Trending 'geezer-style' flair

David Lochner is wearing a wool sports jacket with a yellow pocket square over a plaid button-down, striped cardigan, purple-and-gold tie, and black-and-white wingtip shoes - the perfect getup for any respectable grandfather.

Except Lochner is 35. Nearly every visible area of his skin is decked in tattoos - a rose on his hand, a pinup girl on the left side of his neck, and a skull and crossbones on the other.

Lochner's swag (though arguably more outrageous than some) is far from foreign on Philadelphia streets. In a response to society's fast-paced, technology-propelled norm, young men ages 18 to 35 have taken to expressing a mature homage to their old-school ancestors, albeit with a bit more flair.

"I dress more loudly than my grandfather," said Lochner, a manager at Briar Vintage, an Old City boutique specializing in clothes and accessories from the 1800s to 1960s.

Note the choice of fabric - tweed or wool - the excessive use of plaid, the wide-framed glasses and even-wider-brimmed hat, the thick-soled oxfords, and, for heaven's sake, the pocket squares.

GQ editor Will Welch dubbed the duds "Geezer Style" in the magazine's September issue, after first noticing the trend a year ago among his staffers.

Two young editors - Mark Anthony Green, 24, and Justin Doss, 27 - were taking their style cues from "old guys that you might see on the subway in New York," rather than the usual style icons like Kanye West.

"What that's about," said Welch, "is sort of doing a new take on patterned suits . . . of a particular sort of cut and fit."

Other geezer-style tip-offs, said Welch, 31, include cable-knit sweaters, "which a few years ago would've seemed really dorky to a 25-year-old stylish guy," slipper-style loafers, and sneakers with dress pants.

Increased neckwear popularity, too, is a sign of the changing dynamic in men's fashion. Briar Vintage's bow-tie sales alone have jumped from 10 percent of overall sales last year to 20 percent this year, Lochner said.

Today's look is a combination of fashions from the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, each era drastically different politically and economically, but mirroring our last 20 years: The Roaring Twenties saw vast economic prosperity; the 1930s were preoccupied with the Great Depression; and World War II consumed much of the 1940s, after which the economy began to thrive again.

The look also helps to rebel against parents who wore "jeans to the theater" and against a modern-day throwaway mind-set.

"Dressing up feels rebellious these days," said Welch. "There was a time where you could get a reaction if you had an armful of tattoos, but now everyone has that."

And when everyone's wearing a T-shirt and jeans, what's more counterculture than wearing a suit and tie?

The look has been celebrated for five years in Philadelphia's Annual Tweed Bike Ride, which draws hundreds to take a leisurely trip through the city looking dapper. The event is a spin-off of one in London, but has been re-created in dozens of U.S. cities, including Dallas; Rochester, N.Y.; and San Francisco.

During one November afternoon, Mount Airy native Tom Ellenwood sported a freshly waxed and twirled mustache and wore a crossover tie. Dan Toms, a Temple University student, wore a newsboy cap and wool dress pants rolled up to resemble plus fours.

Toms, 22, said the trend of dressing counter to the 21st century was a reaction to today's disposable society - a revolt against a world "so focused on quantity instead of quality." He shaves with a safety razor rather than a disposable one, and hopes that it will last his entire life.

It's a trend that mirrors the green movement - riding bikes instead of driving, using aluminum water bottles instead of plastic, and recycling almost everything, including clothes. Both have worked to remove the poverty stigma from thrifting, said tweed-ride organizer George Gironis, and thrifting has inadvertently birthed a sartorial ode to old.

Old is often cheaper, too, not to mention usually much higher-quality. Suits made before the 1950s, for instance, were layered with horsehair canvas to help them keep their shape. And a quality vintage suit can be had for a couple of hundred dollars, rather than a modern thousand-dollar one sported by the likes of rapper Andre 3000.

At Old City's vintage-style shop Art in the Age, sales associate Zach Coss, 21, says customers are looking for something that's long-lasting.

As for the love of geezer style, Coss credits tight-clothed hipsters whose trendsetting ways evolved as they grew into adults. Ironically, the look that screams "slow down" is fueled by the Internet, with popular tumblr blogs "Vintage Black Glamour," "The Nifty Fifties," or AMC's "Mad Men" fashion blog giving access to images once not readily accessible. It all acts as inspiration for youth's societal insurrection.

Said Welch, "There's a certain 'anything goes' attitude."