Much Ado about NOTHING

More glossy catalogs from L.L. Bean and Lands End arrive almost every day in the mail. (Could the holidays be approaching?) Although I admit to buying items from these retailers in the past (mostly footwear), I find their clothing generic and overpriced. I suppose they have to charge so much in order to afford the production and mailing costs for their lavish but dull publications.

The models, the male models, puzzle me: Young guys with gray hair. Old guys with preternaturally dark hair. None of them have shaved in two or three days, but none of them actually have beards. They're outdoor types who also have vaguely corporate occupations. They will hang out on the front porch in their boxer shorts. And all of them are grinning maniacally in their summer/fall/winter wonderlands! What is the message? The ideal man is simultaneously young and old, preppy and scruffy, athletic and sedentary, beautifully groomed but "natural". He is a joyful Everyman. He both embodies and resolves contradiction. And you too can become Mr. Gene Eric Allofus by buying a $169 wool/acrylic/nylon/polyester blend Maine Lodge Jacket.