It’s about time to continue my list of personal style rules. The feedback from my last round was both enlightening and entertaining. Some for and some against my rules but all good conversation nonetheless.
Once again, I’m open and encouraged by your feedback and am also be interested in seeing your rules/lists as well.
I foresee quite a bit of debate from this one but I consciously don’t wear ties with button-down collar shirts. I have no issue with the button-down collar and have quite a few in my closet but I personally feel like it is a slightly more relaxed look than a tie deserves. And while I do my very best not to judge, it is one of the first things I notice on other men.
Sticking with dress shirts, when wearing a jacket (suit or blazer) I want to see about 1/2-inch of shirt sleeve past the end of your jacket sleeve. I try to keep mine in that 1/2-inch range but I do know it often sits slight shorter/longer. I have a couple of shirts where I’ve even gone as far as safety pinning up under the sleeve to keep them from being so long. Too much shirt sleeve showing though makes me think you have a jacket that’s too small and too little showing makes me think your arms are too short.
You should find the right fit for all of your clothes but it’s especially important when buying and wearing a suit. I applaud any man making an honest attempt to clean up and wear a suit, I just want to help us all remember that our suits from junior high are probably not the perfect answer anymore. Inversely, people can usually tell if you’re wearing your dad’s suit as well. Put it on, look in the mirror and wait for that feeling that you know you nailed it. If it doesn’t happen, adjust.
Speaking of finding things that you can wear well, spend almost as much time as your lady-friend does in finding the right pair of jeans. There are a thousand manufacturers and thousands of different cuts to jeans so find the style that fits you best. Pay a little extra and then take good care of them.
Suggestions:
We don’t want to see your business. Too tight and/or too baggy should be avoided.
If the pair you’re looking at in the store has scroll-work embroidery or dragons printed on them, you’re in the wrong store (and probably need an age check as well).
There’s been a steady dose of silence to go around my little corner of the Internet-neighborhood and it’s mostly due to the fact that I haven’t set aside enough time to write.
As I mentioned a while back, I’m about as max’d as I can get business wise and had some success offloading a bit of the work on others.
I’m actually pretty far off from being out of the woods at this point which means that areas like writing and the dreaded business side of freelancing often get back-burner’d.
I was reminded yesterday though how it could potentially be worse. Dealing with collections for my work is a necessary evil. I realize that I have to send invoices to actually be paid for my services but the time and effort that used to go into it was dreadful.
My old system included tracking my time in one program, exporting to spreadsheet and then using a pretty outdated, local-based system to create invoices. It was arduous and time-consuming to say the least.
Add in the fact that I was manually sending invoices by email and having to track and follow up on unpaid invoices all by hand and it usually got relegated to the bottom of the to do list. Only when I saw the bank account get to an uncomfortably low mark did I then realize it was time to do it all over again.
Ch-ch-changes
As the calendar year rolled for 2011, I decided I was going to try and go a different route. I was willing to spend money on a new invoicing/tracking system. I hadn’t fully decided on a local application or a web-based one but I knew I was willing to spend money on the right one.
After a bit of testing, and having to enter time/client/invoice info into multiple different avenues, I found the best solution for me and my work-flow, Harvest.
This by no means is a paid endorsement by Harvest, but I’ve now paid for three months worth of their service (plus the first month free) and I haven’t looked back. (more…)
My uncle Stan is somewhat of a renaissance man, he impresses me with any number of skills but his ability to survive as the only male in a house with four women has to be near the top. I’ve always known he was a great writer and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that some of my voice/stylings didn’t come from reading him.
We, as family members, were lucky enough to be able to read his musings from time-to-time but I’m glad that he’s finally decided that he’s willing to share it on a bit larger scale now.
If you grew up in the church, you will find plenty to identify with but even if you didn’t, I’ve got a feeling you’ll dig it as well.
I’d recommend subscribing to it so you don’t miss out on gems like this:
I grew up in a family of preachers. You couldn’t swing an offering plate in my house without hitting a man of the cloth. I knew early on that I was going to bring down the average of preachers in our family by quite a bit because I just didn’t have the gift.
I remember the first time I was called on to say a prayer in front of the whole church. It went something like this: ‚ÄúGod uh‚Ķbless uuuuhhhh…merica, ‚Äòtis of thee‚Ķ.unto the republic‚Ķuh‚Ķ(faster) guard, guide and direct us, Amen‚Äù. I threw that part about guard, guide and direct us in because it was always said in other people’s prayers so I knew I had to say it for my prayer to be official.
Needless to say, I tried to stay as far away from the pulpit as possible.
I’m really looking forward to see what he churns out; my only hope is that I can get him off of the Blogger platform as soon as possible.
I’m a bit late in bringing this to the party, but if you haven’t already signed up for the Read & Trust Premium Newsletter you’ve missed the inaugural issue. Mr. Patrick Rhone definitely kicked things off with a good pace.
For just $5/month, you’ll get an exclusive, high-quality piece delivered to your inbox every Tuesday morning. Each R&T member will take a turn or two so expect to lower your standards slightly as my week rolls around. Sadly, even as a member, I don’t even get to see the pieces early so we’ll all be waiting patiently together for new articles.
Shawn Blanc quits his day job
In somewhat related news, fellow R&T member, Shawn Blanc, is now into his fifth day of working completely for himself leaving behind a steady paycheck to work full-time writing and delivering content from his personal site. Needless to say, I’m slightly envious.
To support his endeavor, one of the things Shawn has done is create a membership section to his site to deliver exclusive content as well. Daily musings and other fun to surely ensue.
For $3/month you too can partake in the shenanigans and help Shawn as he embarks on this new freelance adventure. I’ve signed up and have been impressed with his content so far but I’m still waiting patiently by the mailbox for my Little Orphan Annie Decoder Ring.
Imagine my surprise come Christmas morning when I unwrapped a book that had been out of print for almost 40 years. I had indeed looked into purchasing a used copy of it before but the $200-$400 price tag left me empty handed. Thankfully, my waning desire to track one down, led to my lack of knowledge that they decided to do a reprint some time last year. I’m even more grateful to my cousin for her desire to seek out gifts that she knows you would be floored with. Huge.
Take Ivy
For obvious reasons, the entire premise of this book is attractive to me. The era, the location, the fashion, the culture and the photography. And from cover to cover I’ve flipped and noted multiple times over things that need to be remembered and/or shared. The style and influences from this generation can – and should – be seen in quality men’s fashion today.
Sadly, gone is a time when most of us put much thought into our everyday wear, much less the university-aged student. Too many times do we just grab the first t-shirt from the door to step out into the world. I’m guilty of this same practice and am slowly refining in my own mind the importance of stepping up my game even in my everyday wear.
I wanted to show you a few scans from the book but I would definitely encourage you to look into getting a copy for yourself now that it is readily available again.
Deck Shoes
Actually headed out today to see if I can find a decent pair for myself. (more…)
