A Treasury Of… Minneapolis Fashion and Interior Design Blog

At last, I’m bidding bon voyage to my respectable life of trim gentlemen’s trousers and setting sail into the Thrift Store Sea to scope out some saggier, baggier bottoms, preferably with pleats.

Should I then be confused for a Danish dock-hand or an underdressed, Hoboken henchman I shall know my search has proved successful.

So until then, it may be easiest to simply remember me as I was…

Inspiration via Permanent Vacation.

“Shapely, comfortable and useful, garments aimed to love, wear out and repair.”

Early this fall, when it was priced at $355, I half-heartedly tried on this Gap leather jacket and quite enjoyed its dulled yet oily finish and its near-perfect fit. Ten weeks later, when it was marked down to less than $95, I snatched it up as my sole selection from the end-of-season fashion sales.

It’s since helped me look 95% cooler and tougher than I actually am, so God bless the good old Gap.

I know J. Crew earns all the internet ink for its constant collaborations with better-buzzed brands and its curatorial approach to merchandizing, but their actual in-house offerings rarely impress me. Over the last few seasons their sizing, fits, and pricing haven’t prompted me to pull the trigger on anything except two pairs of super short shorts and a single grey T-shirt with the word GUARD printed on it (though that T-shirt has become my current favorite, I will say.)

Whereas each season at the “boring” and bad-buzzed Gap I’m able to find at least two styles of pants that fit, perfectly unfussy, and read as completely era-less; and with their constantly re-designed and re-branded denim department there is usually a pair or two every few months that manages to get everything just right as well.

They still stock the mundane, middlebrow building blocks of Chandler Bing’s business-casual wardrobe (lax khakis and lime green button-ups), but when I sift through the middle-American snooze I find A.P.C.-like pop-over tops in rusty madras, tab-collared chambray shirts with stitch-striped cuffs, and trim trench coats in navy wool that Jakob Dylan would (and will) envy me for.

It’s never risky, The Gap – and aside from short shorts and jumpsuits, neither am I. So we’re a real good fit.

Save yourself some grief and don’t even start pining for the prints that are already sold out.

Mark Weaver.

http://mrkwvr.com/

Nothing about Damages had ever screamed Must-See-Tv to me, but Season 2: Episode 1 was a free iTunes download last winter the week I had a long plane flight ahead of me and so I figured watching Glenn Close chew some scenery on my iPod would be a nice break from flipping through five million fashion mags.

I was swiftly seduced by the sly and sinister series, Glenn Close not so much chewing the sleek, New York scenery as searing it with her white hot glares. Her character, Patty Hewes, keeps the viewer constantly guessing and ever unsettled. We expect rage, she serves us compassion – we wait for a smile, she instead slings us a sneer. It’s all tense, terse, and terribly tony.

Season 3 begins tonight at 10/9 central, but if you’ve never watched before, feel free to jump right into the shockingly icy waters. Each season focuses on a new, over-arcing case and with Damages, even when you do know what’s going on, you mostly don’t.

Newbie viewer confusion will only enhance the program’s paranoia-punched plotlines, so schedule your season pass now!

Although it’s not a terribly large city Minneapolis is a bit like L.A. in that everyone just drives everywhere. I seem to need an umbrella only about once a year.

But if I had this asymmetrical ‘ella, designed by Dutch students and able to withstand winds of up to 70 mph, maybe I’d make a point of taking lots more drip drop-y strolls.

There’s a large park right across the street from me, and beyond that, an even larger cemetery filled with churches, crypts, and canons. Walking the blues away there under this black beauty could make my drizzly days terribly poetic.

These Frost Birgens bottoms seem spunky for Spring, mostly due to their Playskool- like buttons.

I have a pair of clearance corduroy pants arriving in the mail this week. Navy blue ones. I think I might swap out their banal, brown buttons for bright red or grass green ones as a first sneak peek at my still far-away Spring.

Not all grocery markets are created equal, but even the better ones never seem to have everything I am in need/want of. So I cycle through them all, at irregular intervals, to suitably stock my pantry properly.

Even at the drabbest and saddest of the markets in Minneapolis you might come across something surprisingly fine ‘n fun, just as I did last Friday with this box of Finnska black licorice.

It was offered in red too, but where’s the thrill in that?

…is my birthday.

All I wanted was blue icing on my cake, but I ended up with a whole lot more.

I have a question. I need expert guidance. I need your help.

What does one call boots like the two pictured above?

They seem more suede-ish than leather. Shaped almost like roper boots, but not quite. Almost engineer boots, but there’s no buckles…

I want to track some down.

I bought this magnifying glass on-line as a Christmas gift for I wasn’t sure who.

When it arrived in the mail, it wasn’t specifically perfect for anyone I knew. (Except, by default, myself) and so I kept it.

It’ll be hard, cause I’ll probably have to rely on thrift stores to accomplish it, but I’ll try and dress like this come spring.

Slim short sleeves, rolled up just right, and pleated pants perched at belly-button level.

It’s dressed up, but just barely.

Pete, Catherine, and especially Josie all better watch their backs…

My plaids are now flannel, my thermos is full to overflowing, and my un-scuffed shoes are straight from Japan.

I’ve been perfectly outfitted for the new position I blackmailed myself into down at the Packard Saw Mill and my first order of business is tracking down trouble.

(Trust me. I can find it anywhere…)