Clothing treasure trove

Once upon a time, back in the early 90's, I was working an office job where I was expected to wear a suit, or at least a tie and jacket. I bought a bunch of dress pants and some nice tweed jackets for what seemed like a lot of money considering I was getting paid the cube root of diddly-squat. Gradually the dress code relaxed, and just as well, because I was getting bigger. The last thing I did with those was to dry clean them, and hang them up downstairs, thinking if I needed them I could wear them again.

Then at some point I took out one of the jackets and tried it on. I couldn't even get it over my shoulders, and I won't try to describe what it looked like around my tummy. So they went downstairs again, and essentially I forgot about them. Until today. I've been meaning to go buy more clothes. I looked at men's clothing in Italy. There's a real style to them. The suits look really, really sharp; even I can tell that. It's a pity that I don't like clothing that closely fitted, and I doubt the tailors would be up to a guy my size. Plus, I'd always worry about spilling something on them. And I saved myself a ton of money not looking at ties, since the office I work in now is fairly casual. Even though there was this one bronze tie with black square spots....

So I'm looking through clothing this weekend, figuring the Sally Ann is going to get a big bag. I tried on a suit that was hanging upstairs. I haven't worn it for quite a while, maybe a year, but probably not 2 years. The pants won't stay on, not even for a moment. The jacket is beyond baggy. I was going through the stuff downstairs, and the first thing I came across was those nice tweed jackets. I tried one on, and Holy Hannah!!! It fit, and fit nicely. Linda's eyebrows went up when I modeled it.

Then I dug out another of the jackets, and to my astonishment, there was a pair of dress pants hanging in there. I tried them on too, and OMFG, they not only fit, but actually were just a little bit loose around the waist. Not enough so that I needed a belt, but just loose enough to be comfy. If I was buying them, I might have taken them in half an inch on the waist, maybe an inch, no more. They're pleated once, which isn't my first choice of style, but so what.

The next thing I discovered was a group of 5 pairs of dress pants, still in the plastic from the cleaner. Two of them are still a bit snugger than I like, but all the others fit perfectly. This just saved me at least $1000 since I was thinking of going out to buy a suit and other nice clothes. I'll probably still go out for a couple more pairs of casual pants, and some nice shirts. But this drastically changes the shopping list. To say nothing about making me feel good about myself.

In one year, I've trimmed off something like 15 years of steady weight gain. I knew I'd shaved off a lot, but I hadn't realized I had changed my shape that much. No wonder I'm feeling 10 years younger these days! I'm going to dress up for work tomorrow. In most casual places, such a sartorial choice leads to comments about job interviews. We've got a financial seminar after work on Monday at the Glencoe Club, no less. So that will be my excuse. But I'm thinking about maybe giving Becky at work a run for dressing well. She's always very elegantly turned out, and is easily the best dresser in the office. Well, except for when John shows up in a suit. Let's see what she says....