Sanguine Shoes
While studying in London this past fall, I was fortunate enough to get up to the Bicester outlets for a day. Whilst there, I spotted a pair of high-polish oxblood austerity brogues at Church’s, and couldn’t look away. The brown suede brogues and black captoes seemed to fade into the woodwork, with only the glossy crimson oxfords staring back at me.
Compass Box Whisky
My whisky education has just really begun, and I am certainly no arbiter bibendi, but in the recent months I have really become interested in the myriad possibilities presented by Scotch whiskies and the almost infinite opinions and tasting notes I can find online to educate myself on said whisky.
Winter Ties: Bundle Up
Although spring is supposed to be on its way, the cold hasn’t quite broken yet here in St. Louis, and I haven’t quite switched into spring-mode. With the winter dragging on, dressing is getting monotonous and I am ready for anything I can do to liven things up a bit.
Simplifying Dressing
Welcome to Simply Refined. I think it only appropriate for my first post to discuss a beginning of sorts: Dressing. Not what you are wearing, but the activity of getting dressed itself.
Not being much of a morning person, I must admit that there are days where I attempt, with bleary eyes, just to figure out which things are blue and which things are black. Tying my tie more than once seems preposterous. But, there are things one can do to make the morning a little more relaxed and enjoyable, and the process of getting dressed more than a rushed means to an end.
I am a big advocate of the Dressing Box. Collar stays, tie bars and pins, cufflinks, watches, pens, etc. all in one place. Reaching in and selecting the day’s effects is a moment to pause, reflect, and compose oneself, rather than a hectic scramble while trying not to miss anything. Amidst the chaos of getting ready in the morning, you can have an almost meditative moment, colors and metals ruminating for a little before you put your collar stays in and cufflinks on. If nothing else, its a brief moment of “you time,” when you can feel a bit indulgent before facing the coming day. Not a bad way to start things off if you ask me.
These boxes are most often leather, in black or brown, and range from the basic (although one cannot quite call anything from Smythson Basic)
to the superlative
