Telling my son a black suit with thin white stripes looked good on him didn't convince Brenden to go with the less expensive, but still sharp suit. I could have sweetened the deal by stuffing one hundred dollars in the pocket of this striped suit coat, but I'm pretty sure he still wouldn't budge and pick the suit I liked. Certainly money means something to my teenager, but apparently the "right" clothes means more than the dollar. Outside of a suit that would cost me an entire paycheck, I'd best find a comfortable chair near the fitting room and stay out of the way of my 15-year old's newly discovered independence with my money. Sitting in the chair gave me a few moments to think back to my first experience buying a suit, kind of a right of passage for a young man. My dad was knowledgeable in all things suits, ties, shirts, and shoes. He used to work in a men's clothing store and I learned from him that sales clerks don't necessary do everything possible to make their customer look good, especially if the customer thought he knew a thing or two. The clerk just didn't want to stand in the way of a sale. I found out the best way in buying a suit was to remain open to all ideas, whether the clerk was dressing me in a mousy brown suit, black pinstripe, or something checkered. I was 20-years-old and dad prepared me for job interviews with the most professional clothes he believed I could wear. I was proud of dad, he had passed on his vast knowledge of good dress, and I would benefit directly by winning over a new boss, just as long as I didn't have to go beyond two interviews because he only bought me two suits. So my son stood before me, that's where the mirror was placed, and he wanted to see himself from all the angles; behind , on the side, in front. The solid black suit actually looked pretty good to me, better to him, maybe I was wrong in thinking a pinstripe was the best....and the suit was on sale for 179-dollars, marked down from more than 500-dollars. Next we had to discuss the shirt or shirts, oh, wait, I was getting in his way again. He'd discuss the shirts with the clerk and then they'd move along to the tie racks, where pretty much all the ties were on sale, or were the ties actually marked way too high, than marked down to look like you were really stealing a tie? He settled on a white tie and I'm not surprised because his other tie, the only other tie he owned in his closet is gold. He's into those solids...no fancy designs or multi colored ties for my boy. I wanted to keep my thoughts to myself, but I had to say something..and I said "you look like a mafioso." White tie, blue shirt and black suit, ...thought he might be an extra in the Sopranos, but the tv show has already run its course. Well, I thought it best to think positive, he'll look like he's a young Tony Soprano, he's only going for his church confirmation.
