This is what I sported while shopping for utilities (with wifey) today. Comments are most welcome! 1. I have paired an ivory crew neck Tee with a custom tailored (I found a bespoke tailor, finally) khakhi Chinos in 100% wool for a subtle contrast. 2. I have complemented this base outfit with a new camel trucker jacket in 100% corduroy. 3. Accessories include brown belt and tan loafers in newbuck leather (I am showing the later in the forum for the first time). 4. The showpiece is a cross body sling /messenger bag in blue canvas from Amazon. I got this after a lot of research to fit my four basic requirements: (a) it has to withstand a lot of wear and tear and be water washable (so, no leather), (b) it has to be kind of minimal with no flashy logos, (c) it must have enough room for many many items I carry every time (a 1.0 L water bottle, sanitizer, hand towel, wet tissue pack, key pouch, wallet, mobile phone, two cloth bags for carrying groceries, and an umbrella and (d) it must have two pockets in the front which should hold my wallet and mobile phone comfortably. The feature in this sling bag which provided for (d) was a winner.

I’ll try Mr. Buntyn’s challenge. Today’s tie is from the Jos. A. Bank “Executive Collection” and is one of my favorites, so we’ll be seeing it quite a bit this month. Brooks Brothers Shirt and Jacket, Haggar Black Label Trousers and Mario Bruni Loafers. Everything is thrifted today, except the socks and undies.

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.