Sharp Stylings #5

We can learn so much from yesterday’s fashion icons.  And living in a post-Mad Men world means we can even enjoy aspects of current male fashions! Every Friday, I’d like to start your weekend off right with a little style inspiration from either then or now. Hopefully, my fellow Mod enthusiasts will find the whole or some detail of the whole to appreciate and maybe even adopt.

Okay, here is where I risk losing some readers.

There's a certain cable program that a certain someone in our household just has to see every Sunday on HBO. And yes, I get caught up watching it as well... but only because it's on while I'm resting on the couch... sometimes enjoying the bowl of popcorn on the coffee table. And, truth be told, True Blood is a pretty alright show. But I'm only watching it because my wife has it on! For reals.

Well, sometime ago last season, I was kicking back while she was tuned in to the vampirerotica up on the screen. But then, one of the characters caught my eye:

"Hello, my name's Russell Edgington and I let my threads sparkle for me."

"Dang! That guy's lookin' cool," I busted out! Yeah, that's right, this guy is dressed pretty hip. Now please put your "God hates Fangs" attitude behind you, stop being a hater, and admire what this dude is rockin'.

First up, the light color and fabric of that suit jacket. No, it's not a 3-button, but the peak lapel is thin and very well-shaped. And the color looks to be a neutral silver tone that can be adapted to so many color combinations. Imagine how much nicer this would be, though, if two more buttons were added to bring the cut of the lapel higher.

Dig that purple pocket square peaking out at you. I absolutely love purple. (It's been difficult though, thanks to memories of high school and college girls deciding to make the color purple their theme in everything they wore right down to accessorizing with purple lunch pails.) But purple just goes with so many things, and in this particular case, I think that pocket square just fits so well with the flowery shirt this guy's wearing. That's the key to the pocket square: don't match it exactly to your shirt but use it to pick up one of the less prominent colors in it.

Now let's get to my favorite piece here... the shirt! In addition to purple, I also love floral shirts! I think this harkens back the days of wanting those Modnick flower-power shirts seen in 1960s Playboy ads. (And yes, I eventually found one that I still have yet to wear.)

The flowers in Russell's shirt, however, look a bit more refined. And a great array of colors represented: grey, blue, orange, purple, lavendar... makes it easy to match up with almost any outfit. Just an amazing pattern to my eyes. [And If anyone knows what brand of shirt this is, please share!]

Although a 3-button coat would have made this whole thing perfect, the entire color combo and outfit choice are spot on for me. Makes me almost forget about those angsty Twilight vampires.

And if you dig shirts similar with floral patterns and are adventurous, you may want to look into one of these (if you can afford 'em): http://www.blaqua.net/collections/shirts