The following is a reprinting of a post by Billax. Billax is not only one of my style role models, but a friend and a man that was Trad back when it was called Ivy League style. He has allowed me to share many of his thoughts all of which can be found here: Sneakers by Billax, loafers by Billax, Uprising by Billax
“Sweating the small stuff” is at the heart of a number of detail oriented endeavors and projects. In underwriting securities, the Banker and the Analyst sweat the small stuff. Every risk factor is covered, every significant corporate assertion is fact-checked, and the financial statements are double and triple checked with the auditors. Big software projects “sweat the small stuff” to assure security, interaction with other software systems, and protect against hacker attacks. Hmmm. Given the massive problems with a current big software project, I’ll modify my assertion to say that all big software projects, SHOULD sweat the small stuff.
On a much less consequential level, I’d bet that each of us sweats the small stuff in our attire. I ‘sweat’ some things and overlook others. I turn a blind eye to details that are unimportant to me. I suspect that each of us would have a different list of the things we sweat and the things we don’t. Here are my ‘sweat’ and ‘no sweat’ lists:
Sweat:
• Collar roll
• Tie dimple
• Matching the color of tab leather on surcingle belts to shoe color
• Edge dressing on shoes
• Cuff no break
• Jacket buttoned when standing, save when wearing waistcoat or sweater vest
• Every time I get dressed, I get my gig line straight
No Sweat:
• Tie bottom above or below belt
• Shoe laces tied exactly perpendicular to tongue
• Pocket square, if it’s easy to find an appropriate one, I will, if not, then not.
• Wearing seasonal shoes (e.g., white bucks) beyond their annual expiration date
• Matching blade width of tie exactly to lapel width
• Matching sock color to pants or shoe color, especially when worn with sweaters or sport coats
• Etc….