More Thoughts of Spring

Actually, perhaps that title is misleading. It's been raining for two days solid here, which I suppose is the harbinger of Spring. I'm just a little confused, since this weather used to occur in mid-March. I guess I better get used to the fact that Winter as we knew it when I was a boy is getting shorter and shorter. But I digress...

With such sloppy wet weather all around, I look forward to bright sunshine and the clothes that go with it. For example, just back from the tailor come these gabardine trews: The perfect shade of tan, smooth to the touch,
With inverse pleats and side tabs, sans-belt loops. Now might be the time for a side note on pleated pants:

I used to only wear pleated pants, no exceptions. In those days, I was smitten with a 1940s aesthetic, and it worked for me. Then, for a time, pleats were strictly forbidden. I had become obsessed with classic American (read: 1960s college campus) style clothing. Then one day I became old enough to realize that it as silly to marry oneself to some kind of book of rules for clothing as it is to insist that only the French know how to make wine. These days, I favor flat front, narrow leg about 95% of the time. But there ain't nothing wrong with some sharp British style inverse pleats. ( I still maintain, however , that conventional outward-facing pleats make most men look like they have a diaper on under there).

Ralphie Purple Label...the expensive stuff...

made in Italy. $4.99 for the pants plus $15 to have old Mr. Lee let them out a bit and give them a proper pressing.

Someday, if I ever have money, I'll pair them with these white wing tips from Crocket and Jones...or if I'm lucky, they'll turn up for a couple of bucks at a thrift somewhere...wait and see.

These might just be the items to save the green double breasted blazer from it's formidable totalitarian connotations (read the comments...thanks a lot, Tin Tin).