A Rising Tide Lifts All Chinos

Before you say anything. Here’s the picture from this GQ article. Breathe and hear me out.

I know what you see. MC Hammer made chinos, right? And pleats and that one pair of shoes look like what was on Neil Armstrong during a famous walk he made.

But look closer. See those canvas sneakers? Might they be classic Converse? Are those brown suede Adidas. I KNOW that is a letterman jacket. And that looks like an untucked oxford (I might be finishing someone else’s sentence here but maybe not. The palate? Appropriate khaki colors.

I’m not saying that a man of my age could or should wear them. In fact, I am not saying that a man of any age could or should wear these. But I am also not saying they shouldn’t. If a modification to Ivy opens the gate a little, then by all means perform You Can’t Touch This in the second from the left pants.

Let me put it in Ivy terms. You cannot expect a freshman to know what a senior knows. And if you berate the level of deftness with which the Ivy freshman dresses, they are gonna drop out.

And, as my teenage daughter would say, “Bee-Tee-Dubs” there are legit players in this wide khaki game. J. Crew. Lauren. L.L. Bean.