Dapper Dad

My Dad has always been a sharp dresser.  Not every day mind you or for every occasion but when he chose to, he could lay. it. down. I just love stories from his youth about the origins of his style.  Before he had any disposable income, he would watch how the guys in the neighborhood dressed hoping to be able to eventually shop with the dapper gentleman who sold suits out of the trunk of his Oldsmobile.  His dad wasn't in his life so, he adopted the style of his step-dad Jimmie Hicks and two beloved uncles: Lattimore and the hustler Ben.  Back then, you couldn't just walk into, say a department store and try on clothes.  Nope.  There had to be a whole nother level of entrepreneurship happening in the country neighborhoods.  And shoes? fugetaboutit!  You had to; a)  trace your foot on a piece of grocers paper  b) find someone who looked 'repectable' to shop for you  c)  pray the shoes fit properly and didn't hurt your feet cause you couldn't return them.  Dressing was, as now, a heightened form of personal expression.  You never dressed to reflect who you were at that moment but who you ASPIRED to be in the very near future  (calm down younguns; there is another level to clothes you may not have been introduced to yet; stay open😉). Dressing for success was a very real thing.  First impressions went a loooong way so your clothing, your walk, demeanor etc. had to be on point or you were dismissed before you could even open your mouth!  After he was able to work and get some money up he commissioned Mrs. Lightfoot to tailor make his suits;  All of the guys in the neighborhood did (The Lightfoots bought a new home off that money so...)

Mrs. Lightfoots creation

Wearing a tie at work, even in the automobile factory, was the mark of a professional and he wore them proudly.  He dressed his children well once he began to really earn a living because his children were a reflection on the family as a whole.  We were never what I would call spoiled because we didn't get what we asked for.  But my parents were aware of how people perceived the upbringing of their children by their clothing, speech, hair and so on.  Once Dad retired and he had even more disposable income he bought clothes just because he could.  If he liked a hat, he bought that same hat in five different colors because you weren't fully dressed without a hat.  He wasn't extravagant necessarily but he liked what he liked and he figured he'd earned it.  He still likes looking sharp but lately, I buy his clothes for him.  If I see something I think would look sharp on him or if I detect a hole in his wardrobe I shop.  Left up to him he wouldn't think he was now worth the expenditure.  But I know better.  Whether he wears what I buy once or twenty more times I know that he deserves every thread that drapes his body.  Because he still has some more 'first impressions' to make my Pops is gonna dress to impress!

Sharp as a tack!