This past weekend we held my Grandmother's funeral. It wasn't a sad time for me because she had lived for a very long 95 years, but it was an appropriate celebration of her life which has spanned the better part of a century. It boggles my mind that she was born during the first World War and lived during the second one when she was around my age.

Towards the end of the service we watched a slideshow that was put together by my Dad featuring photos from throughout her life and what amazed me the most, other than how long she had lived before I had ever known her, was the incredible style with which she and my Grandpa (who passed before I was born) had lived. I'm not suggesting that they lived a fancy life by any means, it's far more down-to-earth than that. But for me it carried home a message about my own individual style - a style that I had never known the foundation of before.

See, my Dad isn't exactly known for his style savvy, nor will he ever suggest that, and yet it's a part of my life that I am deeply curious about, so for me it was a revelation to see my Grandpa and Grandma in photos from the past exuding such style, and it's going to certainly inform my approach from now on.

I've included a selection of photos below both for your enjoyment and to explain the influence that it had on me:

This photo above is one of my favourites. The clothes my grandpa is wearing really resonate with my personal style influenced by my country upbringing and my cadet survival camps where I spent so much of my time outdoors. In fact, I think I managed to track down an almost identical pair of boots that I might pick up in the near future. You could expect to see a stylish photo like this in the ads of any brand trying to hock it's heritage these days, but I'm glad to see it in the family photo album.


My Grandpa keeps up the woodsman look in this family photo below:

During the time that I worked for Brooks Brothers, one of the items I took an immediate shine to were the slim pointed bow-ties, which I'd never seen before until then. Turns out I would've seen them if I'd flipped back into my family's photo archive:

There's my Grandpa rocking the same sort of bow-ties I've been pulling off lately. Until now I never realized wear I got the desire to wear them from. Guess it runs in the family. For those wondering when this photo was taken roughly, my mom is the baby in my Grandma's arms, so I'm figuring around 1958-1959. Also a hat tip to the piped lapels on my uncle in the front.

Finally, I found this old picture of my Grandmother skiing and found it very interesting how much skiwear has changed since back when this was taken:

Rest in peace, Grandma.