All posts in Lifestyle

I know that we are currently in a phase of hashtag menswear where we are not supposed to have holy grails any longer, but I still have a few. I bet a few of you do too. This is a short story about one of my grails. This grail is watch. A jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso to be exact.

Now I am not really a watch guy. I like them well enough, but they are expensive. So expensive that it puts a damper on my interest in them, but I still occasionally dream and even less occasionally I window shop online. This typically right after purchasing a lottery ticket assured of my new found wealth. No dice just yet.

A few weeks ago I was doing some watch maintenance. By maintenance I mean I took my watches (see above) to get new batteries which I am painfully slow to do. So I took them to a jewelry store near me. One that I knew had a nice selection of vintage watches. Which I knew from online window shopping.

While they were putting batteries in my watches I browsed. That’s a lie. I didn’t browse I made a beeline for the JLC Reverso. This quirky watch with a storied past and a touch of utilitarianism has been calling my name for a long long time. They got it out of the case for me. I tried it on and I didn’t love it. It was just too big.

I know that I can’t be alone in feeling this deflating feeling. We’ve spent countless hours thinking about how good we will look in our grail whether that’s a pair Alden cordovan loafers, a Ralph Lauren Polo coat, or in my case the Reverso. Only to find out later that the fit doesn’t work or we just don’t like it as much as we thought we would. There’s a lesson in there somewhere about managing expectations or appreciating what we have or some combination of the two. Don’t worry about me though. I’ll find another watch to dream about.

As most of you know know I’ve been WFH since they closed my branch during Covid. It has been a lot to adjust to in general, but it’s really done a number on my uniform. Add in the fact that I am also married with two small children now and I’ve had to totally rethink my uniform. I’ve started to build a new uniform, but I still haven’t figured out quite yet. What I have done is I have started to sub in denim (and chambray) shirts for my blue OCBDs.

I love my blue OCBDs. Maybe too much. So much that I’ve recently boxed away almost all of my “work” ones leaving only a select few in my closet. The reason is that I don’t want to destroy my work shirts in case I do return to an office someday and being at home interacting with kids all day will definitely do that. If you have small kids you already know the deal, but if not just know that their hands are almost always sticky and they are going to wipe both their hands and their face on you. These are just the facts of life.

This is where the denim/chambray shirts come into play. They are a little more durable than my OCBDs and because I am mostly sourcing them on Ebay they are also cheap. On top of that they fit well into the heavy-duty-ivy-Americana vibe that I’ve always rocked on the weekend, but is now seeping into my day-to-day style. They are also having a moment, or just had a moment, and of course will have a moment again. That’s what’s great about the staples is that they never really go out of style even if they fall out of fashion.

The actual title of this blog post was going to be, “Will This Be My Ralph Lauren Story?”. However that title was way too long and not nearly as catchy. This Ralph Lauren story is actually a story within a story about a flannel shirt.

It all started with an errand. My wife needed me to pick up some contacts for her at the eye doctor. I’m always up for an errand that gets me out of the house. As I was walking up to the doctor’s office I noticed that it was right next door to a Plato’s closet. Now I haven’t been in a Plato’s closet in years, but I thought I might as well stroll through. I even had something in mind that I was looking for, a country flannel.

What is a country flannel you ask? I am not quite sure how to describe what I mean, but I will give it a shot. I wanted a plaid flannel shirt that wasn’t a tartan. Something that didn’t read preppy with colors a bit more rustic. Perhaps in an ombre or shadow plaid with 2 chest pockets of some configuration and I wanted the material to be nice and thick. The type of flannel that you might see a man on a tractor wearing or an employee at RRL or Wythe. Hopefully I can score one under RRL and Wythe prices.

To my surprise I found exactly what I wanted. I tried it on and it fit. It was $10. I was sold. I headed to the counter and then noticed that it was missing 1 button, nope 2 buttons, and after a final closer examination it was missing 3 buttons in total. I was still going to buy it, but as I go to checkout there is no one to check me out. After standing around for a few minutes I left as my time was running out thinking it must not be in the cards for me.

Now here is where I think that my OCD having menswear friends will all be able to really relate. When I got home all I could think about was that shirt. I kicked myself for not sticking around and buying the shirt. I found myself looking at the pictures that I took of the flannel multiple times over the weekend. On Sunday I decided that I would trek back over there at some point next week on my lunch. That’s exactly what I did and luckily for me it was still there.

Now we’ve got to the end of the story and I bet you are wondering how this is a Ralph Lauren story. Well here’s how it ties in with Uncle Ralph. This American Eagle flannel shirt had reminded me of his infamous Kmart flannel shirt that he wore on the CBS Sunday Morning show (here). I hope that it turns out exactly the same. I hope that it becomes full of memories, that I treasure it, and that like Ralph I look good in it. This might just be my Ralph Lauren story. Happy belated birthday Uncle Ralph!

.