Operation Clotheshorse

I suppose it began with the ill-advised acquisition of the Saboteur jacket – the waterproof silk-lined sport coat I bought in 2010. Way too expensive and a hair too small, and ultimately not quite right. But it was the start, and it broke the seal.

I suppose things were made worse by the arrival of Team Black Swan East, who brought their Southern sense of dressing well and forced us to step up our game a little. I bought a pair of American-made Lucky Brand jeans, then a pair of American-made Bill’s Khakis, then broke down and finally bought that seersucker sport coat just in time to wear it to New York and buy two Uniqlo blazers for $60.

That really did it. I had the peacoat. I got another pair of Lucky jeans, then bought three more pair of my old reliable 501s – each in a more fashion-forward wash than before. I obtained an actual seersucker suit. My first new pair of Docs in over 3 years were chukkas. My key Christmas present was the Levi’s-Filson tin cloth trucker jacket i had coveted for some time. And this week, I dropped $300 on hand-sewn American-made gray suede wingtips, the most I’ve ever spent on a single pair of shoes in my life.

So why? The guy with the famously predictable DC wardrobe, who wore the same model jeans with the same pair of workboots for five years in California, who owned 11 pair of Dr Martens and half a dozen black or gray American Apparel T-shirts and a bunch of Vanderbilt gear – why the sudden onset of boat shoes and Palladium boots and new colorful button-ups?

Maturity, possibly. Vandy Lifestyle, for one – need to look the part. Continued life and work in Silicon Valley, for another – I have the old EUS urge to look a cut above the average paste-eating neckbeard in this industry. For a third, as the old campaign poster said in high school, clothes make the man – naked people have little or no influence on society.

Maybe this is all part of the regeneration. This is just who I am now. It’s not the cheapest hobby, I suppose, but when your fixation is finding stuff you can wear for the rest of your life, I suppose it’ll pay out over time.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.