Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Vested Interest


"Where is your son going to wear all these vests?" asked the clerk at Men's Wearhouse, clearly mystified.

I had scooped up three tuxedo vest sets for Nathaniel--one in purple, one in rose, and one in blue.

Until that moment it hadn't occurred to me that my purchase would be considered out of the ordinary.

"Well, we go to the old Latin Mass, and he wants to wear them for special feast days," I tried to explain. "For example, he could wear the rose on Laetare Sunday and the purple. . ." at this point I could already see that I had lost the poor man completely, so I stopped without telling him about purple for penitential seasons like Advent and Lent and blue for Our Lady. I should have just invited him to Mass.

GOOD DEALS

Anyway, I had only planned to buy him one, but they were on clearance for $15 each! They come with the vest, a necktie, and a bow tie, and they're regularly $59.

Then I went to Dillard's to look for him some dress slacks. He's grown another inch. I looked through the clearance rack and didn't find anything. The salesman asked me what size and color I was looking for and then handed me a pair of $65 Jack Nicklaus slacks like it was a done deal. I didn't like the way they felt. I peeked at the tag--100% polyester. I was not about to pay $65 for polyester, but I just tucked them under my arm and kept looking. On a nearly-empty shelf I found a pair of summer weight 100% wool, Hart, Schaffner, and Marx slacks marked down to $45 from $150. I took them to the clerk and told him that I wanted them instead of the polyester pair. He said, "Certainly, there is no comparison."

"You stinker!" I thought to myself.

2 comments:

Emily said...

I keep giggling when I think of you and the poor bewildered clerk.

When I bought the linen for my Regency hat, the lady of course asked what it was for. When I explained, she thought I was performing in the outfit. "No, it's just for Easter church," I told her. She didn't have anything to say after that, just furtive checking-you-out-'cause -you-sound-nuts looks. I guess it was hard to get since the woman in front of me was buying fleece to make an Ohio State themed blanket for her son.

Wendy Haught said...

I know. Even the clerk at Dillard's was puzzled about Nathaniel needing dress slacks. He made some comment to that effect.

Looking forward to seeing your bonnet. . .