Eidos Brown Linen Field Jacket
Well, four plane rides later and I’m back at the Manse. Aruba is a bit further away than imagined.
Mrs. E, the children and I attended a vows renewal and family reunion down south. The Venezuelan cousins and the American cousins met up in Aruba for four nights of tropical winds and white sand beaches that remained cool to the bare foot, regardless of the baking sunlight (also not felt as a result of the tradewinds.)
But that’s neither here nor there. I spent a lot of time looking at what people wore in the airports and around the pool, etc. . I’m happy to report that things have improved somewhat. Yes, there were the inevitable horrible sparkly, tattoo -inspired t-shirts and some very questionable jeans, but on the whole, people looked OK. Lots of jeans, lots of shorts, lots of scarves (women only, of course), polo collar shirts, and lots of boat shoes. Not a lot of full-on athletic gear. Small steps.
I do have some ideas for we men who don’t mind looking as good as we can despite the circumstances.
Start At The Bottom: Your Shoes.
New Balance sized running shoes just don’t go with anything save running apparel. The best alternatives remain loafers, slip-ons and driving shoes.
Your Trousers: I am a fan of gray trousers, but…. the blue blazer/grey trouser thing just isn’t working for most. Without a tie and paired with the Rockport style comfort walkers, I see security personnel, not business men. I have begun to embrace clean jeans, twills, pressed khakis and the like. This trip I opted for white jeans, given my tropical destimation.
The shirt: Poor thing. Struggling to contain all that it must, not wrinkle, be comfortable and utilitarian…And then throw “jazzy” into the mix. Powder blue is my go to shirt. This time I wore a knit weave Ledbury french blue shirt. The weave traveled really well and I arrived unwrinkled. The open mesh also kept me cooler.
The jacket: I had to hold my jacket in my lap on all flights. The overhead bins were too crowded with carry-on luggage for the space to be sacrificed to something so light. Fortunately, I was traveling with a safari jacket, plenty of pockets and looks good a bit roughed up. A patterned sport coat might show fewer wrinkles and hide a more open weave that will be more comfortable giving you more air circulation. Regardless, travel with a jacket for a more polished look. Eidos has a phenomenal safari jacket this season.
The scarf: Why don’t we men make more use of them? My scarf worked beautifully as a shawl, a window pillow and a lumbar support. I chose a midweight cotton for this trip as I could launder it if it got sweaty… it did.
next up: It’s the little things. Travel gear that makes me feel better.
