Once a Carioca, always a Carioca.....

London Town ... 3 sartorial groups predominantly;

1) Work suit worn straight out of the office

2) Service as usual jeans & shirt crowd with some type of jacket / over coat straight on top which is promptly disposed of in the cloakroom

3) Make an effort crowd .. velvet jacket with jeans/dark trouser (no tie / bow usually) or a Cheap Tux (I use the word tux deliberately here as they probably do too).

For Xmas, my wife, her son and I visited her brother, who was hosting a family gathering in the High Desert. It was unseasonably hot weather. I had planned to wear my corduroy critter pants and a tweed jacket but shelved it because of the heat and wore a lightweight wool Black Watch blazer (H&S Snowy River fabric), a Mercer broadcloth shirt, some gray wool slacks and A-E Lexingtons in black. Our host--a very nice guy and a member of the Preppie Nation but no sartorial icon--was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. Most of the family were similarly attired. Need I say more?

Wearing right now for my office party hosted in our house: Dark Gray flannel pants, white herringbone cufflink shirt, Red Cardigan long sleeve sweater a la Bing Crosby, and black suede shoes. The obligatory whiskey on my left hand. Now if I could only find my pipe...