This is what we looked like.
This is what was important to us.
We went searching for boots and bags and better bow ties,
and on the way we found ourselves friends.
This is a document of what it felt like in our American-made world
when we came together for goods we believed in.
Thanks to Larry and to Mac & Kat for setting up this Minnesotan magic,
and for letting me capture it for everyone to see.
All that was worn way down where it was warm…
I’ve just returned from a week down in Mexico having learned two things. First, I tend to be more successful in shopping FOR my vacations, rather than shopping ON my vacations.
And second, a vacation, to anywhere at all, is the perfect excuse to stop dressing so exactly like yourself and try to have some fun.
To jump-start both my souvenir shopping as well as my escape from my aesthetic self, I special-ordered a variety pack of rugged accessories from Los Angeles’s RTH Shop six days before my departure.
The Deep in the Desert gift-shop vibe of RTH’s branding as well as their merchandise (which includes ultra-simple totes and envelope bags in ever-changing shades of leather and suede and handmade beaded jewelry) I find to be really extraordinary.
It’s everything we’ve decided to care for these days: Hand-crafted, American-made, Nostalgia-tinged goods, presented with a pure and peerless sense of understated style. The fact that they don’t have a tattered U.S. flag hanging behind their cash register like every other selvage ‘n chambray store anyone’s blogged about in the past 18 months is but one of the reasons I find RTH so refreshing and rare.
Unquestionably, I thought their Arizona summer camp approach to cool was the perfect starting point for an ol’ gringo like me, heading south of the border.
Somewhere else’s sky and a sea you’ve never seen…
…Are raging reminders what a wide, wild world it is out there. And there’s just got to be more to one’s wardrobe than dark dressy denim and ties cut real trim.
Plus when you’re staying in a sun-struck pink and purple hotel, going trad with plaid and cordovan and all the rest of that makes no sense at all.
So I slipped a bit of sailor into my suitcase…
And met up with a crazy caballero later in the week, deep inside a Mexican flea market.
The three of us, plus my mean, dead grandfather shared clothes & my new suede envelope bag the rest of the trip. Whether we should regret it or not, tomorrow’s snapshots will soon show!
Other than shoes and obscene amounts of boots, I haven’t been buying as much vintage wear as I once did. When you’re young and broke and free, it’s easier to find the patience to flip through racks of Aeropostale polo shirts and Deee-Lite-ful polyester pants for hours on end to find the one rare and worthwhile wearable.
But, of course, if you never shoot, you’ll never score, and so now and then I return to my thrift-store roots in hopes I’ll hit the jackpot.
Last week’s find was a late 70s/early 80s mystery shirt by a brand called CAMPUS® Easy Life.
Its safari and sorta shutter-buggy at first glance, but the shirt’s quilted shoulders & pocket flaps, plus its rounded shawl collar take it to an almost Luke Skywalker-like universe.
It’s just the sort of unusual and interesting piece no label would have reason to design today, and which simply must be rescued from the fading force of yesterday.
So remind me not to forget again about the merits of valiant thrifting. Cause had I not flipped past hanger after hanger of irrelevant vintage for like a whole hour last Friday, I never would’ve nabbed the perfect top for photographing Ewoks or Elaine Irwin in some outer-spacy outback.
But now I do!
Taken in 2001, while pretending it was 1964.
I played Daniel Patrick all that summer. A baseball-loving night-school teacher who fell for a young co-worker pretending to have lyme disease.
We didn’t have style blogs back then, so what else was I expected to do with my time or my skinny wool ties?
At first glance, this Utility Shirt from J. Crew might not seem like anything special, but it’s got me unusually excited. I’ll, of course, explain why.
First off, it isn’t made of old-school oxford broadcloth but a softer and more supple brushed twill that feels almost like an all-year-weight flannel.
The stud-section shelves at J. Crew and beyond are severely over-saturated with chambray these days, so this new material (offered in multiple colors including dusty red!) has a 1981 Connecticut Canoeing Club feel to it which keeps things fresh and perfectly captures that outdated/updated quality so fascinating in fashion.
White buttons wouldn’t have had enough of that “Walter Mondale’s Weekend in a Winnebago” type ruggedness that the shirt subtly suggests, and so it’s these Bit-O-Honey colored closures that really seal the deal for me.
These Utility Shirts didn’t appear on the J. Crew webshop until just today. I’d like to try out another color as well, and pair them with tan jeans and either almost-feathered hair or a tote with a mallard on it.
I trust I can take care of the hair or the mallard bag myself, but where’m I gonna find some dumb tan denim?
I topped my last few winters with a Team Zissou-style bright red watch cap. And I can’t say I’m completely tired with the look just yet.
But here and there, I don’t recall just where, I’ve recently seen 70s-era pom-pom-topped hats hanging around the internet and thought they’d be a playful dash forward during this era in men’s fashion where everything’s mucho macho and (almost obnoxiously) earnest.
On the outskirts of Tumblr town, I found a pair of Penthouse Knitting Mills hats from 1978 with their tags still on and made the green (and not the red) one mine.
I was tempted to wear it a week or so with the tattered tag still stapled on.
But the overall look’s probably quirky enough without slipping a Minnie Pearl homage into the mix.
As a Minnesotan kid, there was a cardboard box on the top shelf of my family’s coat closet overflowing with hats like this. It was then that winters seemed the wildest and its gear the warmest…
So, as is increasingly the case with me, I’m stepping my aesthetic forward by poking around in the past.
Don’t mean to Deja Vu you. Although the peppery pants pictured below might seem the same as a recently reviewed pair of 4 Strokes – they’re different. (I swear.)
I won’t deny they cover some of the same sartorial ground but, speaking of wardrobe resolutions (as my fashionable friends have been doing on the Treasury the past weeks) one of my main aesthetic objectives for fall is to wear weirder colors and punchier prints. And so a single pair of spiced up pants would’ve been a weak attempt.
These sun-faded Stanton pants from J. Crew are redder, softer, and cleanly chino cut vs. the more rugged and amber-ed denim of the 4 Strokes, for anyone keeping score. And even though I’d probably pair up both pieces into the same sorts of get-ups for the exact same overall effect, once your eyes adjust to outfits free from the chill of indigo down below, it seems only right to keep turning on the heat with well-stocked closets of warm-hued trousers.
That being said, I do think the next time I go not-blue I’m probably gonna go green.
Batch three of the Fall Wardrobe Resolutions – the most international aesthetes yet!
Fashion Fan #7: Vadim K.
Claim To Fame: Taught me how to order cool clothes from Japan using proxies. Plus he’s Russian!
Resolutions:
1) Take more chances with clothes – be less safe. Even if that means dressing in the dark now and then.
2) Get a perfect grey suit. Wait – no…Get two perfect grey suits.
3) Spend less – save more. Check myself into the rehab for shoe addicts. Right after I get that pair of those perfect white Common Projects.
About the image: No matter what I enjoy seeing on people, in lookbooks and on runway, as far as my own closet – I always get inspired by somewhat times past. Therefore lads from The Specials, Mr Hedi Slimane (here – most American I’ve ever seen him) and unknown to me japanese gentleman, shot by Mr Scott Schuman about a year ago – all of these guys define what I try to see in the mirror when I dress in the morning. Now whether I succeed or not – thats a different topic.
Fashion Fan #8: Saucy
Claim to Fame: The Australian, acidic diarist behind Cigaratte Jeans. Surely you remember when I first introduced her to you.
“I know a lot of people don’t like resolutions because they make you feel like it’s added pressure to just trying to live your everyday goddamn life, but I like the idea of setting them and not calling them something zen like “milestone achievements” or “personal goals.” The fact that William asked me to do a mid-season resolution makes me even happier as now I am just not limited to the end of year epic-ness of December 31st. Seasonal goals seem much more manageable and won’t result in me screaming apologies at my external hard drive for not having any new work to load onto it.
Resolutions:
1) Somehow obtain and wear this cape.
I am not normally a huge fan of capes, I don’t like a lot of hanging, draping, potentially irritating the shit out of me fabric in my arm waving area, however this one is kind of the shit. Right? I mean, it’s like you could be some super human crime fighting sexy genius in this cape.
2) Learn how to grow lavender without killing it.
In case you are unaware, I live in the other hemisphere to most of you, which means Spring is springing all over the place and it makes me want to get my hands into some earth and strut around in a large floppy hat singing the virtues of home planting. However, despite being raised by essentially a Plant Jesus, I have had very little luck at successfully growing this delightful specimen. Fingers crossed.
3) Find a replacement for the Swedish Hasbeens I wanted that are now DISCONTINUED.
I have been pining after a pair of size 10 Swedish Hasbeens in the peep toe super high style in mustard (what a mouthful) since last christmas and about midway through this year discovered they were discontinued in the colour. Why is mustard such an unpopular colour? I have started a mission to find a replacement pair, and one that does not cost the $280 that the SH’s would have cost me. I am thinking this pair from Wittner might do, but am wondering if they will just make my canoe feet look like hooves? Either way I am kind of digging the image of myself climbing a mountain and singing about lonely highland goats.
Fashion Fan #9: Matt Fox
Claim To Fame: Really fine and really dandy Shopkeeper of the FineAndDandy shop.
Resolutions:
1) Wear more hats. I have a terrific collection of hats: fedoras, pork pies, newsboys, ivys. Many of them are vintage and some of them belonged to my grandfather. And yet I wear hats rather infrequently. The weather is getting cooler, and what better time to vow to wear more hats?
2) Be more adventurous in mixing patterns and colors. Theoretically I love mixing it up but many mornings I get caught in that “does this work or does this hideously clash” mentality. I need to take the risk and just go for it, even if I have doubts.
3) Edit my wardrobe. I am so fortunate to have a packed closet. But it’s too packed. I need to edit so my closet its more organized and I’m more able to locate the good stuff.
Batch two of Fall Fashion Resolutions from far-off internet friends. A three-pack of dudes doing it their way.
Fashion Fan #4: Damien Davis
Claim To Fame: Merging together grit with swank on his Junctioned blog.
Resolution: I would have to say my fall resolution is to embrace my inner prep. I’ve really been influenced by the 60s, 70s, and 80s style-wise and over time have tried to build a wardrobe based around those eras in menswear. The simple idea of well worn basics that grow, and mature as you do really appeal to me and my aesthetic.
Fashion Fan #5: Jeremiah Simmons
Claim To Fame: New kid on the blogging block as author of A Headlong Dive.
Resolution: My resolution this autumn is not to break in a new item, but re-unite with what I consider a couple of old friends… my Clark’s Wallabee and Desert Boot. Simply put, they go with anything and mine have gone everywhere. Though I see nothing wrong with desert boots being worn pretty much year round, something about the deep brown hues, worn suede uppers and dirty from wear crepe soles always evoke autumn. Inventive or fashion forward, they are not. What they are… timeless, understated and like an old friend… good to be with again. A man couldn’t ask for better footwear to walk with into fall.
Fashion Fan #6: Kwannam Chu
Claim To Fame: Jet-setting fashion photographer behind We Could Grow Up Together.
Resolutions:
1) To find a perfect fit benton sailor striped sweater, yuo know the ones with buttons on one side of the shoulders!
2) Actually to be less obsessed with getting a certain something fashionable just because a new season is coming.
3) We should all have new adventures and embark new journeys in lives as a new season approaches…
The wardrobe resolutions are just getting rolling. More to come, later this week!
Resolving to work-out regularly or snap a self-portrait every single day is what the fresh promise of January is for. But when it comes to fashion-fueled folk, we’re used to improving ourselves aesthetically based on the school year calendar. And even after we’ve escaped our academic years it’s come September, when shops are stocked with both their toughest and most luxe-est items, that we strengthen and re-set our sartorial goals.
I wanted to celebrate this season of wardrobe reinvention by asking some of the coolest cats I’ve crossed paths with online to share their one, two, or three mini Fall Fashion Resolutions here on The Treasury. I thought it’d be inspiring to see the little shifts or secret ambitions floating around in the fashion air right now, and hoped that, by sharing our Wardrobe Resolutions with one another, that we’d create a stylistic support system of sorts that will hold us all accountable for sticking to our clothing-oriented goals.
I’ve let many a wardrobe goal die out of fear, habit, or laziness. Maybe by signing our intentions down in internet ink, fashion failure just won’t be an option this fall.
Over the next weeks I’ll be uploading, in batches, the Fall Fashion Resolutions of friends near and far. First on the floor are a pair of East Coast coolios, and a Mister from Minneapolis.
Fashion Fan #1: Nicolas Lazaro
Claim To Fame: Blogger behind The Bengal Stripe, and master of favorite tumblr tower Nickel Cobalt.
Resolutions:
1) More outfits of sportcoats and wool trousers
2) Wear more patterns and colors
3) Dress like (N. Marcus/Bergdorf’s men’s fashion director) Nick Wooster (pictured below).
Claim To Fame: Wide-eyed wanderer of New York City, her online entries capture a big city life that’s sweetly serene.
(Further Fashion Resolutions will follow from equally chic peeps. And if you’d like to offer up your Wardrobe Resolutions as well, e-mail me the swanky specs and include (at least) 600 pixel wide images of your Autumn Inspirations.)
What a way to start the week!
The good people behind The Hamilton 1883 Shirt Co. sent to my doorstep one of their new Camo shirts in a size Small for me to mug around in.
Before I’d even un-boxed my new recruit I was (shocked ‘n) awed by the earthy elegance of its acorn-colored buttons set against the sly and subversive pattern of the shirting material.
The shirt’s fitting me trim and slim; I wouldn’t alter an inch. When labels opt not to offer their shirts in an X-Small size, as is the case with Hamilton 1883, then sometimes even a Small can slouch sloppily on me. But a Hamilton Small truly wears like a Small. So phew!
My wardrobe finally stocked in the classics, I’ve been looking to perk up ‘n quirk up my wardrobe these past months with braver, statement pieces that can instantly angle any outfit into an unexpected direction, and this Hamilton Camo piece will accomplish that easily.
It effortlessly attacks the elegance of a bow-tie, it’d easily edge up a blazer, punch up a puffer vest, obliterate the ordinary-ness of an old pair of jeans. I’m gonna bravely wear it every which I can, testing the limits of camo as considered a neutral. (Will it work against red, will it pair up with prints?)
Thanks again to Hamilton 1883 for the coolest shirt me and my closet now salute!
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