I was getting ready for my weekly Wednesday 6:30 AM men’s group while my wife was still sleeping. So as I grabbed 501 Levi’s I wore yesterday and in my dark closet put together my OOTD by iPhone flashlight, I was contemplating my personal style. Over the past couple of day’s I’ve blathered on about the terms old money and preppy and how each is fraught with the danger reducing Classic Timeless Menswear to merely another fashion category. Antonio’s recent video I spoke about yesterday did a brilliant job of describing why “ old money” style is so much more than just a fashion term: https://www.skool.com/rmrs/mia-culpa-antonio?p=9d9bbd8d Rather than create a name for my personal style myself, I choose to borrow from Harold Powell for whom I worked in my 20’s. He private labeled his casual wear Old School and I remember him telling me why that best described what he was doing and how that differed from other stores in the South Central USA. Harold was a product of The University of Oklahoma -Established Dec. 19, 1890 -17 years before statehood. https://journals.shareok.org/soonermagazine/article/download/11147/11146 https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=HA028 Like many other state universities, the school song and school colors were “borrowed” from east coast colleges. (Boomer Sooner is the Yale Boola Boola song for the Bulldogs and OU’s Crimson and Cream are Harvard’s colors). Harold worked for the McCalls brothers ( a firm I worked for before Harold’s ) but his mother owned the building they were in and when they moved he opened his own shop in their old location in 1948 across Boyd Street from the OU campus. He chose to go a different direction in styling than most west coast clothing oriented stores in Oklahoma and focused on the East Coast, a bold and risky move at that time. His philosophy was to adopt styles that were more perpetual and rather than have a vast array of colors and designs (wide and shallow), he would provide an extremely limited design and limited colors with a lot of minute details (narrow and deep) Explained further - all his coats had a 3/2 roll and all his trousers had deep double forward pleates. Beyond the tweeds in fall or shantung silks or seersuckers for summer, every brand was offered in Navy, multiple shades of Grey, tans, and olives. Ties were classic stripes and foulards primarily and shirtings were mainly oxfords with some stripes and tattersalls. Footwear was of very high quality but clearly defined traditional styles.

I'll pass this idea on. That's why all my outfits in SKOOL are secondhand and cost less than 100 bucks total. You can dress up in quality luxury brands for a small amount of money when you do it in secondhand garments. You can review them all back in time here in SKOOL. Prioritization is so important when it comes to money. I use the amount of money needed to buy the clothes I want. I buy only high quality garments many classic and timeless and I enjoy dressing up like that. When it comes to buying clothes my attitude is largely the issue . I refuses to pay high prices for my garments but at the same time I buy only high quality garments mostly classic and timeless. So I buy 99% of my garments secondhand, otherwise I could not afford to buy the high quality items I am looking for. Then when I find something i really like and ”need” I buy it because it is so affordable. I’m 70+ old and have now bought for many many decades so I do not need any more garments. Currently, I find pleasure in donating my clothes to friends who have found an interest in dressing in a classic and timeless way. Like at last Easter when I had the great pleasure of handing out three good quality summer blazers made of a linen-wool-silk blend to the young people. Let the joy and pleasure of dressing up pass on to new generations. SURPRISE !! My wife Marianne gave me this present a week ago. A framed bow tie, the bow tie I wore about 70 years ago when I was one year old. My framed bow tie is an example of how we as parents can have a great influence on how our children act on different levels as they get older and even throughout their lives. I’m 70+ and today I’m still dressing up and wear a bow tie or a tie in so many situations.

Finish everything today so I can spend tomorrow and this weekend with my bride celebrating our anniversary day tomorrow.