It’s very hard for me to resist stripes. Even loud, horizontally striped jackets, which, according to many style authorities, ought to be a non-non in any language. Stay tuned for the second half of the Berkshires trip later this week! Also forthcoming soon: a post on Universal Standard. Who’s already on-board the Universal Standard … Read more
Rather than make you guess, I’m just going to tell you where The Photographer and I are. We are in the Berkshires, escaping the heat of Washington, D.C. for a few days. We are staying in Pittsfield, at a hip hotel — Hotel on North — which puts us in easy striking distance of … Read more
As previously discussed on this blog, as recently as last week, I set some Spending Guidelines at the start of the pandemic that were intended to make my Pan-Spend meaningful (supporting artists and small businesses) and rational (not much need for new clothes to wear to the home office), without allowing unintended consequences to … Read more
I love the expression, “When you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” I hope it doesn’t describe my approach to legal problems, but I think it does describe one aspect of my pandemic wardrobe. If one were only to have one pair of sandals, I have to say that black sandals with a … Read more
At the start of the pandemic, I — like many — had an initial instinct to reduce spending and economize as a hedge against uncertainty. Within a few weeks (early summer 2020), it occurred to me that I had a duty to spend like a Keynesian economist on shore leave — meaning that I … Read more
Do you remember one of the first principles of The Directorate? That if you find something that fits perfectly and suits you perfectly and it comes in two colors, you should buy both? Be forewarned that a color change sometimes means a fabric change, so I did check the fabric content to ensure the … Read more
Stripes are always right, right? We’ve talked about horizontally striped jerseys, vertically striped shirts and tops, and pinstriped pants in all seasons. But blue and white stripes seem especially right to me in the summer. Agree? Disagree? Remember this dramatic shirt, previously seen here, here, and here? It’s seen today with cropped white … Read more
In our CLE/CME series “Advanced Alterations: Case Studies” I give you: Hand-blocked Dress Over Pants (HBDOP) — a better-fitting dress over all-season white denim. I added this dress to my list of “things requiring alteration” and waited to be reunited with Fatima. Et voila! * Provided for the CDE participants.+ … Read more
Like many of you, I vowed at the start of the pandemic to ruthlessly clean my closets, cabinets, and drawers, top-to-bottom, and rid myself of the greater of (25% of possessions OR anything that I have not been loving or using in recent years). Fourteen months later, I got down to business. This … Read more
Fatima came to visit a few weeks ago and for once, we took photos of a few garments before they were altered so that you could see how they were altered and what a difference alterations make. What follows is a true story. * I had two denim tops: this one from 2016 … Read more