Is it really mid-July? It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything and that’s because of where I find myself in the world. Not literally, but more meta-physically. Or maybe ontologically. Epistemologically? At any rate, what I mean to say is that for the longest time following the extreme events of last summer, I couldn’t think of anything relating to my subject that seemed at all important, or even relevant, to write about.
“There are moments, Jeeves, when one asks oneself, ‘Do trousers matter?’
The mood will pass, sir.”
? P.G. Wodehouse, The Code of the Woosters
Well, I suppose the mood has passed and I’m coming out of whatever it was that possessed me to start taking things too seriously that should be considered lightly and vice versa. Especially since I’ve taken to only skimming the headlines with the GroundNews app and that, for the moment, there have been no mobs rampaging up and down my neighborhood.
I don’t know about the state of things sartorially. Around town, I see little evidence of people “dressing up,” but I’m not in the business district. Perhaps that will change when we go to the theatre. I do think that the pandemic induced quarantines may have accelerated the trend towards a more casual way of dressing, sort of what we saw living in the South of France.
I do know, however, that putting on a coat and tie, shaving and striding into Can Can in leather soled shoes had a tremendous effect on my mood.
I’m not always in full fig, suited and booted. It is high summer in Central Virginia and hazy, hot and humid is the order of the day. More often than not, I am in a mix of tailored and casual with lots of linen and open weaves thrown into the mix. At times like these a little bit of effort goes a long way.
“What do ties matter, Jeeves, at a time like this?
There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter.”
– P.G. Wodehouse, Jeeves and the Impending Doom
As always Chris, I love your post. I must admit that the shorter hair and the clean shaven look seem to me to suit you better. Now, if only I could lose my pandemic induced thirty pounds of gained weight as easily as you were able to cut your hair and shave off your beard I would be overjoyed. I can no longer fit in my nice clothes. I have struggled and fought with the result of only losing five pounds. I have been relegated to wearing jeans (Tommy Bahama) for the last year and I hate that look. Maybe by Christmas I will have lost enough weight to once again dress elegantly…I hope.
I should have added that I love your brown tie. Simply beautiful.
Dearest Chris,
Strange but that is exactly how both of us feel the past couple of months.
We have been dressing up more formerly and using our besties instead of leaving them ‘screaming to get out of the wardrobe’…
It really DOES alter our mood and life still is meaningful!
Never let others dictate you otherwise, or to give up certain quality things with MEANING.
Enjoy the remainder of summer—time is passing way too fast!