My dad (nice preppy guy, age 67) read the whole blog yesterday, and comments:
My clothes idea is simple. If it worked in the 50s -- and it is still in one piece -- then fashion will come back around to it.
Note -- this applies to underwear, socks, collar shirts, chino pants, blazers, herringbone jackets, and London Fog raincoats.
I guess it is easier to be a guy....
I'm not sure I can add anything to that! Dad likes to do all his own clothes shopping, and suffers lots of grief from daughters and wife about some of his picks. Positive reinforcement appears to work well -- a well-placed compliment can shape future purchases pretty reliably. He does stick pretty close to the categories listed above, and his vendors of choice run to Lands End, LLBean, Norm Thompson, etc. My sister and mother have purchased some wonderful things for him in the past few years, which he wears with pride. The last thing I bought for him (not counting several t-shirts emblazoned with names of various educational institutions, which are really his uniform of choice) was a particularly hideous argyle acrylic sweater, a Christmas present c.1983 purchased in the menswear dept of Bessie Clarke in Pittsfield, MA. He wore it for several years, bless his heart.
Let me know about your Dad's clothing habits, and his opinions (if any) of yours.
A couple of housekeeping details:
1. You will notice that banner ads have crept onto the blog. Rest assured I'm not doing this for the cash (I earn approximately 1 cent per day, which means I should receive my first $100 check in approximately March, 2039) but rather to see how google ads decided which advertisers to send my way. Specifically, I'm curious if the brands that I mention (and label each post with) get picked up. Any thoughts about this (or rants to abolish the banner ads) are welcome.
2. Paul has informed me that all good bloggers respond to comments with additional comments to keep the convo going. My apologies for failing to observe proper blogger etiquette. (@Erin: This may have prompted your FB question about whether I was actually reading the comments??). From now on, expect comments.
3. Hey all you lurkers out there: post some comments! Or at least send me some email that I can post.
This particular posting stikes close to home and the heart! Your father, my dear brother, has always been the epitome of The Preppy Handbook and still is. He is SO strikingly handsome and fits that way of life so beautifully, I can see why his clothing from yesteryear still fits and looks stunning. I am not the least bit prejudice, as you can tell, because my husband, other brother and father have been all the same. They set the standard for their particular era and stick to it!
ReplyDeleteAs for your banner ads, I'm looking up footy pajamas right away! xo
Hey Al. I think you blogging about clothes is funny. My employees dress me - Heather in my office is a fashionista and we do a little work for Casablance here in town so when she has just had it with my jeans and black t-shirt she drags me there and plays opinionated girlfriend while the gay guys run back and forth picking stuff out. Net result - less $$ but I get comments on how good I look 100% of the time when I dress right....oh well.
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