Off the Cuff: Brooks Brothers; Breaking the Rules

A new post category for miscellaneous items not worth a full post each.

• Looking for some fall style inspiration? You could do worse than browsing Brooks Brothers' Back to Campus catalog online (the unfortunate quilted blazer on page 38 notwithstanding).

• We discussed the rules for jacket buttons recently. Because we like to also feature examples of how someone might break such rules and get away with it, here's a jacket button example. As usual, when you're going to break a rule so blatantly, your overall outfit better say that you're a man who knows what he's doing. (And it doesn't hurt if you're a gray-haired style icon whom many consider to be one of the best-dressed men in the world, if not in history.) Bottom line: almost all of us are best served keeping those jackets buttoned properly.

             

• Finally, speaking of the rules and how to break them, here are a couple of lines we recently ran across that put the matter well: "Personally, I would certainly not wear it like that but it is a different approach of someone who clearly thought about it." -- Gentleman's Gazette. "Regardless of the shirt or the style these are always good guidelines. If you're going to break one, have a very clear stylistic goal in mind, and double-check the look in the mirror." --  Antonio Centeno at the Art of Manliness.