Modern-day dandy Conor Kiley—the singer, songwriter, and leader of local band Holy Ghost Revival—prefers a look of unorthodox formality: the anti-punk. "It's just as self-conscious as punk," he says, "but it's intentionally overgroomed instead of intentionally undergroomed."

BOOTS, brand and price unknown, from Charly Boots and Western Wear (10516 Silverdale Way NW, Silverdale, 360-692-0589).

He has had these boots, which his mother bought him for Christmas, for almost a decade. This candy-colored line has been discontinued.

PANTS, brand and price unknown, from "the teenage-girl section of the Kitsap Mall" (10315 Silverdale Way NW, Silverdale, 360-692-2555).

These custom-pegged, pinstripe pants are also a gift from his mother, who says she used to feel awkward when Kiley—then in high school—would drag her to go shopping in the women's department. "But once the salesladies got weird on me, and started treating him weird, I got defensive," she says.

WHITE SHIRT, brand and price unknown, from closet shared with brother in childhood home on Bainbridge Island.

This shirt is just one more item in a long parade of books, records, and clothes Kiley has pilfered from his brother, Brendan, over the years.

PURPLE VELVET JACKET, brand and price unknown, from an unremembered shop in San Francisco.

This jacket is a gift from a friend who gave Kiley some clothes while he was on tour with Holy Ghost Revival and had run out of money.

BOW TIE, brand and price unknown, given to Kiley "while we were on tour—maybe in Nebraska?"

Kiley's grandfather was also fond of nice clothes. A devout Catholic, the elder Kiley was a kidney doctor who, with the Seattle-based Belding Scribner, pioneered kidney dialysis. The grandfather was literally killed by his work: One day, in the late '60s, he stuck himself with an infected needle and contracted hepatitis. What was it like to live with a disease he had spent his life fighting? To know, with cold medical certainty, how it would kill him? In all the years Brendan Kiley knew his grandfather, he never asked. The elder Kiley died on December 4, 2001. Conor Kiley inherited his grandfather's beaver-fur top hat and opera cape. Brendan Kiley inherited three ancient bow ties.