Style and Parenting / May 17, 2024

Outfit Of The Week 5/12/24 – 5/18/24

This week’s “OOTW” is “Mother’s Day Edition”!

Did you dress up for at least part of Mother’s Day this past Sunday? I hope you did! Mother’s Day is one of the days during the year when it’s imperative you get dressed up.

I am proud to say that, according to my wife, Mother’s Day was a total success! My wife got to sleep in, I did all the day’s cooking, we drank champagne and martinis, the kids were fabulously behaved, we got some nice family time in (by way of a lovely hike through the woods), got the kids in bed early, and then we had a relaxing, candle-lit, at-home date night.

During the day, since we were mostly bumming around the house with the intent of going hiking later on, I was dressed in a t-shirt and pajama pants. For our hike, I was in flannel-lined jeans, Hunter boots, a wool shirt, Barbour jacket, and Akubra fedora. It was quite chilly and rainy, so the heavy clothes made sense.

It was my date night outfit that I would like to highlight (pardon the dirty bathroom mirror).

I wore a solid, navy, two-piece suit. This is my “do it all” suit. Even though I’ve been in the menswear game for some time, this suit is still my favorite despite me buying it at the beginning of my sartorial journey (which is the time when we buy most of our cringe-inducing pieces). I actually got it for free as a promotion from Men’s Wearhouse since I outfitted all the groomsmen from my wedding with them!

I’m not under the impression that this suit is of some impeccable quality. But it’s robust and hard-wearing. It’s handsome and timeless since it has middle-of-the-road proportions and is dark-colored. Even though I bought this suit almost ten years ago, it doesn’t look dated and likely never will.

My favorite part of this outfit, though, was my tie. It’s a simple, navy tie with a small dot (flowers, maybe?) design from Lands’ End.

Now, I don’t usually associate “ties” and “Lands’ End” but this tie is a real winner in my eyes. The silk is fat enough to tie a good knot. The color and design are conservative enough to wear in a formal setting but not so severe that the tie would look out of place with a more casual jacket or shirt. Also, the spacing of the dots (the scale of the pattern, if you will) makes it so that it can be worn with a smaller-scale pattern jacket like a houndstooth check. The tie is very versatile.

Beyond its good looks, there’s another reason I love this tie. I have very positive associations with it. Let me take you back all the way to mid-2019…

I had been job hunting for a while and had a handful of productive phone conversations with the folks over at Lands’ End regarding a marketing position. After learning about the role, I was honest with them and said I wasn’t quite sure I was the right person for the job! Regardless, they asked me if I would be willing to come out to Wisconsin and meet with them in person. It never hurts to have a conversation so I said yes.

Since first (and second and third…) impressions are important, I decided to buy a Lands’ End tie to wear at the interview. Even if the interviewers didn’t notice, I figured it would give me a nice little mental edge.

So, I boarded a plane and headed off to Madison.

Long story short (too late!), I had a fantastic experience. I had never been to Madison before but I will absolutely go back! What a beautiful city!

Everyone I interacted with at Lands’ End was delightful and super positive. I ended up not getting the job, but I think it was due to my general reluctance (which I was upfront about) rather than my qualifications or interview performance. My positive experience with the company made me feel good about continuing to patronize them. That’s why I have such warm feelings about this tie. It makes me remember how these people saw something promising in me, even if I wasn’t so sure.

We all have associations attached to our clothes. Often times we don’t even realize it. If there’s something in your closet you don’t really like, it could be because of negative associations. If that’s the case, wear that item during a happy time and flip the script! That’s what I did with another tie of mine that was collecting dust.

Anyway, getting back to Mother’s Day… I am pleased that my wife had a nice day.

I was also pleased with the amazingly delicious fancy grilled cheeses I made for us for lunch!