I’ve harped for a couple of years in this community about the difference between fashion and style and the importance of longevity with regard to elements in clothing. Oddly I get questioned a lot now if not wearing a sportcoat or suit. But weather dictated something different. On another sticky high 90 degree Fahrenheit summer day I grabbed some cooler items and so was inspired to share some thoughts about these elements. [While this post isn’t necessarily about brands-certain brands can be used to express this design concept]. The classic polo shirt was originally a tennis shirt introduced exactly 100 years ago by Rene Lacoste. (I have attached the story behind the “tennis shirt” and the legacy of the alligator and polo-rider logo. The original “polo” shirt had more in common with what we call an OCBD today). Irrespective- this “polo” design is now over 100 years old (Lacoste version 1926, Ralph Lauren version 1972). https://www.heddels.com/2019/04/history-polo-shirt-rene-lacoste-ralph-lauren/ Paired with this I am wearing a Ralph Lauren black double front pleated linen trouser (RL makes a quality pleat). In speaking with my friend Steve Giles recently, he gave me the history of the double forward pleat. About 100 years ago there was more of a distinction in clothing between white and blue collar workers. The trouser for the blue collar worker was a durable pair of affordable plain front trousers. Conversely double pleats required more tailoring and consequently exacted a higher price and thus became the standard for a gentleman’s trouser, be that casual or dress. Per Steve, the reverse pleat was a more economical cut to make and because of the fickleness of women’s fashion, it was the common version of women’s pants 90 - 100 years ago as women more rapidly consumed fashion. While I am not sure about all of this, I found his explanation quite interesting. When Steve and I worked together at Harold’s ALL of our trousers were a deep double forward pleat, be that a casual or dress pant and I have worn that cut for nearly 50 years, irrespective of the prevalent fashion noise. This design of pant is a garment to which I do not skimp. A crap pair of poorly fitting pleats are much worse than no pleats at all. Probable 80% of my trousers are the double front pleat. I also have worn cuffed trousers for that same period of time-if wearing a true slack cut- about 90% of my trousers have cuffs. My philosophy of clothing is that a picture should never expose my age, at least from a clothing perspective (can’t do a damn thing about the haggard old face🙄in the photo). This to me is the essence of Classic Timeless Menswear. Questionably I grabbed my black cloth- white soled derby Clarke’s again with this outfit. The verdict is still out in mind as to these surviving as a modern classic. This is how I reason the validity of its possible classic standard: Derby? YES! the derby (or Blucher is a staple design); white soles? YES, but limit that to a casual “deck wear” function (not with a suit at a formal event or worn professionally such as one sees TV anchormen wearing👎); Mixing the two ???? I simply don’t know-I keep telling myself that even the pink gum soled dirty buck or suede saddle shoe or the two tone Weejun each of which was “style forward”once upon a time. Regarding the shoes-Ask me again in 100 years😎

Roof inspection with a contractor today. Finally back to real work. - black performance polo with company logo - Brown leather belt - Slim straight blue jeans - Light brown lace up boots - SOTD Spice Bomb night vision

Meet Anders Sundström, the Swedish champion of shoe shining. Anders is taking us through the advanced stages of a shoe shine. This is where we transform that ordinary polish and shine into something really quite exquisite that you really don’t see anywhere else. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H15-7RvwCro