I've mentioned in passing that I'll be attending a family wedding this week and preparations for that event continue apace. The suit we plan on wearing has been sent to, and retrieved from, the dry cleaners, as were a couple o' dress shirts. The shirts, alas, didn't come out so well... there being ten years worth o' smoke stains that refused to come out in the wash... which meant we had to buy a new dress shirt and have that laundered, which we've done. We've inspected our ties in the harsh bright light o' day and have deemed all o' them acceptable for wear. We've yet to choose one, though.
Tonight we completed the last task required for playin' dress-up, that bein' pulling a pair o' dress shoes from the deepest recesses o' our closet and cleaning them up. Two things surprised me here... (1) my shoe polish stash is still viable, which is to say the paste is still paste and not something resembling crumbling rock, and (2) the dress shoes we're gonna wear cleaned up quite nicely. Note:
Those tins o' shoe polish are at least 13 years old (!); the shoes themselves date back to sometime in the '90s. I can trace them back as far as 1992... I'm wearing them in this pic:
That's also the same suit I'll be wearing to the wedding (but NOT the same tie - too skinny and it's long gone). There's a lot to be said for dressing conservatively (e.g, Brooks Bros vs. Armani): stuff doesn't go out o' style. That's true for men, less so for women.
Tonight we completed the last task required for playin' dress-up, that bein' pulling a pair o' dress shoes from the deepest recesses o' our closet and cleaning them up. Two things surprised me here... (1) my shoe polish stash is still viable, which is to say the paste is still paste and not something resembling crumbling rock, and (2) the dress shoes we're gonna wear cleaned up quite nicely. Note:
Those tins o' shoe polish are at least 13 years old (!); the shoes themselves date back to sometime in the '90s. I can trace them back as far as 1992... I'm wearing them in this pic:
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| Mandarin Hotel Bar, Singapore - 1992 |
That's also the same suit I'll be wearing to the wedding (but NOT the same tie - too skinny and it's long gone). There's a lot to be said for dressing conservatively (e.g, Brooks Bros vs. Armani): stuff doesn't go out o' style. That's true for men, less so for women.
The shoes are quite dapper! Knowin' that you are a stylin' man, I'm sure you will look great. Will there be a dance?
ReplyDeleteThere will be a dance. I'm dreading that. ;-)
DeleteGee, Buck, in that pic with your close-cropped sleek corporate haircut, shined shoes, white shirt & dark suit you look almost respectable, lol.
ReplyDeleteDidn't Mom ever tell ya that thing about books and covers?
Deleteheh, you will note my emphasis on "almost."
DeleteMuch truth here. My only pair of shoes dates back to my wedding (which was also in 1992, oddly enough.) Some items of clothing - if of a conservative and stylish nature, as you note - will never look dated. Also, more power to Kiwi! I think I'm going to go polish my shoes right now, even though they don't really need it and I'm not planning on going anywhere in 'em, just because I'd like to enjoy the sensory aspect of it. Oh, and a glass of scotch always helps with menial tasks. Good thinking!
ReplyDeleteMuch truth in what you say, as well. The sensory aspect o' shining shoes was lost on me in my youth, but I sure enjoyed doing that last night; there's something gratifying about the smell of Kiwi and the "whoosh-whoosh" of the brush on leather. It might have been the Scotch, too.
DeleteI have two pair of shoes that old.
ReplyDeleteWell, one pair is much older, harkening back to 1962.
They're the pair I wore only for inspection with full dress uniform.
Today they go pretty good with a tux.
The other old pair are desert boots that don't require shining, but are going to need some repair ...or replacing.
These shoes are the oldest in the inventory now. The former record holders were a pair o' slippers I replaced last year... those things went back to the '80s. I never did have an "inspection only" pair o' shoes; I guess the AF wasn't quite as tough on the inspections as you squids were.
DeleteGood lookin kicks, Sarge - and I'm glad to see you still remember how to bring 'em up to respectable status. Ya never forget, do ya?
ReplyDeleteI agree about the traditional clothes choice, too. They never look wrong; style trumps fashion, every time. I've still got some of mine from the '80s and '90s, but unlike yours the shoes are the only stuff that still fits.
Ya never forget, do ya?
DeleteHeh. Not hardly. As for my stuff fitting... I was afraid I was gonna have to take the suit pants to the tailor's and have them taken in. I've gained a lil bit o' weight lately so they fit OK now. Not perfect, but OK.
I was afraid I was gonna have to take the suit pants to the tailor's and have them taken in.
ReplyDeleteMine seem to have shrunk in storage. The ties still fit, though...
Idea for a post. Put up some of your old pictures, you in Moscow, you in Singapore, ya know the days when you were a business traveler. If you're really brave (or foolhardy like moi) you could have a caption contest.
ReplyDeleteFor the photo above: "So Mr. Bond, we meet again. Join me for a drink would you?" - or something which would fit the Westerner in nice suit in a Singapore hotel bar.
Man, you are well traveled! (The only suit I have ever really liked wearing was blue. And had stripes. On the sleeves.)
If you're really brave...
DeleteHeh. Not me! But I like your caption for this pic.
As for "well traveled"... well, I've been around the block a few times. The strange thing? I've never been south of the equator.