Off the Cuff

When did the simple act of donning a shirt become so complicated?  Do you really need to be told when to wear your shirt tucked in or out?  Yeah, you kinda do. Let’s start with the obvious: It’s your shirt, your body, your call.  If you want to wear all of your shirts either tucked or untucked, it is well within your constitutional rights (I checked). That said, here are a few guidelines based on the shirt, the event, the body you have, and the technique for optimal tucking. The Shirt: Is it a dress shirt? The long-sleeved variety with...

My father, who passed away late last year, had many beliefs. Punctuality is next to godliness. Good pitching beats good hitting. Never let the truth interfere with a good story. But from a wardrobe standpoint, he believed most fervently in one thing: the sportcoat. Even though he was a top-flight executive in the sports world for half a century, he never owned a suit in his adult life. When the family packed up my parents (who'd both recently turned 80) to move to their more modest cluster home, my sisters got my dad to pare down his collection of sportcoats...

  Fear not the denim!  The most versatile of fabrics, it's no wonder denim became the workhorse of the working-man's wardrobe.  But you don't have to look like a cowboy or a Backstreet Boy.  Here are a half-dozen ways to rock the denim in a risk-free way. 1.  Order up by one size and wear it like a jacket over all black or chalky grey, for a bad-ass travel outfit.  TSA pre-check advised. 2.  Amp-up your workday look by replacing the ubiquitous white or light blue dress shirt with its chambray counterpart.  Be prepared for compliments at the water cooler....

BRIAN: Dean, your friend, Seattle Seahawks’ Super Bowl-winning quarterback, Russell Wilson has partnered with Thomas Dean to start a line of clothes. How’d that come about? DEAN: Good luck and good timing, I guess. It happens that my wife, Trudy, shares a personal trainer with a Seattle Seahawk player’s wife, and being the great ambassador of the brand that she is, Trudy invited them to take a look at our clothes, which they both just loved. It took off from there. Russell Wilson started noticing how well put-together that player looked in postgame interviews when he was wearing our Thomas...

It’s snuggle time. And what goes great with a couch and a loved one? A list of binge-watch worthy holiday classics. I humbly submit the final installment of Thomas Dean team’s all-time faves,  THE FILM: Miracle on 34th Street THE ERA: Late 1940s THE CLOTHES: Lady hats, shoulder pads, and lots of nice wool suitings, wide lapels, dress shirts, ties, and one Santa outfit. WHY IT’S GREAT: The twinkle in the eye of Kris Kringle alone should be enough to convert even the most cynical of heart. THE FILM: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation THE ERA: Late 1980s THE CLOTHES: Shawl-lapelled...