Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Don't Fear the Vest!

No, this post is not a love poem to Jim Tressel, (but our Friends From Up North don't agree--sometimes with rather salty language!) but no one other than Chandler Bing has done more to celebrate the sweater vest--one of my favorite articles of cold-weather clothing.


As you can see, I have a multitude of said clothing, in a variety of styles, colors, and weights. I don't have a specific story to go with each one, but rest assured that I have rocked each one of them in some awesome fashion over the years.

The gray one at bottom left is my "athletic" one, suitable for a tennis match in October or keeping me warm when raking leaves in the back yard. The navy blue one with the horizontal stripe is, I think, the oldest one. I know this because it is a JCrew vest and I haven't bought anything from JCrew in many a year. That navy one is also one of my favorite one's because I like navy blue and because I like the stripe. I often choose to wear it to work with a white shirt and a tie. I feel nerdy and classy when doing this--what you might choose to call "clerdy."

I think of the red one as my Christmas vest, as that is when I wear it most consistently. Sometimes, to ram the point home, I will wear it over a green long sleeved polo shirt. In doing so, I am saying "It's CHRISTMAS, as if you didn't know! Get ready!" I think I wore the red one over my mint green button-down and my striped green tie to the company Christmas party last year. Luckily, no one sniggered in my face.

I like the charcoal black one (top right) over blue button-down shirts, especially when paired with a black tartan-like tie that I wear occasionally. When I wear all of this with my black corduroy pants, I'm saying to the world that I am serious about myself, but I also do it with a twinkle in my eye. I think you know what I mean.

The two light colored ones don't get used as much as they should. For some reason, I prefer stronger colors in my vests. (I suppose I want to be confrontational, saying "Look at my sweater vest! It's brightly colored so you will look at it!") The one on the top left was a Christmas present from my parents. It has a square pattern in it that isn't visible in the picture. I often wear it with a red shirt that was also given to me by Mom and Dad. The other vest (top center) is oatmeal colored (maybe?) and is the most traditionally sweater vesty of the bunch. You might see Vance wearing this at the club during his tennis lesson. I like it even so.

The last one of the bunch is the blue one in the bottom right. My friend and former colleague Spec gave me that one when he left for his new job and fabulous life in New York City. I've never been to NYC in my adult life, but I expect that all the hipsters there wear vests like I do. When Lynda and I visited San Francisco for our 10th anniversary trip I wore a sweater vest almost every day. It kept me warm when the winds blew off the Bay, but I stayed cool (in more ways than one!) since it wasn't as bulky as a regular, full coverage sweater.

And that, people, is what they are all about!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh. My. Gosh.

Throughout that post, I was reminded of an article in The Onion wherein a frat boy talks about all the ways he would "rock" some shirt that just showed up at The Gap. I click on your last link and BAM! The Gap.

But you do rock a sweater vest, Dave, so you go. I'm partial to the tartan tie number.

And those dolts from Michigan? The jealousy oozed off of the computer screen. As if precioussss Michigan's football program is so squeaky clean. Plus...they kinda suck. But I refuse to get pulled into that ridiculous argument.

Lulu

Anonymous said...

wow, Burb, not many things will make me nostalgic, but you've done it with the vests. it's nice to see them all, again.
also, it's nice to see that you have a promising future in retail---in case you should ever need it---given your artful arrangement.

Sven Golly said...

Vestofilia is alive and well at globalpublishing inc. I keep my modest collection of vests (the old fashioned buttoned-up kind) closeted in a secret location on the fourth floor, ready when I need one. I must say, though, that your preppy thing works on you.

Sven Golly said...

and what should arrive in my Inbox this morning but http://www.zappos.com/n/es/d/722631719/show_all/1/page/1.html