Tom Ford claims that whenever he is down he puts on his fanciest tuxedo and he instantly feels better. While this is far from a Tom Ford tuxedo, a jacket, dress shirt, and bow-tie can go quite a distance in repairing frayed nerves and insecure moments. Something happens when you dress up, even if you’ve been doing it all your life. You carry yourself differently, you feel a little better, and it translates to everything else around you. People sometimes ask why I bother getting decked out on days when I only have to go into work. Well, it comes with being named the Best Dressed Man in the Capital Region (even if it was back in 2008 – and until they crown another I’m holding onto the title with cold, dead hands), but I’d do it anyway as it’s always given me the extra push it sometimes takes to walk out of the house. It’s not always easy to be me, just as I’m sure there are days when it’s tough to be you – and occasionally it takes a little more than I have to live up to all of that. On those days, a bow tie and jacket are the necessary talismans to ward off the weariness.
Style is not the man; it is something better. It is a dizzy, dazzling structure that he erects about himself, using as building materials selected elements from his own character. Style is the way in which man can, by taking thought, add to his stature. It is the only way… Style is not fashion; style is not wealth; style is not learning; style is not beauty. ~ Quentin Crisp
I’m talking about flair, style, élan. Even the most wretched of us can do something about them. ~ Terrence McNally
