A Treasury Of… Minneapolis Fashion and Interior Design Blog

Jake Davis just asked his readers for some of their favorite scents, in his mission to find himself a new cologne. This reminded me of an entry I’ve been meaning to post in the Treasury at some point – so I might as well set that point for right about now.

The gift shop of my hotel during a trip to New York 3 years ago offered Comme Des Garcons’s 2 cologne. It smelled golden and bold and tickled my nose. I made it mine.

The 2 cologne proves I like my scents on the coy or quirky side, so I was intrigued last fall by Monocle Magazine’s launch of their Hinoki scent collaboration with Comme Des Garcons. I felt CDG’s scents and I were a perfect, plucky match, but wasn’t sure Hinoki should definitely be my second CDG scent. Especially considering I’d never sampled it.

Luckily for me I somehow came upon Luckyscent.com where you are able to order most of their hundreds and hundreds of scents in two or three dollar trial size vials! I ordered six vials of different Comme Des Garcons fragrances and then turned my mission into a March Madness-like battle. Every morning, on each arm I’d dab a different scent, and then scribble down simple notes for each scent a half an hour later.

“Reminds me of Christmas” or “Smells like pickle juice” for instance.

Each day’s fragrance winner went head to head with the next day’s winner until, alas, the Monocle Hinoki entrant proved to be the ultimate winner, after all.

So if you’re interested in sampling scents slowly over time  in order to identify the right one for you (versus making split-second decisions in a mobbed mall), or if you’re stuck in a state void of Barneys and Bergdorfs, then Luckyscent is a sensational resource.

For the record/for Jake, here’s my eau de cologne arsenal of late:

• Tiffany for Men (elegant, sparkly, like cloves or Brandy)
• The first women’s Prada parfum (I’m man enough. Like honey on a hot August day.)
• Comme Des Garcon, 2  (flinty, fiery – drunken and unabashed)
• Santa Maria Novella, Colonia Russa (icy metallic, it tingles the skin in summer)
• Banana Republic, Black Walnut (hushed, harmless, handsome)
• Monocle x CDG, Hinoki (like a spicy dusty cedar chest caught on fire)

Shirts of chambray are hogging the spotlight these days, but if you really want to toughen things up, up on top, then denim might be a beefier, better bet.

From Japanese label Neighborhood is this repair-man ready denim work-shirt.

The “flair” is a bit overboard – I’d maybe tear all but one or two of the patches off before slipping myself into it, but the red stitching at the button-holes makes the shirt worth the trouble.

Get your get over at Colette.

…Expensive, indulgent caviar enjoyed on entirely ordinary nights.

I’ve been dabbing dollops of it on this and that all winter. It’s a real treat to just treat it as a routine.

If the Easter Bunny felt like stuffing my basket with a splurge-y $200 treat, then surely it’d be this mega-scarf from Alexandre Herchcovitch.

I’ve been eyeing it for weeks and weeks, the goal being to Gert Jonkers-ize myself (scroll down after link).

I’m gonna need a deeply discounted pricetag, though, or a very generous bunny to make my flag scarf wish a reality.

I recently posted some end-of-season sales pieces from Brooklyn Industries, wondering if any readers had previous knowledge of the brand and its quality. No one had, so I braved the Brooklyn waters myself, ordering their Brookhaven shawl collar vest in a color the website called “Peat” and I’d call “Just Barely Not-Black”.

All up-close and personal I was quite satisfied with the garment. The shawl but no-sleeves shape looks wise and writerly and like it should smell of pipe tobacco.

I’m excited to plop the piece into my closet for half a year and officially christen it come fall, when a cozy pipe-scented vest will actually make some sense.

Today h(y)r collective posted a moccasin oxford by South2West8. A similar shoe I’ve been using as inspiration is this Weinbrenner x Beams collaboration, found deep in the pages of an issue of Free & Easy magazine.

I quite like their dweeby, Dad-ish appearance. I’d wear them with plaids or fishermen sweaters and imagine myself an office worker at the Packard Saw Mill. Well…I’d wear them that way if the shoes weren’t found only in Japan and I could ever actually procure a pair, of course.

Sometimes I forget I have a separate Treasury e-mail account – and that I need to check if anyone cares enough about my blog to ever write me there.

Today I logged in and I received my very first e-mail from an outfitter wondering if my blog and its readers might be interested in one of its latest products! I feel so official – like Michael from A Continuous Lean, minus the beer fascination.

Honestly, for a newbie not from New York, I knew first-look scoops couldn’t be the initial base of the Treasury. All I could start with were the looks I liked and the ways I tried to translate them as a Minnesotan near-nobody. 

So, the outfitter that contacted me was Outlier, which is actually super apropos and awesome, because what image (swear to God!) has been the wallpaper on my iPod Touch the past 5 months? This image below, from Outlier!

I’ve wanted that guy’s streamlined sporty swank, and figured the wool cycler’s cap was the first place to start.

Well now, Outlier is announcing (with my help) their new Waxed Cotton Cap, made in collaboration with master milliner Victor Osborne.

Outlier explains that “Waxed cotton, (like good whiskey) builds character and develops with time. The colors darken and the fabric’s appearance enhances. This is a premium garment that’s wind proof, water resistant and ready for those crisp morning rides season after season.”

I’d ordered a half a dozen caps from another source earlier this winter…but they didn’t quite pan out and I returned them all. Maybe I should’ve hit up my original inspiration from the get-go and gone with Outlier. The new khaki-tan one looks crazy-cool and truly timeless. Like Carhartt overalls, except for your head.

Since I’d neglected to log into my e-mail five days ago, this Outlier waxed cap post isn’t first on the scene…but it could’ve been, which is good enough news for me. I’m not above whoring out the Treasury when it comes to treasures I’m legitimately smitten with – and honestly, I don’t want every entry here to be based around my silly self posing in pretend outfits down in my blank white basement.

So thank you, Outlier, for your inspiration from last fall and for reaching out to me last week. I’m glad to be of service.

And thanks to the readers who’ve been reaching out to me more frequently too, in recent days. I don’t have any guys in my real life who care about clothes or caps or cologne – so it’s nice to make new connections here at the Treasury. It really totally is.

I had to take down a 1940s-era photograph of my German Grandmother to make room for this gun print in my first floor hallway.

Don’t worry, Grandma. I’ll find someplace better for you – I promise.

You’ll surely see this other places, but I felt it belonged in the Treasury as well.

Velour Autumn 09 spotted on Selectism.