My Jacket Can Beat Up Your NorthFace

The weather app read "40 degrees."
I could hardly believe my eyes.  The season known to most outsiders as Winter had finally come to Texas! (and it was only October)  It had to be some sort of record, I thought, or some devilishly-schemed trick designed by a government in the shivering cold of shutdown to try to send us Lone Star folk a message. Either way, I hopped excitedly from under the covers of my bed only to be greeted by the icy tingle of the unheated wood floor.  Like a sweet tea junkie looking for his next iced brew hit (something I'd know nothing about), I flung myself to the floor of my closet with nails tearing at the the giant ziploc bag known to house my winter gear.

One henley, a v-neck sweater, a cardigan, and a wool topcoat later, I stood ready to greet the frostbite-inducing blizzard that lay beyond the protection of my garage door. I dove in the door of my car, flipped on the heater and defroster in one expertly-timed, Jackie Chan-esque move and embarked on my journey to work, cozy and stylish as ever.  Wait until my co-workers got a load of this masterfully debonair layering, I thought, they won't see it coming.  Today is going to be my day.

That is until the temperature skyrocketed during my drive into the mid-80s, leaving me stranded with my expertly crafted, interconnected dungeon of heat-trapping, heavy, might-as-well-have-been-tinfoil-cooking-me-like-a-giant-potato layers to slowly broil me to heat exhaustion throughout the remainder of the day.  Brilliant.

Fortunately, should a bipolar weather day catch you with your sartorial pants down, there is one option that's as easy to throw on as it is to take off....and it goes with everything from a t-shirt and jeans to a vest and bow-tie:  Let me introduce (or perhaps re-introduce) to you, The Jean Jacket.

I first decided to snag this Levi's Slim Trucker jacket about 5 years ago while going through a JET and The Strokes phase where I thought it was uber cool and original to wear a pair of beat-to-heck cowboy boots, a rock-n-roll tshirt, and a jean jacket.  (Ok, who am I kidding? I'm still in that phase every other week or so)  And the honest dumb-luck of the purchase still puzzles me.  This is hands down the most worn jacket in my wardrobe rotation, and for good reason--it goes with everything.  Throw on the aforementioned rock t-shirt and a pair of Ray-Bans = Bad Boy Cool.  Throw it on over a patterned shirt and tie combo for keeping warm at work until the sun comes up = Golden.  No matter how you rock it, a denim jacket keeps you cozy without encapsulating you in warmth layers that take an act of Congress to get out of. (See what I did there? #governmentshutdown #yesIknowitsover #yeshashtagsinablogareworthless)  

So for those of you Southerns like me who find ourselves in the intermediate ground betwixt the End of Summer and the Start of Fall, pick up the most indispensable removable layer man has ever created.  And with designers now taking things to a whole new level in regards to color and fit, there's probably never been a better time to saunter into your place of work with the attitude of, "Oh, no, I know it's not Jean Day Friday but I decided to confuse the heck out of everyone and wear denim on the top of my body all blasted week long. Now if you need me, I'll be the guy blaring The Strokes from his cubicle."






Blessings and thanks for reading,