Archive for March, 2020

A tie after hours

by oxford cloth button down on March 14, 2020 in Style with 16 Comments

I had only been home for a few minutes when I remembered that I had a few errands that I needed to run. Before heading out the door I thought that I might as well throw on a tie. You know, just for fun. So I did.

I don’t get the chance to wear a tie to work these days, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities to wear one. Adding the tie was a good idea. I wasn’t publicly shamed. No one even noticed. More importantly, I enjoyed it. It was also a chance to break out my old engine-turned buckle and strap which I did on the cheap (engine-turned buckle). The moral of this story is that there are more opportunities to wear a tie than you may think. If you would like to take advantage of them, please do.

Gone for Now

by oxford cloth button down on March 7, 2020 in Men's Clothing Reviews with 8 Comments
Brooks Brothers 3/2 Roll Discontinued

The Brooks Brothers 1818 3/2 roll sack blazer was a trad staple. It was a right of passage of sorts in the trad world. It was almost always the first blazer recommended to any new trad convert. While I haven’t heard anything official (I may even be late to the party) it appears that the much beloved Brooks Brothers 1818 3/2 roll sack blazer is no longer being offered.

Over the past year or so I have noticed that classic 3/2 roll Brooks Brothers sack blazer was not being restocked. This was an immediate red flag. At this point in my life I am pretty familiar with the signs of a product being discontinued. For those of you that aren’t as experienced with this any time that you see sizes not being restocked it usually means one of 3 things. The product is being discontinued, the product is being updated, or there is a production issue. In this instance I would guess discontinued, because more than enough time has passed for them to update or fix production issues.

It looks like we have lost another trad classic. This one hit me harder than some of our other losses. It was my first 3/2 roll sack blazer. It was a big deal to me when I bought it. While we look back on this blazer with fondness it’s important to remember that we still have options such as J.Press and O’Connells, but only as long as we support them. After that it’s just second hand and MTM or maybe we will see a restock. Hedge your bets.

BB 3/2 Sack Blazer
Brooks Brothers Blazer Close up
Brooks Brothers 3/2 Sack Blazer

How to sweatshirt

by oxford cloth button down on March 1, 2020 in Men's Clothing Reviews, Style with 9 Comments

I recently posted about vintage Champion sportswear and while my reverse weave Champion sweatshirt is not vintage I do wear it a lot. You may be surprised or disgusted to hear where I wear it the most. The answer is to the office on casual Fridays. Now I am not asking for anyone to fully embrace athleisure but I thought I’d share how I do it.

Spoiler alert: It’s not hard. Like all trads I tend to wear an OCBD under anything and everything. Here it works well helping to take the sweatshirt up a notch above the yard work look (even thought this is how trads look doing yard work). Layering with a polo shirt will have a similar effect. I do this in the warmer months when you might need another layer in the a.m. Add a pair of chinos to the mix and you are now probably better dressed than most people that you will encounter. I liked the way that my duffle coat contrast with the sweatshirt so that is another option. I think that any type of overcoat would work similarly. The cherry on the top might be a scarf.

There you have it. How to sweatshirt like an adult. Don’t forget that sweatshirts are also great for all of the classics like athletics and lazy afternoons. They’re also not hard to find. I simply made a trip down to my alma mater’s bookstore and the internet could have made that trip even shorter.

Casual Friday Sweatshirt
Sweatshirts for golf
Sweatshirt with vest
Sweatshirt with Khakis
Sweatshirt with Overcoat and scarf