A bit too warm here in San Antonio to sport the Donegal wool cap I picked up during my recent travels through Ireland, but I’m certainly looking forward to wearing it when the temperatures drop! In the meantime, it feels great to get back to my signature South Texas style—a crisp Western jacket, turquoise bolo tie, well-worn cowboy hat, and a handsome pair of ostrich boots. Two very different styles, each with its own character, but both remind me that great menswear is about embracing tradition, dressing for the occasion, and wearing it with confidence.

What to say in your intro? Share where you're from, your reason for joining, perhaps your favorite fragrance, watch or a picture of you dressed sharp! It's a small action, but a HUGE step in you getting value from this community becasue you go from being a lurker to an ACTIVE member. In fact men that introduce themselves are 10X more likely to the actions to becoming their best selves. Bonus Point - By introducing yourself you're guaranteed to level-up. Seriously, you'll get at least 5-20 likes/points (oftentimes more) which will move you to level 2 and possibly level 3. And just like that you have access to more of this community!

Business Casual used to basically mean sport coat, dress shirt no tie. Today this definition is incredibly nebulous since the vast majority of guys are not wearing ties these days. I believe the key to developing a suitable personal style of business casual involves three things 1) be aware of your environment. The three Fs Antonio speaks about Fit, Fabric and Function all apply here but the main focus is Function. In other words based upon the venue and culture at the event-what one wears when and where to a specific function should be understood by every gentleman attending. 2) intentionality. Be Intentional with your ensemble. For me simply not wearing a tie to the luncheon I attended today might be enough to be business casual-but to me, showing up with a blue OCBD or point color dress shirt, Navy blazer, and grey slacks would feel like I simply ran out of the house and forgot to put on a tie. Consequently to go to a community Luncheon my wife puts on at our church each month then returning to the house to complete paper work -felt like a perfect day to go Business casual. With temps slipping back up to the low 90’s I grabbed a brushed cotton burgundy blazer Orvis duck cloth khaki jeans-cut trousers, Orvis cut and sewn shirt, silk P Square to tie in the colors of the pants and burgundy coat , Indiana Jones Alden Boots and my Borealis dive watch. 3) Consistency, Each of us differ based upon our respective personal style and career. When @Richard Pollock wears a Chambray blue shirt with chinos or jeans that in my line of work too might be too casual to be even be business casual. Contrastingly for Richard, when he is going out on sites his ensemble may be comparatively the same as me wearing a three piece suit if attending a meeting with a group of trust attorneys and a client. He is dressed in his full armor like I and a coat and tie am dressed in mine. (Maybe adding a sports coat over his great Chambray shirt is better comparison to my trust attorney example🤷🏻). The details are less important than the consistency. Richard’s customers and guys he interacts with have become used to him looking sharp and from what I gather when he orders his company logo gear, and chooses classic fabrics, he is possibly the best dressed guy in his meetings. (9 out of 10 times I am as well for my meetings). Point is. Each of us are in our respective business attire. It’s how we interact in our roles-not the garments themselves. So to reiterate his professional attire differs from mine but serves the same function and each of us are pretty consistent. So for me today’s outfit for a business /community luncheon is pretty casual based upon how folks consistently see me through out the day-day after day. (I still had a few million dollars of clients assets in that room😉). This is the consistency part.

My church has two simultaneous missions departing this week. One is to Mexico to the Tarahumara (Rarámuri) indigenous group in the state of Chihuahua in Northern Mexico. This is one of the most remote groups in North America and a group from our church has gone there for decades, building wells, providing medical needs and ministering to the kids there. https://youtu.be/ZRRNv-kJ6QY?is=wduK9gonZ2g5q6nx Simultaneously we have another group headed to New Mexico to the McCurdy Mission where the Church has also annually sent folks to help for decades. I have several friends, heading here - one couple includes a lady who grew up there on the adjacent reservation. https://www.mccurdy.org/ So for my Wednesday men’s group which includes several guys leaving this week on thes mission trips, I chose to support them with my OOTD Royal Blue MTM blazer Red bandanna silk P square CT red tattersall shirt Hopi silver Bolo Black bead belt Levi’s black button up 501’s Pendleton black w red socks Clarke’s woven Derbies. I also have relatives at my parents 3 miles away who came in from Santa Fe to sit with my step mom recovering from knee surgery. Felt like this would be a good WFH and visit them OOTD as well

Took the day off for my birthday, just to stay home & hang with my oldest. Cheers Gentlemen!!