The Cut Of His Suit

03June2010


I love new stuff.

I can't help it, maybe it's the futurist in me. I'm attracted to new gadgets, the hottest apps, the latest trends. I'm always trying to know and understand what's next.

But I confess that there's just some trends that I can't wrap my head around; case in point, the state of men's fashion.

Oh, I've tried. I've seen the young CEO's and corporate hotshots, decked out in the latest slob wear, like they just stepped out of an Abercrombie and Fitch. I have embraced the casualization of America, and inhabited the workplace in jeans and wrinkled Polo's.

Then I see a photograph like this.

It dates back to the Great Depression. It portrays a man, down on his luck, out of work and reduced to sleeping on a park bench. Yet all I can see is his suit coat, wool trousers with a neat cuff and a sharp crease, and good lord the hat!

I've done myself a great disservice. I own too many t-shirts, and too damn many white socks. I've sacrificed the ability to project value, to visibly demonstrate character under pressure, for comfort. These are serious times which call for men of serious purpose.

I need to do some shopping.