Nailing the Dimple

Getting the dimple right is hard, especially given the way most ties like to form their own dimple off to the edge of the four-in-hand.  To help, when you get to the knot-tying stage shown above, pause and tug laterally on the outside edges of the strip of fabric indicated by the arrow.  This will remove any wrinkles in the nascent knot and should prevent them from forming part of the final product.  Continue with the Claw maneuver as described in the other post.

(Do you see how I added that arrow for your convenience and understanding?  I did that for you.  Because I care.)

Technical Clothing

As a usual rule, I exclude technical clothing from my day-to-day wear unless I'm, well, doing something technical.  The contrapositive of this rule is that I go very technical when I'm doing technical things, to the absolute and utter exclusion of style, if necessary.  Witnesseth:

The Vibram Bikilas.  They are running shoes, and they are fog-gray and neon lime-green.  I have been led to believe that these will help with my runner's knee, so who cares if they look goofy?  Very few of us are particularly graceful while running, anyway.

I've started to see men's dress shoes with Vibram-brand soles, too, though only in niche markets and usually on wingtip boots that have nothing in common with the FiveFinger model.

Momentary Change of Pace

DD isn't really a lifestyle blog per se, but some things are too good not to share.  These flowers (a gift from the GF) were barely bigger than the bud in the bottom-left corner of the arrangement until we stuck them in sunlight and water.

I dress up for a variety of reasons--social, economic, vainglorious--but I like to play with pattern, color, and texture because it satisfies my aesthetic sense.  I find that surrounding myself with, and exposing myself to, other aesthetically pleasing things like flowers, hot cars, art museums, and whisky, amplify both my enjoyment of style and my risk-taking, which pushes my boundaries a little bit further each time, thereby increasing my ability to enjoy style...ad infinitum.

Unity of Pattern: Ellipses

Another accidental riff on unity of pattern.  I happened to glance at my wrists while typing, and I Keanu'd, "Whoa." I almost prefer the accidental to the deliberate--I get to work and then get an unexpected mood boost.

Tie and tie bar from JAB (today is Super Tuesday! but 50% off is only a good deal there on accessories, ties, and maybe shirts).  Shirt by Paul Fredrick.  Cufflinks from a friend.  If memory serves, they came from a shop in the Knox-Henderson area of Dallas, a few miles from my ancestral homelands, by total coincidence.

Reappreciation, Part 2: Herringbone

Herringbone!  Your name is unappetizing, but you are not a foodstuff--you are a fabric.  A wonderful fabric.  You add a subtle texture, even more subtle than birdseye, to a suit or a shirt or a pair of socks.  You do this without adding a new color into the mix, a new color which your intrepid wearer might have to re-coordinate with hir outfit. 

And you do this without ostentation.  You are not visible from space.  From a distance, you, in navy, look very much like unpatterned wool in navy.  You keep your secrets from all but the attentive observer, and the secret you tell is that your wearer pays a little more attention to hir dress than the average suit.

Did I mention that you are relatively warm and resist spills more readily?  Herringbone, I appreciate you.

Reappreciation, Part 1: Colorful Stripes

Clotheshorsing around isn't just about acquisitiveness, which is good, because an expensive car repair has kept me from buying much lately.  I can slow down and derive some joy from re-focusing my attention on what I already have, which is a lot.  Take, for example, the coordination between stripes in this suit (Jos. A. Bank) and shirt (Paul Fredrick):

I used to have the perfect tie for this combo--a sky blue with white/black microdot, $15, Filene's--but it went missing in the mail after I accidentally left it in Miami.  Easy come, easy go.  But nevermind that--look how the light blue pinstripe on the pants picks up the major blue of the shirt, then the offwhite pants pinstripe reaches out to the white bengal stripe of the shirt and creates a spectrum between tan, offwhite, and white.