Today the paper had a lot of sales ads for clothing and it caused me to peruse the underwear,, er clothes ads. One thing I don't get is that I don't buy a new suit until it looks too tight in the waist. The new one's come that way. When my clothes come tailored, it generally is to let the middle out or move the buttons a little further apart.
Let me say that I have absolutely no idea why women are wearing scarfs for fashion. Who was that woman that was strangled by the spinner on a sports car when her scarf got caught in the wheel? Yes, I know that if Barbara was here, she would still be laughing that I would even attempt to do a blog on fashion.
She has informed me that I do building, not pretty on many occasions. She has almost given up on having me go shopping with her when she goes to Kohl's. (At least I got it right this time. I sometimes say Lowe's not Kohl's) Thank God for our Daughter-in-law as she loves to go with Barb when a field trip is on hand. It also works well for my wife as she has a closet full of clothes and loves to shop and buy. One passion they both have and I don't get is shoes. I have a pair for dress, a pair for work, some boots and 5 buckle overshoes. What more could you want. OK, I did have to buy a pair of brown shoes for the Barbershop Chorus and a pair of patent leather shoes for the Tux. But that's about it. I'll go check later but only to throw out those too far gone to ever wear again. By the way, my favorite kind of shoes are black with Velcro fasteners. Yes, Old Man shoes. I wore SAS shoes until I found that New Balance are made in the USA and are a little cheaper.
For a little over 30 years of my life, my daily uniform was just that, a uniform. I would go to the closet and say, "Do I want to wear the green pants with the green shirt and the black sweater or the black zippered coat?" For some reason today even those desk bound guys at State headquarters are wearing the Battle dress Uniform (BDU's).
Back in my college days I wore those JC Penny's chambray work shirts and blue jeans, but it wasn't a uniform (or was it?) Now that I am retired, I put on whatever is clean but blue jeans and a black T-shirt is generally the base I build on. The rest is based on the time of year and if I plan to work outside or not. If I have some painting to do, I look for the shirts that already have paint on them.
Did I mention the white socks? My feet don't do well in those nylon socks. I found some black cotton boot socks and I wore them with my uniform. Now that I don't have to wear something that makes someone else happy, I wear those white cotton socks. I tried to go commando on my feet but that just never worked out.
When I was an instructor for a call center, I was the designated Fashion Police. I had to enforce the rules as best as I could. After I sent the third person down to HR for not meeting the intent or spirit of the rules, I go a surprise when all three were sent back with a note that said no harm no foul. I went down to HR and told the HR manager that from now on, I only had one rule - You must wear clothes. Other than that, I, a nearly 60 year old white male had no business trying to interpret fashion and rules that would not be enforced.
One final point in all of this is that I love to wear clothes that are comfortable and don't need pressed or ironed. On one of the days in 1969, I wore a pair of fatigues that Barb tried to iron and it just happened to be the day that my official Bronze Star from Vietnam caught up with me. As the General was pinning that medal on, the post photographer took my picture. I mentioned that I looked like I had slept in that uniform. Barb informed me that she was pretty damned sure there was a laundry on post that would do a good job and she there after didn't try to make my uniforms look good. If something needs cleaned, washed and pressed, they go to Scotch Cleaners. Wait, I have three shirts there right now to pick up.
Now go an put on something other than your sweats. I will if you will.
MUD
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