NY Shopping

Visited the A.P.C. store in SoHo when I was in New York last week. Just in time for the sale. I was looking for a pea coat, but found this wool mac for 50% off and couldn't pass it up. Prince of Whales lining.  Love it.
 

Also made it to two of the three Uniqlo.  Bought all kinds of everything, including a pair of mustard yellow corduroy pants, socks and boxers, a big gray cardigan, a blazer, some shirts...I went kinda nuts...  I'm really liking the Heattech material.  I got a shirt and socks made of this material and might get more when I'm there next week.

Scarf

Damn you Mr. Porter sale!

Driving Round The Midwest

I've spent the month of October driving back and forth between Chicago and Milwaukee for work.  I've made the trip about four times now with another three or four to go.  On the first drive up, taking the back roads, I came across one of my favorite Frank Lloyd Wright homes, the Ward Willits house in Highland Park, Illinois.  

Of course, I can't do all this driving and not have a pair of Steve McQueen inspired driving gloves.  SO, I've splurged and got a pair of Dents gloves through Mr. Porter. "Dents gloves are made in Wiltshire, UK, using methods which have changed little since the company was founded (in 1777.) The gloves are cut by hand from premium leather, and there are 32 different operations involved in the production of each pair." 


...True, this week's rental is a white, 90's era Lincoln Town Car and not an Aston Martin V12 Vantage that these gloves are screaming for, BUT, one does what one can!

Brilliant Collar

Words of Wisdom from Tom Ford

Mr. Ford from a recent piece in the Telegraph, "A man should never wear shorts in the city. Flip-flops and shorts in the city are never appropriate. Shorts should only be worn on the tennis court or on the beach." Couldn't agree more.

Nick Cave/Chris Kerr

I've often wondered who tailored Nick Cave's suits. Wonder no more, according to a recent New York Times spread he wears Chris Kerr, at least in-part.

Mr. Porter

Sadly, there are very few fashion/style sites out there for men. Even fewer that are worth reading. Thankfully that changed a few weeks ago with the launch of Mr. Porter. It is amazingly good.

What sets it apart? For one the design is clean and simple. A great deal of the site is in black and white. They carry designers such as Dunhill, Paul Smith, Persol, A.P.C., Filson, and Belstaff to name a few. A nice little touch, when you click through to a suit, or jacket they offer a short flash video of a a guy modeling so you can get a good idea of how it looks. They have a modern aesthetic grounded firmly in the 60’s. You need look no further than their Style Icons page to see this, with Steve McQueen right there at the top of the list.

The site is also a great resource. Currently, too many men are (happily) ignorant to what constitutes proper wardrobe and what would go into building one. The Essentials page is a perfect primer, and with examples like James Coburn for visual aides...perfection!

Here's the clincher for me. The other day I got an email from them with a link to their Journal page, The Knack, The Cocktail: "...taken from Ted Saucier's much-referenced mixology book, Bottom's Up (1951). Although no longer in print, I recommend getting your hands on a copy. Not only are the recipes great, but they are illustrated with pictures of scantily-clad ladies in some form of cocktail erotica, reminiscent of Alberto Vargas' drawings from classic 1950s Playboy magazines. A great book for a collector." Well, it just so happens I'm a drinker and a bibliophile, I've had the book for years, and it really is as good as advertised.



This site is perfectly in-tune with my tastes, right down to the smallest detail! Can't get enough.

Travel Shaving Kit

I travel a great deal. Little luxuries become important when you go from one antiseptic, sterile, soul-less hotel room to another, with their tiny variations but always basically the same...it can become demoralizing after a few weeks. Why make this worse by carrying around an equally boring kit? No reason you can’t bring with you something with a bit of style, something that at the end of a long day might make you feel a bit more...HUMAN. Take shaving, as an example.  Why carry around a cheap plastic disposable that's going to rip your face apart when for a few dollars more you can get the kit pictured above?  Something that looks as good as it works and will last forever.
  
There are a few apothecaries to have opened here in Chicago. Two of the best, Merz and Aaron's Apothecary offer a wide variety in the way of shaving products. I found a nice MÜHLE leather shaving kit at Merz, along with a wooden soap bowl. The compact badger hair brush is really nice.  The brush and soap method of shaving is nothing new to me.  I've been using a Trumper badger brush with a Truefitt & Hill shaving mug at home for years.  As for shaving soap, I like something with a simple smell.  Nothing too strong.  Mitchell's Wool Fat is really nice, with a classic, country sent that is unmistakably MALE without being overpowering.  (And it comes in replica antique box that is really cool looking!)  I have nothing against shaving cream.  I use both Kiehl's and Fresh, they both get the job done just fine, but there's nothing like the lather from a brush and soap.


Shaving is a ritual, and like any good ritual it offers up all manner of accoutrement to those wanting a bit more than the average.  Why not relish in the ritual of shaving, even on the road?

Watch Porn

"(Men's) wardrobes consist mainly of suits, shirts, sweaters and jeans, so a watch is one of the few places that you can express your personality, or the way that you are feeling"

I've recently revived my interest in watches. Perhaps fetish is a better word?  The article linked above goes some way to explaining why. There are other reasons.

A few of my favorites...


First off, the Omega Speedmaster Professional, the first watch on the moon. "The Speedmaster Professional remains one of several watches qualified by NASA for spaceflight and is still the only one so qualified for EVA."  'Nuff said. I prefer the leather strap to metal.  Manual.  Something about the ritual of winding the watch daily.  This watch manages to have a lot in the way of bells and whistles and still manage to retain a sleek elegance.  This is my personal favorite.  To quote the Guardian article again, "Men are, intrinsically, nerdy; they love nothing more than an item that not only looks good but has myriad functions and a construction that will have taken a lot of craftsmen a lot of time."


Steve McQueen was said to have worn Rolex for the most part. Specifically the Explorer II.  Good enough for me. Having said that, I find the Rolex for the most part a bit...I don't know, they lack a certain subtly, they seem too bulky to me.  Having said that I came across a Rolex Oyster Perpetual All-King in a recent issue of GQ and thought so much of it I bought the considerably down market version made by Seiko.




Two other watches have recently caught my eye.  One is the Luminor Marina, Steel with black dial, pictured here on the right.  A divers watch, designed in the 30's and 40's for the Italian Navy.  I like a watch with a clear, simple face, preferably black.  I respect the function, craftsmanship, and history as much as styling.


Styling goes a long way.  As has been pointed out, with laptops and phones at our fingertips just about every second, a man wears a watch now just as much as a function of style as to tell the time.  And what better styling than that of the 30's and 40's?  Stowa, a German watch, is a timepiece straight from somewhere between 1930 and 1950.  Classic, elegant, with a clear, simple face.  I think the Partitio, pictured here on the left, might be my favorite.  A similar watch is the Hamilton Valiant.  I bought a Citizen Eco-Drive a few years back in a similar style.  I like that it's solar powered, I don't have to worry about the battery.  I had the band replaced with a black leather one.


I'd never own a gold watch, or worse, one encrusted with diamonds.  New money, as Mama used to say.  I have nothing against a metal band, but prefer leather.

I've been warned by a friend that this way lies madness.  Fine, but every guy should have at least one watch.  And that watch should do more than just tell the time.

FADER TV: Shop Talk at Hollander and Lexer