the rix mix

I used to feel a little bit sorry for guys who always had to look for $150 suits they could wear off the rack without alterations. They usually worked in places where the higher you were up the food chain, the better the clothes you wore. So there was no disguising an inexpensive suit; even a stylish closeout would be recognizable as last year's model. I knew ambitious male & female clothes-horses who worked nights & weekends at the mall so they could get an employees discount at a dept. store & dress for success. TGIF & Bennigan's were beneath them: They'd do happy hour & hope for free Hors D'oeuvres at chain hotel lounge bars between day & night jobs. I've never been a "suit."

Most jobs that require a tie are OK for sportscoats & slacks. Teachers were once the biggest market. We all recall teachers that were good at looking spiffy on a budget - Harris tweeds or Italian cuts - while others wore the same old rumpled corduroys with the suede elbow patches. Dress codes have relaxed in a lot of schools; teachers dress like students once did, & students like successful crack dealers / hip hoppers (or their hey yo bitches).

I had a couple of clothing epiphanies over the past few months that reminded me it'd been a long time since I'd thought about my wardrobe. I was invited to do a poetry reading, which I declined. But it was in a nice venue in an affluent town, not a gin mill. I certainly would've worn a sports coat for the event, probably even a tie & leather shoes. So I looked in the closet & realized that while I could glue something together, I didn't have the outfit I would've preferred. Also that it wouldn't cost much to get it. Many years ago I discovered that outdressing other poets was easy & economical, since most male poets are like those rumpled corduroy teachers. So I'd show up for a reading wearing a rayon Hawaiian shirt or the handpainted silk tie an artist made for me. This didn't make me the better poet, but it occasionally inspired me to be more entertaining, since I believe poets are related to standup comics.

Then, a few weeks ago on the PATH train, I had a full-length mirror held up to me in the form of three adolescent skateboard punks. I was on my way to doing an overnight radio program - a very solitary thing, & of course no can see you. But oddly, I didn't feel like I was dressed for the work, & I thought that baggy old jeans, an oversized WFMU teeshirt, beat up sneaks & a baseball cap didn't reflect the kind of show I was about to create - which featured, as it turned out, only one "rock" song. I can't quite explain my reasoning.

I decided I want a tan all-season blazer. I want a pair of casual brown shoes. I want more lightweight jogger-style sneakers than the heavy duty ones I wear right through winter. I really need a couple of decent leather belts. I must have a few short sleeve shirts other than tees or the excellent aloha batiks I've had for many years (& treated gently because I liked them). A friend recently procurred me a couple of Haband polyester guayaberas at a church rummage sale. I'm skipping the straw hat for now. I need jeans in my actual size. It's not too early to think of autumn while there's still some bargains: hooded burgandy sweat jacket less balloony than those favored by rappers. & a charcoal berber fleece type pullover, which will look good with the blazer, as close as I'd go to wearing a sweater. You never have to wear sweaters.