i succumb

and no, 'tis not to the beat surrender, god knows though i wish it were.

no - i have in fact succumbed to that of which i have steadily ranted lo these many months, ever since i first witnessed it on the streets of this city - a once in a blue moon, count on the fingers of one hand, exceedingly rare incidence of my giving in to a trendy gesture. one which has tormented me with its ubiquity while drawing me on with some sort of eldritch, unspeakable attraction. i would demand (silently and inwardly of course) that it be of another color than olive drab, and it was so; that it come pinstriped, paisley, checked, even seersucker, and i got 3 out of 4; but the only one i ever saw i actually thought i'd ever wear was about $500 bucks.

well - i finally found one.....that fit.....in a thrift store......for $20. apparently, it's a prototype of this but without the patches or fancy buttons or whatever, which is how i like it - the label says "express design studio" which, if you try to find on google, has little or no web presence. and if a brand on a label has no web presence, one might be led to believe it's a prototype. [i have some experience with prototypes - when i was a barista a designer who was a regular said "i have some design prototypes i need to get rid of, want some?" - deeming correctly that i would provide him free advertising; in other cases, i've had an uncanny knack for finding them in thrift stores, such as the time i found a ford motor company promotional racing jacket's prototype in a new york charity thrift shop. instead of ford motor company on the badge, it had the designer's name. it's probably worth more than what i paid for it, which was $8.]

it has a lot of the correct detailing of the classic M65 but is made from this really soft cotton, and separate polyester sleeve linings. it's that subtle, natural overdyed black that takes on reflective overtones from the colors around it, so it's good for mixing and matching.

and i got it for $20.

right now it's going over a ben sherman gray and white short-sleeve and some Levis 514 stretchies in dark indigo. the shoes are of course my KCR silver techs which i have been very attached to lately, particularly since i seem to be unable to destroy them as i normally do.

so - the look is hardly textbook or regulation, but there are enough subtle gestures to make it acceptible. more than acceptible, it's nice. and now the torment at last can end.

back to worrying about my hair i suppose..... i have nothing to complain about, at least i still HAVE hair at my age.