You Are Not A Damn Billboard

If you're slowly working through thrift stores in the pursuit of a manly wardrobe that is right and fitting (I hope you are), you'll probably come across Brooks Brothers. This is a good brand to look for. As I learned more about brands, I figured out that you can tell how old a Brooks Brothers suit is by the presence or absence of an inside label sewed on one of the inner pockets. Older suits only have the label up by your neck near the "locker loop". Why? Because if your jacket were to open someone may be able to peak in and see a label!

This was apparently really bad back in the day as what would be the purpose of having a label visible to the public?

Compare that with newer brands that use you (read that again: USE YOU) to advertise for their crap. Take North Face jackets - they actually have their name on the back of your jacket! I get a kick seeing people walking around with this sort of thing. I can think of two reasons this is done, one from the manufacturer and one from the wearer:

Reason 1 - The retailer says, "Look at this person. They look happy right? It's the jacket, you NEED one! We're all wearing one.... why aren't you! C'mon... you have a credit card!"

Reason 2 - The wearer says, "Look at me. I have this. It's really good. Sure, it's a little expensive, but hey, these things last for... I'm not sure, I'll probably get a new one next year in the newer style, but I think they're really good. Yeah, I got this."

(Possible reason 3 - The thrifter says, "Some jackass threw this out. I got it for .75$ and North Face can kiss my ass." Rock on thrifter.)

Why do we allow brands and the Scarface movie use us to sell their product? Can't quality work speak for itself? There can be no virtuous reason why we all need to walk around telling everyone who made our stuff. Not to even discuss that it's actually a fad to keep the price tag on what you're wearing. It's amazing what we convince ourselves to do.

This is why I love this old Brooks Brothers stuff. They made it by hand in the USA. They made it to last. I wore a thrifted 30 year old suit to Mass this morning (older than me) that looks brand new. It's Brooks Brothers, so yeah, it cost a lot, but I'm not showing this off to anyone. Quality fabric, good fit, craftsmanship is all you need. Oh yeah, and style. And maybe a pipe for your pocket. But whoever bought it first made an investment (it was custom made for him, but you have to look inside the inside pocket to find out). I'm just glad they didn't wear it to their funeral... then what would I wear?

You have dignity man! Don't let anyone use your body to advertise. This does not apply for t-shirts that expose liberal lunacy... those are always acceptable.

Theology of the Beard

It seems if men have facial hair, and women don't, that men should grow beards. Seems reasonable. They can be vessels of new life, but we can grow velcro on our face! But what were the thoughts of the Fathers? Wikihelp to the rescue:

• St Clement of Alexandria
  • "The hair of the chin showed him to be a man." St Clement of Alexandria (c.195, E), 2.271
  • "How womanly it is for one who is a man to comb himself and shave himself with a razor, for the sake of fine effect, and to arrange his hair at the mirror, shave his cheeks, pluck hairs out of them, and smooth them!...For God wished women to be smooth and to rejoice in their locks alone growing spontaneously, as a horse in his mane. But He adorned man like the lions, with a beard, and endowed him as an attribute of manhood, with a hairy chest—a sign of strength and rule." St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.275
  • "This, then, is the mark of the man, the beard. By this, he is seen to be a man. It is older than Eve. It is the token of the superior nature....It is therefore unholy to desecrate the symbol of manhood, hairiness." St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.276
  • "It is not lawful to pluck out the beard, man's natural and noble adornment." St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.277

• St Cyprian
  • "In their manners, there was no discipline. In men, their beards were defaced." St Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.438
  • "The beard must not be plucked. 'You will not deface the figure of your beard'." (Leviticus 19:27) St. Cyprian, 5.553
• Lactantius
  • "The nature of the beard contributes in an incredible degree to distinguish the maturity of bodies, or to distinguish the sex, or to contribute to the beauty of manliness and strength." Lactantius (c. 304–314, W), 7.288

• Apostolic Constitutions
  • "Men may not destroy the hair of their beards and unnaturally change the form of a man. For the Law says, "You will not deface your beards." For God the Creator has made this decent for women, but has determined that it is unsuitable for men." Apostolic Constitutions (compiled c.390, E) 7.392. (1)

• Augustine of Hippo
  • "There are some details of the body which are there for simply aesthetic reasons, and for no practical purpose—for instance, the nipples on a man's chest, and the beard on his face, the latter being clearly for a masculine ornament, not for protection. This is shown by the fact that women's faces are hairless, and since women are the weaker sex, it would surely be more appropriate for them to be given such a protection." City of God (c. 410) book 22, chapter 24

St Josemaria on Detachement, Material Possesions

"Following this example we see in Our Lord, who is our model, I preach that detachment is self-dominion. It is not a noisy and showy beggarliness, nor is it a mask for laziness and neglect. You should dress in accordance with the demands of your social standing, your family background, your work... as your companions do, but to please God: eager to present a genuine and attractive image of true Christian living. Do everything with naturalness, without being extravagant. I can assure you that in this matter it is better to err on the side of excess than to fall short. How do you think Our Lord dressed? Haven't you pictured to yourself the dignity with which he wore his seamless cloak which had probably been woven for him by Our Lady? Don't you remember how, in Simon's house, he was grieved because he had not been offered water to wash his hands before taking his place at the table? No doubt he drew attention to this example of bad manners to underline his teaching that love is shown in little details. But he also wants to make it clear that he stands by the social customs of his time, and therefore you and I must make an effort to be detached from the goods and comforts of the world, but without doing anything that looks odd or peculiar.

As far as I am concerned, one of the signs that we're aware of being lords of the earth and God's faithful administrators is the care we take of the things we use: keeping them in good condition, making them last and getting the best out of them so that they serve their purpose for as long a time as possible and don't go to waste. In the Centres of Opus Dei you will find the decoration simple, attractive and, above all, clean, because poverty in a home is not to be confused with bad taste or with dirt. Nevertheless, it seems quite natural to me that, in keeping with your means and your social and family commitments, you should possess some objects of value which you take care of with a spirit of mortification and detachment."

Don't dress like the poverty of the beggar

Someone showing up in gym shorts and a t-shirt to everything is not living poverty - he's living sloth. Does he not have the time to dress like an adult? Does he not have the means to dress with dignity and actually prepare for how he presents himself? We wouldn't show up to meet royalty in gym shorts, so why do we slob it for the rest of society? Do we think them not worth the time? Maybe dressing with the simple dignity of a coat and tie would put some off, but eventually they'll get use to it and even appreciate it. I've had two older men pull me aside recently and thank me for the respect I show by wearing a coat and tie. By the way, coat and tie does not mean "dressed up", but that's another post.

A beggar who sees a man dressed like him talking to him might be delighted, but the man in the suit who talks to him and shows him respect lifts his dignity (not in reality, but in the beggars perception). He tells him that his clothes don't raise his dignity any more than the beggar's clothes lower his. Picture a beggar that assumes a man in a suit will pass him by. He's going to ignore him because he has means and maybe he'll toss a few coins. But what if that man stopped and talked with him? There's some worthy reflection in that. (Yes, I know clothes don't make the man, that's the point. But if both were naked the story would change drastically... so they mean something)

Personal presentation matters and can help lift society. Of course, the right understanding and intention is important.

Mother Teresa said, We would never dream of using dirty, torn clothes as a tabernacle veil which covers the door of the dwelling Christ chose for Himself on earth since He ascended into heave." She goes on to point out that we shouldn't cover our body in dirty worn out clothes if we believe it to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. This woman understood poverty, and she encouraged us to mend out clothes well, dress with dignity and dress well. This is right and fitting. Mother Teresa said our poverty is that of Christ's, not the beggar.

If you're looking for a first step. Here it is:

Get a blazer, tie and shirt that fit. We'll get a post up about fit, but you can google that for now. (This assumes you have some khakis too... please have some khakis if you're older than 7.) Then, wear this to Holy Mass. In fact, I don't care if you're in the Keys, commit to wearing your best for Holy Mass. Do you dress up for weddings? Well...

Gyms May or May Not be Stupid AND Sinful

I've finally been convinced that a gym is not stupid or sinful... always.

I grew up working and slacking. What I mean is that I was always taggin' along some blue collar gig - getting dirty, cut-up and dog-tired in order to make money. When I had money I had fun (the slacking part). I hope it's not surprising that my youth lacked any prudence and discipline. I was a prophet of public schooling as I lived logical expression of the relativism and pragmatism I was taught.

Anyway, my work had a purpose. I also learned a simple southern view of work - it's good and... it's just what men do. Folks like JPII and Josemaria drive this point home quite well. As much as I pretended at times, I never really got that into sports because the very thought that I would work most of my ass off for the sake of playing another team in a game and that if we won I got something.. trophy or girl or something (sometimes those are the same thing) - this just didn't appeal to me.

I was wrong about sports. I can see now the value and lessons taught there. Did I miss out? Nah, I got the same things elsewhere and met my wife on the fence, not on the field. But I had a lot of friends that spent those hours at the gym and I would go there and it always seemed like the main goal was not actually physical fitness but being able to physically dominate or to physically look good. Very different from what physical fitness is. It's a real machismo mentality. "I'm working hard so that I wont get beat or so that my bicep is as round as my head." No thanks.

So, just to recap why I, years later as a Catholic, always felt that I had a philosophical issue with gyms: (a) working out to be able to dominate is a goal based in insecurity and/or pride, and (b) working out just to look good is vanity. Both issues seem to have a hefty dose of the old Adam and revolve around intention. I gained muscle from cutting down trees, digging holes, laying brick, shoveling shit, detailing cars, planting trees, changing oil, roofing, building shed, etc. etc. You can see the inherent value in physical work that has a goal outside of yourself, lessons for life and not to mention cash at the end! The working man is fit because he's doing what men do, but the gym fit man is fit for himself.

Manual labor is how men are suppose to stay fit, not air conditioned rooms with a cushioned floor and mirrors everywhere.

But then I got into different work. I put the boots up for some Allen Edmonds and after a while of that I couldn't see what kind of shoes I had on...

Somehow our world has made it difficult for men to do things that we've been doing for centuries - like work. No longer do I store logs from a tree to chop later for the fireplace. Nope, I just flip a damn switch to a fire that I can't even poke behind the damn glass. I hate the glass...

So, I need to go to the gym. It's just a reality. My life is just situated in such a way that I don't get opportunity to work (though I did just design the landscape for my FSSP church and will put it in when the time comes). I have a family and they don't need to wheel their patriarch around in an over-sized stroller.

But, I'm not doing something until I can reconcile it in my head. Blessedly,a real man came to my rescue on this issue. I don't know who he is, but I should thank him someday, somehow.

I started going to the rec center ran by the local government. I figure they take my money to keep it open so I might as well go. I have to pay to get in which sounds like double taxation to me. Anyway, in that rec center I saw the man who changed my mind about the gym. He was in cut off jean shorts, loafers and his undershirt - I guess this was the closest thing to workout clothes he has, which I dig. And he was old. Somehow he managed to workout without paying other companies to use his body as an advertisement (you're a person not a billboard for Adidas).

He was there to stay alive. He was old and knows that he's not in a world where he's milking cows and gathering berries, so he better do something. That's a reason I can get behind to to the gym. His arms hang down with stretched tattoos he probably regrets from military days. His arms are awesome because I can tell that he's strong, even though he doesn't look like the young men next to him with glistening biceps strapped with and iPod blasting Creed or Praise and Worship (you can't tell the difference without hearing the words closely). I think the reason they like iPods strapped to their muscles is because it makes muscles look bigger since iPods are so small. This must be the reason no one strapped walk-mans on back in the 90's.

I can tell he's strong and worked hard. I remember when people would show up to work in muscle shirts and some skinny old guy would work circles around him and be able to lift more. There's a big difference in the strength and big muscles.

I'll follow that man in the undershirt. I'll go to the gym, because I need to. I want to stay alive for my kids, I want to be healthy, I want by body to know I'm in charge and I want to see that man again pumping iron and scowling at the punks that get in his way.

By the way, this is not saying it's ok to wear your undershirt in public, t-shirts are undershirts... unless it's your only t-shirt and your at the gym... that would be awesome.

The Virtue of Thrift and the First Tip

Thrift is indeed a virtue, so if there's a store with that in the name it might just be virtuous to shop there instead of other places. Why? Here's some of my reasons:

• What better way to fight materialism than to buy the "toss-outs" before they get shipped to South America? In some cases these items are not the best of quality, but they'll serve a purpose and in that case I feel fine buying there. Whereas shopping at a retail store stocked with sweatshop merchandise draped over anorexic manikins makes me feel icky. There's a cycle in clothing where you buy something, feel satisfied, then become unsatisfied and toss it - this is a bad cycle. Since we're not so shaky in our understanding of things, we can capitalize on this and draw something from it - like a good shirt.
  
• Thrift stores have real clothes. As in clothes made by people in the USA - and made to last! You can find some seriously top shelf (talking thousands brand new). It takes patience, but that's the next point...
• You don't always get what you want. To build a wardrobe from thrifting can take years, but in the end you can have a great wardrobe (fir for a man) at a ridiculous price. This built-in patience, I think, is a good thing. Instead of saying, "I want this, so I'm going to this store and I'll get it" you must have an idea of what you're looking for and then wait until it shows up. This requires consistency. Which brings us to the first tip of thrifting:

It ain't easy so stop by often. Learn to drop in at thrift stores when you get a moment and just glance around. Don't look at everything, just survey what's there and if something stands out (color, size etc. - looks right) then examine it. If it lacks holes and smells (both of which can be fixed sometimes) then pay the $1.75 and get back on the road. Expect to find nothing most of the time, but there are days when you just can't believe what you find. One of my first trips I found a pail of Allen Edmonds in my size practically new. These shoes are 300+ new, and you can send them back to the manufacturer at any time for re-crafting. I'm still wearing them years later, but soon I'll send them off to be renewed again. I'll have these shoes the rest of my life - quality, comfort, style... yeah, that was a good day.

And if you're reading this on folding chair in sweatpants, read this article to get started:

Dress Like a Man

The Name of the Man Who Made Your Clothes

As mentioned before, its a bit of a concern for a man who desires to cover his body is where his clothes came from. Not just in their "fashion", but where and by whom they were fashioned.

Consider this photo.


If you don't know this man, Mr Peck, he's here to prove a point outside of the courtroom. Consider that he is wearing a seersucker suit. He found out about this fabric, because it's cool and he lives in the south. He talks to a tailor, his tailor gets the fabric, measures him up, makes a suit, adjusts it and then he wears the heck out of it.

When you see photos of men from back in the day, they all seem to have well fitting suits. That's because they were custom made. When we say custom now, we think luxury, but that was before mass production of polyester and when the man down the road had the last name "Tailor" for a reason.

As a Catholic, would we not consider this more ideal? A few items of clothing made by hand by a man we know who feeds his family by making and standing by the work of his hands? - there's something right and fitting about that. We know his name, we have his "product" - better yet, "craft" - for a large chunk of our life and we go to him if we gain a few, loose a few or get a snag in the park.

But, it's just not like that anymore and we have to accept that. It may be unreasonable to have a suit made for us, but if we could do that - ya know... interact with someone who cares about their craft and not just making a buck with a mass produced piece of crap garment - if we could do that we would and should. We're Catholics!

But most of us can't.

In this vein however, I'd still point us to thinking and considering our clothing more. Not just asking whether we're going with the flow of mass produces, ill-fitting, fake, exploitative fashion, but whether we're thinking a bit about our habits. Is grabbing a tie from Wal Mart "poverty"? Does paying less mean we have true thrift? How long do those things last? How often do we just stop by in a pinch and grab whatever we need at a cut rate price? Really, how man times are we going to do that before we consider the habit? I can tell you one thing, it may involve poverty, but it ain't yours.

Don't worry, practical solutions are coming. Be prepared to learn the laws of thrifting.