The Man's "Little Black Dress"

Of course, I'm not literally talking about "a little black dress", but rather the equivalent of it. I had to do some wardrobe updating today. It all started with Eleanor looking for something new to wear to Rya and Todd's upcoming wedding. I pushed her into getting a new "little black dress" and then followed it up by getting her some new black CK pumps (another classic must have for a woman). This, of course, led to picking up accessories and such. This led to her asking me, "what are you going to wear?"

Good question. Since the wedding is in the evening the smart play is to wear a dark suit and I just so happened to have a nice dark pinstripe Kenneth Cole Reaction suit I've been looking for an excuse to wear. This made me think about what to wear with it. Over the years I've gone through the standard style cues of trends of the time. This included the black on black/no tie option, the monochromatic shirt/tie combo (think maroon short/maroon tie, and so on), the suit jacket with jeans/I don't give a damn look, the texture on texture shirt/tie options and so forth. After giving it considerable thought I decided to not try and make a fashion statement and stick with a tried and true option - the white shirt.

Years ago, as a younger me, I would normally shun this option as being too vanilla. I'm a designer damn it and I need to show my more risky, creative side! No more. The last couple of years I've embraced that less is more with all that I do. I did purchase a nice Brooks Brothers version with french cuffs a few years ago during my cufflinks phase. It's a nice classic, cotton piece. Well made. Keeps its shape with no wrinkling. Spread collar. Simple and effective.

Eleanor made me go through all the options of the past that seemed to do well, but I kept going back to the white Brooks Brothers dealio. I paired it with a silver Calvin Klein tie to go with the dark pinstripe suite. Clean and modern. Out of curiosity I put said shirt with a couple of other suits/coats and ties for other upcoming occasions. Again nice results. So I'm sold.

A little older, but wiser I've embraced the man's version of the "little black dress" wholeheartedly. All those fashion experiments over the years and I have come back to the basics. Nothing beats the feel of a crisp, white shirt.