Outfit Of The Week 11/19/23 – 11/25/23
This week’s installment of OOTW is, of course, about what I wore on Thanksgiving!
I needed to make sure I heeded my own advice from earlier in the week (which I did). There was also another consideration this year… the whole family had Covid!
Well, we were all recovering from Covid. That meant our regular Thanksgiving plans were scuttled, unfortunately. We were planning on visiting family but since we all got sick, my wife had to quickly come up with a Thanksgiving menu. Luckily, the supermarket was still chock-full of holiday mainstays (we did masked curbside pickup, of course) and she was able to pull off a real banger of a meal!
As I mentioned in my article on what to wear on Thanksgiving, I needed to make sure I dressed up enough to signal to the children that this was a special occasion. My wife did the same.
This jazzed up the kids and they wanted to put on “fancy” clothes, too (their fancy clothes consist of shirts with buttons down the front).
The centerpiece of my outfit was my tie.
It’s a navy, wool tie from Charles Tyrwhitt and it has an English bulldog motif. I wore this tie in honor of our beloved bulldog who died in October after being with us for thirteen years. This was the first real holiday without her and it was very difficult. We all raised our glasses to her at dinner, as we have every night since she passed. I’ll write a more in-depth tribute to her at a later date.
My jacket was my trusty Harris Tweed, herringbone sport coat from Brooks Brothers.
In my article from earlier in the week, I mentioned that it was important to wear easily removable layers on Thanksgiving because of the varying temperature of the house and this jacket was perfect for that. It was chilly during the day so I definitely needed a layer over my cardigan.
That brings us to the cardigan. My choice was a thin, grey, merino wool cardigan, also from Brooks Brothers. I usually don’t wear this cardigan with this jacket since the greys are similar but, again, I wanted two easily removable layers. And I think the colors are just fine together. I love the mother-of-pearl buttons on this sweater!
For my shirt, I originally had on a blue-and-white striped OCBD (again, from Brooks Brothers), but I found that the collar was a little too tight with the tie. I swapped out that shirt for a button-down shirt from Charles Tyrwhitt. I’m not in love with this shirt, as the collar is way too stiff for a button-down and doesn’t roll hardly at all. However, the length of the hem of the shirt is great (a little longer than usual, so it stays tucked) and the collar of the shirt fits me perfectly and is very comfortable.
Feels like I’m wearing nothin’ at all!
“Stupid, sexy Flanders!”
For the trousers, I went with a pair of chocolate, wool flannels from Brooks Brothers (lots of Brooks in this outfit, which wasn’t intentional).
I had these tailored many years ago and, come to think of it, I should have added some cuffs to the bottom only to keep the pants from getting hung up on my calves when I’m wearing knee-high socks. The cuffs would have added a little weight to the hem of the pants, which is a good idea with a fabric that is so flowy like this.
These trousers are also cut a little larger in the waist so that they can be properly worn with suspenders. If you haven’t tried wearing your trousers with suspenders, then I highly recommend it. You might never go back to belts again. The suspenders I am wearing are burgundy with brown leather fasteners (from Brooks Brothers).
My shoes were my pair of Bass Weejuns and my socks were burgundy and from… Brooks Brothers (ok, now this is getting silly).
My watch was my 42mm Bulova on a black leather strap.
I didn’t step outside once I had gotten properly dressed so no hat was needed.
All in all, it was a beautiful day! We watched the parade by a roaring fire, had a stunningly delicious dinner, got the boys into bed early, and then my wife and I relaxed with eggnog and watched Holiday Inn.
We definitely wish we could have spent the day with extended family, but it was still a day to truly be thankful for!
Have a wonderful weekend!
