30/05/2013
Today’s “mantique” is a simple little piece, yet a piece which means a lot to me. It’s one of just a couple of items I own that belonged to my grandfather, Joe. One of the other pieces I have is the bespoke suit he had made in 1945. This piece is one of his old tools. A regular flat-headed screwdriver,…
29/05/2013
Another Wednesday and another instalment of my much lauded series of presentations of armless attire. This weeks waistcoat is from the, relatively speaking, young Dutch company Scotch & Soda. My impressions of Scotch & Soda indicates that they have their sights on the youngish to middle-aged man, at a price range a few steps up from the cheap companies. They…
24/05/2013
I’ve had this suit for a while now, after inheriting it from my dear, departed grandfather. I’ve never really fitted it before, but on a whim tried it today and find I must be quite close to the height and weight he was when it was made for him back in 1945. It gives me an odd feeling of connection…
22/05/2013
For this weeks Waistcoat Wednesday I’m featuring a cheeky little number by Universal Works. I’m not sure what the model is known as, possibly the “suit” waistcoat, but since buying it this Spring I’ve been using it a lot. This weeks shots are the result of a happy combination of sunny weather, working from home and the self-timer on the…
22/05/2013
Continuing on my mission to be the middle-aged menswear blog that provides the best value for money for my elite group of readers, I am today offering up something of a top-tip for those of you struggling to come to terms with the amount of gravel (or small stones, for the non-engineers among you) your commando-soled brogues are picking up.…
21/05/2013
I recently came across the word “mantiques” whilst doing my daily trawl of the Interweb. It was used to describe antiques that men were collecting. That is of course the short description of it. The longer description would include words such as obsession, toys, old crap, collectables, historical and so forth. For most women the critical words here are most…
20/05/2013
In a bit of a departure from my usual topics, I’d like to write a bit about health today. Not really health in general, but more specifically the transition from being overweight, middle-aged and not very fit, to being less-overweight, sadly even more middle-aged, and reasonably fit. It might not sound like much of a difference, but for someone like…
17/05/2013
This isn’t something I plan to make a regular occurrence of posting, but seeing as it was the Norwegian national day today and an opportunity to dress up a little more than usual, I thought I’d share my “day-off” look with all my fantastic readers. Posed against my garage door, appearing to look unconcerned and relaxed, I’m wearing my SEH…
15/05/2013
From an incredibly wet and un-summery Norway I’m back for another edition of the almost transcendental series of waistcoat verbiage I have titled Waistcoat Wednesday. In fact, I was going to feature this fine waistcoat last week, but the lashing rain and howling wind put paid to that feature. This week I would not be foiled and while the raindrops…
09/05/2013
Since becoming more interested in clothes over the past few years, I find I’ve also taken more interest in how they are presented to me in the marketplace. We’re talking marketing, advertising, the dangling of the lure that will make me want to part with my hard-earned cash in exchange for whatever is being promoted. And I’m becoming increasingly aware…