Plaid, Plaid, Throwback Plaid

Normally I leave fashion commentary to my co-author. But as I'm sitting here thinking about my latest pickups at the mall, I have to ask Blame Girl and the rest of our audience, (which numbers at least in the low dozens!), what is up with the recent switch back to plaid and checked shirts for guys?

Maybe it took me longer than most people to realize this, but if we completed a study of guy's shirts on display right now at retail centers, I guarantee a large chunk would be checked, plaid, or otherwise similarly patterned.  After all, were I of the opposite gender, I might have read Elle magazine's prediction and been caught less unawares:

Whether checkered, tartan, or houndstooth, we'll all be marching straight into Fall 2013 with a wardrobe of plaid jackets, dresses, trousers, and more.

 But this leads me to the final point: whether it's the idiot 50's throwback seen above, or the more recent grunge era (see below, ouch),

I guess what I'm saying is I'm mad I threw out my plaid shirt from middle and early high school every time I go out to a bar full of people dressed like Scotsmen. And, at the rate men's trends are going in this country, (back to plaid, back to the 1960's style buddy holly glasses), I am just kicking myself for not keeping a few extra pairs of Tommy Hilfiger carpenter jeans, a trend that is sure to come back in the early 2020s.