The back room of a roadhouse runs on different rules than the main floor. The light is one unshaded bulb and the glow off the bar top. Nobody is reading your shirt.
What gets noticed is the lighter when you pull it out, the glasses when you walk in, and whether you smell right. This lookbook covers those three things.
The room
A bar at the edge of town. The main room has a jukebox. The back room has a card table and folding chairs. The floor is plywood. The walls are covered with things other people left behind. You will be noticed when you arrive and when you leave. A few seconds each time.
The palette
Black and gold. The room provides oxblood from the vinyl and amber from whatever is in the glass. You do not need to add to it. Keep the accessories flat: matte steel, matte black, a touch of chrome if you want it. The shades carry whatever else you need the room to register.
What each piece is doing
The flask is for when the bartender is slow or the bill is climbing. A wide-mouth stainless steel flask pours clean and does not announce itself when you set it on the table. The downside: it reads cheap in certain rooms. Tip well and the reading changes.
The lighter earns its keep twice a night, at minimum. The black crackle-finish Zippo has a snap and a flame that stays lit in a draft. The polished chrome makes a different impression. Both are on the Bar & Carry floor.
The money clip moves faster than a wallet for a single-drink transaction and keeps the back pocket flat. The bandana goes in the chest pocket, flat. Both stay on the Bar & Carry floor.
The pomade should be set before you leave the house. Firm hold, water-based, washes clean in the morning. Apply once and leave it. A second application in a bar mirror is the wrong move. The Grooming floor carries three water-based options; the Suavecito and the Layrite are the most forgiving in humidity.
The cologne goes on the collar before you go. One spray. The bar is working against you already with smoke and spilled bourbon. You want to be present, not competing.
The shades are for walking in and for the parking lot after. The gold aviator and the matte chrome both hold up in low light. The browline reads deliberate. The wayfarer reads easy. The Shades floor carries all four styles.
How to wear it
Nothing in hand when you walk through the door. Flask in the interior chest pocket. Lighter in the right front. Money clip in the left. Bandana flat in the back or the chest pocket. Wallet in the interior or back.
The grooming is done at home. The shades go on when you arrive and off when you sit down, unless the light is bad enough that it reads correctly. At a roadhouse, it usually is.
The downside of this complete a kit: it takes time to leave the house. Pick the two pieces you never leave without, carry those, and build from the Bar & Carry floor once you know the room better.
