Bermuda Shorts

My fellow blogger Patrick Sullivan (Coiled Pleasures) recently obtained a delightfully garish vintage boating blazer and was struck by the feedback he got when he wore it:

I wore it to work with a baggy pair of "stone" (i.e. off-white) poplins from Bill's Khakis and very dirty bucks. I got nothing but positive reactions, to my surprise. The words "snazzy" and "dapper" were employed.

The lesson? Never mind subtle understatement; Go Garish, Get Girls!

Or something like that.

As much as I like subtle understatement, I think Patrick is right: it's overstatement that gets the kudos. This week, I've been having fun with full-blown Bermuda shorts business outfits, the type shown in this actual Bermudan photograph:



To my company picnic, I wore tan Bermuda shorts, an Aquascutum navy blazer, blue shirt with white collar, vintage yellow tie, yellow pocket square, yellow over-the-calf socks, and two-tone Bass black/brown penny loafers. Today, I did a variation on this outfit with a different navy blazer, blue button-down, red patterned tie, red patterned pocket square, and tan over-the-calf socks. I got nothing but delighted comments on both occasions.

UPDATE (5/2/2009): I'm rocking close to the same outfit as first described today, except the blazer is Brooks Brothers, the shirt is a white button-down, and the loafers are black Ballys.