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Deacon's First Email

This is Deacon's first ever email.  We were making arrangements to head to dinner at the home of our friends Stephen and Erica.  Deacon dictated this message to them.  Ellie served as amanuensis. 

Dear Stephen and Erica,

Come stay to your house the longest.  Stephen and Erica come to my house next.  Play games with me at my house and I want to play games at your house too.  Stephen and Erica go run with me outside of my house and yours.  Stephen and Erica Go!  I don't want Erica to run.  Going is a race sport.  I want to run with Stephen.  Stephen's great at running.  Stephen go fast!  Stephen and Erica I want you to run and jump.  I want Stephen to do those things.  Erica can't do those things.  It's too hard for her.  I think stephen is the best.  Erica is pretty.  I love her.  I don't like to eat Stephen and Erica.  Grown-ups are yucky.  Toys are yucky too.  That's all.

Love, 

Deacon

Bow Ties for A Wedding

Check out these wedding photos.  This incredibly creative couple in Rock Hill, SC opted for each gent in the wedding party to be outfitted with a unique bow tie from The Cordial Churchman.  They were giddy with excitement when they came over to my sweatshop studio and picked through my inventory of fabrics until they found the nine they wanted.  Perhaps my favorite of the batch is on the groom, who wore a bow tie made with gray and ivory raw silk.  It looked really cool.

There's a lesson to be learnt in all of this:  By no means does a wedding party have to be slavishly matchy-matchy.  Hold down the fort with some solid colors, and then let 'er rip when it comes to the neckwear.

Thanks to Brian Powell of Project: Life Photography for sharing these proofs.  If you're in the Carolinas and need a photographer, you've got your man.  I also hear the dude can keep bad guys out of your corporate offices with the best of them, if you need that sort of thing.

PS--Brian: We hereby award you a free bow tie of your choice.

- Andy and Ellie

Anglo Threads with an Italian Accent

***Note, this is a guest post by Ellie's husband, Andy.***

Usually my contributions to this blog are limited to replacing the occasional comma with a period.  But the illustrious Ellie LaVeer has seen fit to allow me to guest post for a very special occasion.

Behold, Devona's great photo of my 1979 Vespa P-200E, taken back in January.  

I figured another $20 (half off) for this sterling silver Vespa tie bar from Vespa Charlotte was not much after paying $400 in repairs yesterday.

This is one of those things that Ellie really wished she had found and given me as a gift. And it's one of those things I in no wise had to justify purchasing. 

And since this blog often features thrift store finds, I'll call attention some such pictured here: Chaps RL sportcoat, vintage Joe Bank tie, and a Brooks Brothers non-iron button-down.

I think throwing the Vespa tie bar into the ensemble both adds class and disarms those who would otherwise think I was dressed a little bit "pushy".  It also adds a good bit of vintage Italian (which constitutes 25% of my blood) to my otherwise Angl0-Saxon (which constitutes 12.5% of my blood) -inspired garb.  I also think it helps me effectively re-incarnate my late grandfather, Samuel Francis Lichi--the man whose class and knack for thrifting himself into a fantastic and incredibly affordable wardrobe* I will always seek to emulate.  

*Speaking of affordable wardrobes, check out another dapper Italian--this time a young Bostonian named Giuseppe--who has taught me whatever I didn't learn from Papa Sam about thrifting:  An Affordable Wardrobe.

Posted by Andy Stager.