As many of you know, I am genuinely interested in feedback on my outfits as I am still a novice on my sartorial journey. As a scientist, I value well-intended and specific feedback, even when it might bruise my ego. I take my ego out of the equation and just focus on the benefit of learning. For any who have authored academic papers in peer-reviewed journals, you know what I mean. Yesterday, while my business partner and I were waiting in line at the bank, someone came up to me (much closer than one would normally do when not knowing a person) and began with "ever since you came into this bank, I have felt uncomfortable!" My first thought was that this guy was mentally unstable (recall that my PhD is in clinical psychology, so we're always thinking this is a possibility!). He continues, "I should have brought my jacket in the from the car at least." "You look great, man, and most of us aren't keeping up!" I don't dress to be better than my fellow man, but to be better than my former self. I honestly believe that is my goal. But, the self-realization part here is that it does feel good to hear such feedback. There's nothing brash or self-aggrandizing about getting external reinforcement for something important to us.

“I honestly don’t think my style has changed much since I was perhaps 17 or so……Changes since then can be measured in quarter-inches. I find that as I age, I become more interested in simplicity, paring down, minimalizing. I’m a great deal more Doric than Corinthian these days. Simplicity of cut has become a hallmark.” G. Bruce Boyer 8/27/2023 USDrake.com https://pin.it/10UGAPy5p I can relate to this comment by Boyer. As an adolescent I dressed and thought as an adolescent. After working in clothing I adopted a more mature classic timeless understanding of clothing that has been fundamentally the same since I was 17. My philosophy has been that if a photo of me is taken,(especially if one is in a tie) the clothing should never give away the year the picture was taken. (Can’t really help the cruel ravages of Father Time and gravity ). Since beginning this journey in my late teens, it’s been a process of fine tuning rather than changing. I’ve included my Senior yearbook pic from 1978 against one taken this afternoon. In each I am wearing a navy blazer with a white shirt with a classic two bar rep tie (also sometimes called a three stripe regimental or many simply call it the Brooks Brothers stripe). In my attached senior pic I had never even heard of Brooks Brothers yet. Is the outfit here exciting? Nope. Could it have been worn by any guy on virtually any single day for about the last 100 years? Yup. My only style upgrades in the last nearly 50 years has been the fit is honed in and the fabrics have vastly improved. The function (what one wears when and where) hasn’t really changed at all. The mistakes I have made is to not take better care of both my garments as well as my body ( I bet I’ve had to give away tens of thousands of dollars worth of clothing because I chose to eat too much). Essentially I took the quality of clothing I had and the money I was making for granted. The biggest style upgrades I have made have been quality of clothes and better care of clothing.

https://youtube.com/shorts/BO-MynRWptU?si=5SxWEd9Got-TIaIV