Alden tassel loafers • Caravelle Bulova watch

You might recall my post from a couple of weeks ago when I lamented about a sweet pair of Allen Edmond Oxfords that I had found at a thrift store.They were too small for me, sadly, so even with the unbelievably low price, I left them and walked away. Well, a couple of days ago, I was in the same store and surprisingly, they were still there. They were still loudly calling my name, but I knew they didn’t fit, so it made absolutely no sense for me to spend the roughly $10 to buy them. But, they finally broke through my sartorial defenses, and with another 20% off, they came home with me! Add to them some reconditioning cream, some Safir polish, a topcoat of clear wax and some new strings, and I am now the proud owner of some gorgeous shoes that I still cannot wear! But they’re sure pretty! Can anyone here wear size 8D?

Had a 7:00 Rotary meeting to be followed by a WFH day. Let me get the OOTD out of the way. MTM Black and White Houndstooth, Hanna Donnegal Tweed black w white flecks, black cotton long sleeve polo shirt over a grey Glen plaid shirt, yellow/gold Robert Talbot tie, Levi’s button front black 501 jeans, Pendleton Socks, Salomon black trail runners, Seiko Model 5 automatic. The Tie- I and a few others in this community come from an era where the outfit I have on today would be extremely casual for a workday. On any given weekday every middle to higher end restaurant at breakfast, lunch and dinner would be full of guys wearing a tie. In my college days in the early 1980’s it wouldn’t be terribly unusual for guys to don a tie to go out on a weekend on a date or with a group of guys if they were headed to a nice series of bars. In Richmond, Va where I spent the majority of my 20s and 30’s from about Thanksgiving through the end of the year most dinner parties through the end of the year - guys wore ties to each other’s house. The Tie especially a tasteful classic is the one garment that can “tie” together the entire ensemble. That’s what today’s OOTD is trying to portray. In trying to find a way to upgrade my black w black polo and jeans combo- I grabbed the glenplaid shirt and a yellow with black pretty formal styled tie. This allowed me to upgrade with the sportcoat ( except for the hat - the last item chose). I could blather on about the sad loss of ties in menswear and how the degradation of men’s classic style has coincided with it but I would rather stay on the positive side. Why not learn the art of adding a necktie to complete an ensemble. It’s as much a feature of completing a color combination as it is about formality. The bland department store monotone outfits of the past 10-15 years has A ) guys all look like a GAP ad and B) afraid to add colors and accents that finish an outfit. I challenge any guy who rarely wears a tie to take their significant other out, even if to an Applebees quality restaurant and tell her that your wearing a tie (enough time in advance- gals get funny about being out dressed). Or do like @Alan Dormire and @Chad Smith and I, wear a tie on a wfh day. At first you might feel very weird. But think of it like that first day at the gym, or singing in public, or casting a fly rod, or using a new driver.

It usually takes me about 60 seconds to construct an outfit. Started with brown 5 pocket Bill Blass Cords, added a CT Oxford basket weave blue shirt and the second day wearing a cardigan sweater. This merino wool olive with the blue shirt offers many possibilities. I threw my RL parquet weave tweed ( I used to describe this as a barley corn but that didn’t sound right so using the style dictionary Antonio created I realized it was a parquet-like the floor -weave). My 1 minute assemblage stretched out to three because with olives and blues there are so many choices. I got down to three ties. I settled on my newest tie-a deep plumb wool challis club tie and my reversible wool pocket square (opposite side from yesterday). Orvis field watch and 1982 Cole Haan Waxhides and argyle socks finished it off.