"Clothes make the man."

[George K]

https://instapundit.substack.com/p/clothes-make-the-man

Well, like a camera or a gun, you want to own more than one kind of suit for various needs and settings. But the rise of cheaper and better-looking and -feeling synthetics makes it easier and more comfortable to wear a suit in places where traditional suits would have been awkward – just as the rise of phone cameras and subcompact carry guns makes guns and cameras easier to carry with you than they used to be.

My hope is that this will lead to at least a modest return to suit-wearing. Because not only do men in suits look better – ask almost any woman – but I think men in suits probably feel better, think better, and move more confidently. I’m not saying that more suit-wearing will solve America’s problems, but it couldn’t hurt. And haven’t we gone about as far with schlub-wear as we can go? (Please, let us have gone as far with schlub-wear as we can go.)

I own one suit.

Wait, I own two. I got them both for weddings of my daughters (2009 and 2017). The older one is now too big for me. The newer one still fits. I have worn them a total of 4 times.

However, I've always been a sport coat kind of guy. Dressed up with a matching vest, it's just formal enough.

[taiwan_girl]

And you look quite sharp!!

[Mik]

Yeah, I switched to sport coats probably late 90’s. Easier to travel with a couple pairs of pants, few ties, one blue or black blazer.

But I do miss wearing ties. I loved a well made tie.

[jon-nyc]

I have 4 but with the foundation I have occasion to wear them. I also have 2 decent sport coats and I’m in the market for another.

For foundation events I mix it up. We have everything from informal gatherings with patients to scientific conferences, meetings with pharma and biotech cos, to meetings with FDA, NIH, and Congress.

So I need a wardrobe to match.

[Doctor Phibes]

The last time I wore a suit, jacket or tie was my dad's funeral in 2014. I'd bought it specially.

[jon-nyc]

When I retired I kept 2 suits, and got rid of the rest. I thought two was pushing it, as I only envisioned wearing them for weddings, funerals, etc.

And had I not gotten involved in the foundation I think I only would have worn them only at the several funerals and one wedding I’ve attended since.

[Jolly]

I keep one suit and one sportscoat. I think I've worn the suit once in the last two years.

[Jolly]

Mr. Cole was an older man, who lived in an old board-n-batten house about one notch above a shack, down by the boat landing. A widower, most days you'd see him piddling in his garden or you'd pass by him on the lake, running a trotline or fishing for white perch. Sometimes, he'd be cocked back in a cane bottom chair by the coffee pot at the boat landing shack, talking about how to fix the world with my cousin Leon (Leon owned the landing).

But wherever you saw him, he was dressed about the same. Khaki work pants and a khaki work shirt, with maybe the substitution of a flannel shirt in the wintertime. He even wore his khakis to church, albeit they were the newer ones and you could tell he'd ironed creases in his pants.

So, imagine my FIL's surprise, when one morning he was headed down to the landing to see Leon about a used 15hp Johnson that was for sale, and he saw Mr. Cole walking around his front yard in a grey suit. Complete with starched white shirt and a blue silk tie.

Why, my FIL stopped his old truck in the road and baled out of the cab.

"Mr. Cole, you alright?"

" Yeah, I'm okay. "

" If you don't mind me asking, why the suit? Did somebody die or something? ", my FIL asked.

Mr. Cole replied, "Why Frankie, I woke up this morning feeling mighty low and sorry for myself. Gets kinda lonely with the wife gone and my kids live off, so I don't get to see them very much. I got to thinking about what might me feel better. First off, I counted my Blessings and how much better off I was than some people. I'm pretty healthy for an old man, I don't owe nobody and I've got plenty to eat" .

" And then it hit me what else I could do. I took me a hot bath and shaved. Even splashed on some foo-foo juice. I dug my burying suit out of the cedar closet, along with my shirt and tie. I even shined my shoes! "

"You know Frankie, sometimes a man just needs to get dressed up. Makes a man feel better. Makes him feel like the day is just a bit special, even if it ain't. Makes him feel like he's a bit special, even if he ain't."

" You tell Leon I'll be down to get some coffee, soon as I get my clothes changed. Gonna be a pretty day, ain't it? "

[George K]

@Jolly what a great story.

In the article I linked the author comments on how, when you put on a suit you feel different.