How I Dress Now: Willie Geist
By Willie Geist
at 8:00AM
From the June/July 2013 issue
I can’t say for sure where I was headed the first time my mom put a blue blazer on me. Church, probably. West Side Presbyterian in Ridgewood, New Jersey, specifically, where my blazer was paired with a clip-on tie and a pair of khakis for a Sunday morning with my fellow congregants. The blazer gave the impression to all that I was a well-scrubbed, respectful, devout young man, even as I heckled the pastor under my breath and drew a pair of boobs on the offertory cards. Powerful as it may be, there’s only so much a blue blazer can conceal.
When you’re young, the blue blazer feels like a grown-up costume. It’s the first piece of adult clothing that most boys ever own, and on those rare occasions when you pull it out of the back left-hand corner of your closet — for church, weddings, funerals, and graduations — it gives you the look (in your own mind, anyway) of one of those old men with white hair and stock portfolios talking about putting in the Men’s Grill. (Ted Knight’s Judge Smails in Caddyshack, at Bushwood Country Club, comes to mind.) The fit is never quite right because, really, what kid goes to a tailor? A blazer is generally grabbed off the rack by Mom every few years at Brooks Brothers or Syms (we favored the one on Route 17 North in Paramus) in a race to keep up with pubescent growth spurts. I believe my size was “close enough.”
Read more: https://www.esquire.com/blogs/mens-fashion/willie-geist-style-0613
I think I’m going to head over to Tyrwhitt for a few new shirts.