Hey guys! I hope you have been paying attention. Last week was Men’s Fashion Week in London. Were you in London, you’d have had a chance to take in some of the shows to see what is hottest (or coolest) in men’s’ apparel. It is important to keep up, because things keep changing. For example, the ruffled shorts that JW Anderson brought out for men last year are so, well, 2013! If you really want to be with it this year, you need to get your hands on one of his backless, semi-sheer halter tops for men. You’ll really raise eyebrows wearing one of those. How about yellow? It’s a great color for the androgynous look.

Shaun Sampson, an up and coming London designer showed pale pink organza board shorts and ‘skirts’ made to look like beach towels. It is a look that is turning heads in London. Imagine what it would do in downtown Rapid City.

And, for those formal occasions, how about Sarah Buton’s suit of white lace? I’m wondering if it would look good with my white Stetson.

I’m pretty sure that people are not looking to me for the latest in fashion trends. It is Vacation Bible School week at the church. I’m planning on jeans and t-shirts for the whole week. VBS involves moving a fair amount of furniture, getting down on the floor with the kids and being ready for a bit of rough and tumble. I’m pretty sure it isn’t occasion for lace. I’m pretty sure there is no occasion for lace when it comes to my lifestyle.

I guess I do have a couple of wardrobe feature that makes me stand out a bit. I’m aware that I’m a pretty short guy. I’m shorter than my wife. After 40 years of marriage, that doesn’t seem to be a significant problem. Still I like the extra height that a pair of cowboy boots gives me and I used to wear them every day. These days, I’ve found that my feet get a bit tired in the boots and so I’ve taken to wearing regular shoes some days. But when I dress up, the boots come back out.

My second fashion statement is a bit quirkier. When I wear a tie, I prefer to wear a bow tie. Bow tie wearers tend to be a bit vain and perhaps a bit elitist. They affect an air of people who are proud of their education. But I’ll let you in on a little-known secret: bow ties are way easier to tie than traditional neckties. With a necktie, you have to decide whether you’re going for a four in hand, a Windsor, a half Windsor or a shell knot. If you want to get fancy, there’s the cross knot and the Prince Albert as well. Then you have to remember left and right (remember you’re looking in a mirror). And it is a hassle getting the ends to come out right. The knot for a bow tie is the same knot as your shoes. Most of us had that one mastered by the time we got into Kindergarten.

Another argument in favor of the bow tie is that when you are shaped the way I am, it doesn’t seem to make much sense to have a strip of brightly-colored cloth pointing at your least attractive feature.

So, it is true, vanity has prevailed and I do pay some attention to what clothes I am wearing.

I am aware of how much the culture has shifted and how things are quite different in men’s fashion than they were a few years ago. There was a time when I wore dress slacks, a white shirt with a tie and a blazer to work every day. On Sunday, I’d wear a suit. The white shirt was pretty much a standard, with the only variation being that I’d wear short sleeves in the summer and long sleeves in the winter. Then I acquired a few shirts with narrow stripes and colored shirts started becoming common for professional men. It was harder to pick the correct tie once the colored shirts became common. Not every tie went with every shirt anymore, but I adjusted.

As the years went by, it became more and more common for men to wear their shirts open collared without ties. You could add a blazer to dress up your appearance. I started leaving the ties at home during the week.

A few years later and I was wearing jeans and mock turtle necks with a sports coat from time to time.

And now I often wear jeans and a polo shirt or jeans and a t shirt to work.

I’m not the only one. Bankers, who always used to wear a suit and tie to work, now wear polo shirts with the bank logo stitched over the pocket. Doctors wear surgical scrubs when visiting patients. Lawyers still dress up for court, at least in our town. And nobody has ever known what judges wear beneath those robes. I, for one, don’t want to know.

So I guess we are affected by fashion. The styles of clothing that we wear change with the times. I noticed the first time I saw a video of Steve Jobs delivering a keynote address to an Apple Developers Conference wearing a black mock turtleneck and jeans. Then it became his standard uniform. Now, a long time later, I dress that way. I don’t wear the expensive shirts, he chose, but cheap imitations are easy to find at any of the leading fashion stores. I prefer the ones that end in “T.” You know: K-Mart, Target, Wal-Mart.

I’m lucky to live in a place that is not seen as a fashion trendsetter. We tend not to lead and what is fashionable on the coasts takes quite a few years before it shows up in our town.

I’m hoping that some of the fashion elements shown at the London show next week stay in London or Paris or New York or Los Angeles or other cities that are a long way from here. I’m just not ready to wear lace and fancy florals.

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