Outfit Of The Week 10/29/23 – 11/4/23
This week’s signature look was one I put together to combat the unexpected snow squall we experienced on Wednesday.
The forecast said “flurries”. Seriously. Flurries. That is not “flurries”. That’s just snowfall.
Anyway, I had a day off from work and needed something warm in which to run errands.
What I love about this outfit is that every single piece I’m wearing I absolutely adore. If I could wear only this for the rest of my life, I would be happy.
Now, looking at this outfit, you might think that the centerpiece was the beautiful Aran sweater, but you’d be wrong. The piece I was most looking forward to wearing that day was the flannel pants from The Territory Ahead.
I did a review of their linen pants some time ago and these pants are their cold-weather equivalent.
When I received them, they were unfinished at the bottoms, of course. And at first glance, they looked VERY casual. Like… “sweatpants” casual. But once I got them hemmed with some decent cuffs, they totally pass for business casual pants. And yes, I have worn them to the office!
The “flannel” is a majority-polyester and wool blend, but the fabric is really rather delightful to wear. It’s thick, soft, and warm. In my opinion, they look great with a chunky sweater on a cold and snowy day.
Speaking of the sweater, this is a piece which really needs no introduction on this page at this point. I wrote a review of this sweater a long time ago and many of you have seen this sweater countless times on Instagram (@father.style).
It’s a piece I’ll never get tired of wearing. Most days I have to convince myself to wear something else.
Under the sweater was my trusty Lands’ End Hyde Park oxford cloth button down shirt. I’ve had this shirt for ages. After the apocalypse, I’m convinced, the only things to survive will be cockroaches, Twinkies, and this OCBD. It’s an absolute travesty that Lands’ End no longer offers the Hyde Park oxford. That piece was a legend among ivy/trad enthusiasts.
My footwear needed to be hearty. Enter my L.L. Bean work boots. If these boots were waterproof, they’d be perfect, but alas, they are not. They are, however, the softest boots I have ever owned.
In order to shut out the wind and snow, I donned a goatskin leather, G-1 style, flight jacket from U.S. Wings. I had always wanted a jacket like this ever since I was a kid. I bought this jacket back in 2016 in celebration of landing what I thought was my dream job. Turns out it wasn’t but that didnt’t detract in any way from the awesomeness of the jacket!
This jacket runs a little trim and the first one I purchased wasn’t nearly as forgiving in the mid-section as I needed. The exchange process was easy so I went up a size and am very pleased with this version. It’s a little roomy, but I like being able to layer a thick sweater underneath.
As far as my experiences with U.S. Wings, I am split down the middle. I had one very positive experience (the purchase of this jacket) and one very negative experience…
I purchased an Indy-style leather jacket and was sent one with an obvious defect. I attempted to exchange it, but was sent the exact same jacket again (like, literally the same item I returned. I could tell because of the particular imperfections in the leather). I think they received the jacket I rejected, took a look at it, disagreed with my assessment, and just packaged the same jacket and sent it back to me thinking I wouldn’t notice.
So, take from that what you will. One awesome experience and one negative experience. One thing I am sure of though, is that the products (when not defective) are first rate. The G-1 in this outfit is an amazing piece. I paid roughly $400 for it. Style Girlfriend once said that you should feel a little sick when you buy a leather jacket, because if you don’t, then you didn’t pay enough to get a good one. It’s really true and there is no excuse for buying a sub-par leather jacket. It’s a cliché at this point, but the jacket will outlive you and your kids will definitely fight over it when you’re dead.
To top things off, I went with my grey, tweed, herringbone flat cap. This is a cap I received as a gift from my wife’s parents. They are very good gift-givers and this cap hits the spot for a thick piece of protection from the elements.
Accessories were the usual suspects: my 38mm Timex field watch and my brown leather belt from Fossil.
The weather warmed up later in the week, but I’m thrilled I got to bust out some true cold-weather clobber.
Have a wonderful weekend!
