Subway Spotted: Gay Aftermath

Usually, the Chicago CTA system does not provide much in terms of interesting fashion. It does, however, give me the chance to meet LOTS AND LOTS of new people!

Pictured above: Well played, Green Line Ashland stop. Well played.

But there are those rare occasions where I witness excellence in style. This particular one came after the Chicago Pride Parade last Sunday.

Pictured above: The world's second most handsome man. The first? None other than Mr. Jon Hamm, a.k.a. Mr. Don Draper, who maintained his attractiveness even after they replaced his hands with steel hooks for Tina Fey.

Everything about this outfit works well for this gentleman, and they are all things I wish I could pull off. Let's take them in increasing order of awesomeness.

1. Pants

They fit well. That is all a well-panted man can ask for.

2. Suspenders

Notice that they don't have the metal clasps for pant-attachment that most suspenders have nowadays. They are the old-school type, with leather rings to attach to buttons on the inside of the pant. That's how you go from looking costumed to vintage. Did you know that metal clasps of all types were banned in the United States until 1957, a time when they were known as "the devil's fastener"?

3. Undershirt a.k.a. shirt

Granted, 95% of the people you see walking around with just an A-frame undershirt are going to be the mouth-breathing, hair-gelling, tattooed gentlemen that frequently appear in VH1 reality shows. However, this man has found a way to class it up. I still don't understand how. Perhaps witchcraft.

4. Hair

He manages to balance the effortless and the styled, classy yet comfortable. It even matches his five-o'clock shadow, showing finesse in the art of "stubble styling."

P.S. I do not know the sexual orientation of this man. However, it is irrelevant. His attractiveness quotient places him into a category that gives him legal authority to date whomever he pleases.

P.P.S. The book he is reading is Les Miserables. Given the size and state of the book, I would guess that he also uses it as a shield during knife fights.