A Treasury Of… Minneapolis Fashion and Interior Design Blog

I didn’t even have to flip through the channels. It was easier and more fateful than that. I just flicked on the TV Wednesday night and there it instantly was – Solving History With Olly Steeds on the Discovery Channel.

Olly Steeds, the program, is bit unruly – its titular promise of ancient mysteries solved, rarely fulfilled.

But Olly Steeds, the daring dude, is worthy of being you and your mom and dad’s official Man Crush of 2010. He’s Steve McQueen with a thick, Brit accent; he’s Bear Grylls with a better nose and more covetable clothes.

Steed’s wardrobe is seemingly rooted in rote R.E.I. territory, but the way he recklessly rocks it with motorcycling jackets, square-shaped shades, and beautifully battered boots achieves that illusive “effortless” quality the rest of us spend so many hours orchestrating.

I’m not sure how exciting the rest of his adventures will prove this season, but I’m tagging along with old Olly anyway, just to see what he’s wearing.

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.

Last Christmas was the first year I specifically gifted myself a treat (my Russian Lomo LC-A film camera). It wasn’t a ritual I had specifically intended to turn into an annual holiday tradition, but after recently re-posting my year-long fascination with the Beams Plus work oxfords, I wound up indulging myself in a fancy, foreign find for the second Christmas in a row.

Like practically everything worth wanting these days, men’s fashion-wise, my Beams had been trapped in Japan, for what I thought would be forever. But Treasury reader Vadim K. commented that a proxy such as JapanGoodsFinder.com could make my Beams Dreams come true. (For a not-small fee.)

So on Saturday December 19th I submitted an inquiry about my shoes. The next morning a brief, polite e-mail was in my in-box as well as a PayPal invoice which tacked on about 25 percent of the shoe’s regular retail price. Hmmm….

I agonized over whether it all was worth it, and if I had requested the best size, and wondering what I would do if my shoes didn’t fit. But by the afternoon of Sunday December 20th, I pulled the trigger via PayPal and less than four days later, on Christmas Eve, my shoes arrived fresh from the Beams shop in Harajuku. (Packages from J. Crew take longer than that!)

I waited until after Christmas to unbox my risky gift to myself. I didn’t want the possibility of them not fitting to fowl up my holiday. But everything turned out perfect. My dweeby oxfords looked just like I’d dreamed they would, fitting roomy and right. I can’t wait to lace ‘em up properly and poke around like Pete Martell.

Many thanks to Japan Goods Finder and to regular reader, Vadim K!

Additional Treasury reader Holiday Wish Lists are still to come but I wanted to divert the attention back to me for just one brief post. Or rather, a version of Me That Shall Never Be.

An itemized list of my thwarted evolution:

1) Spurred on by the styling of the Fine and Dandy Fall lookbook I risked my reputation to proclaim that beréts were back to see another fashion day. I ordered a seven buck blue one but no matter how I folded or flopped it I never looked like a fine or remotely dandy gentleman, I just looked like a 1980s lady.

2) The Avantguard frames by Han at Blackbird are the kind of algebra instructor eyewear I’d like to wear regularly, but irony is essential to the equation and if there’s one thing my hard-faught moustache of 2009 has taught me it’s that my face just doesn’t do irony.

3 & 4) This winning Wilson jacket and these Beams Plus oxfords I could wear, and I would wear, constantly probably, if only my home shipping address was way less American and way more Japanese.

5) And finally, I can’t change where I live or what my head can and can’t do with boy beréts and Mathlete frames. Though I very easily could’ve added this red Filson Sportsman bag to the Me I’m Trying To Be. But I waited too long and Context sold out.

So, dang it. For now, I’m stuck just being the Old Me.

When I get the inspiration and ingredients for a Me I Could Actually Be, I’ll introduce you to him. He’ll probably be pretty swell.

There’s a trick, and I’m figuring out how to master it, in creating a head-to-toe timeless look that says to the world “Anytime” and yet still whispers clearly enough “But definitely right now.”

My best guess is keeping everything square and standardized, and then finding one focal feature to totally flub.

Any other theories?

On white and off-white. Alright?

These Red Wing desert/chukka boots are my sole shoe selections for Fall 09. I’ve become a staunch supporter of this general style the past few years as I tend to roll my pants up two or three times most days and this style of boot hits at the ankle perfectly then.

Since I’ve been kicking around in earthy brown shoes the past many months, the stark simplicity of these Red Wings’ barely glossy black feels especially brisk and bold to my eye, setting today’s waning trend of woodsmen references in fashion into a slicker and stylistically subtler direction.

Sturdier than my J. Crew desert shoes and less clunky than my vintage 875s, these new Wing-ers weren’t a steal, but will hopefully prove perfectly practical for a litany of fall looks – a wise investment in the long run. (I do hope.)

The boy blogs’ love affair with the LL Bean Boot sizzles on, but personally, I think our eyes need to try out something else. Just for the sake of non-monotony.

The Tretorn Thule mid boot has the same sleet ‘n slush-friendly feel as the Bean Boot; all Fudd-like and Field ‘n Stream-y, yet sleeker in silhouette and better suited for the city.

And the unexpected, look-behind-you lacing lends an alluring edge to the boot that almost invites admirers to follow you around town, fixated fully on your fancy footwear.

One of the main men’s webshops recently added the boot to their site, confirming their in-style status – but you can hunt down the Thule boots (in both the mid and knee-high styles) for a hundred dollars cheaper at Amazon.com as well.

I’ll leave it up to you.

One of my very first crushes was Wonder Woman.

So in honor of her and of Independence Day, for any stray ladies out there looking for some new kicks to kill as you soar your Invisible Jets over this great country of ours, Colette‘s come to the rescue.

Dressing up for a day, driven by the style of a constructed character is a snappy ‘lil shortcut to refreshing a gentleman’s original, stale self.

In the Character Driven series, a single fashion find is fleshed-out, through its pairing with other items-of-interest, into a full-fledged, fictional figure, complete with a Treasury-issued name, age, and fatal character flaw.

This collegic crew from Paul Smith brought to mind a crystal lake canoe, but manned by a stiff city slicker, striving to shed his stuffiness (despite his overwrought weekend wear). EXTREME CLOSE-UP on: Mr. Bailey Anderson Haines.

Crew – Blue in Green
Thermos – Salvor Kiosk
Bag + Knife – Cooper Hewitt Shop
Loafers – Frye at Zappos

They come in tan, and they also come in cream (pictured).

But unless they’re done in sock-hop black and white, I’m just not down.

If you’re down, though – then this is where to head.

I’m beginning to amass a considerable collection of shoes, but not one pair is white.

This spring I’ve sought after a pair of earthy white canvas shoes, and then a pair of bright white bucks, but if I’m gonna roll with white way down-down, leather would be the sharpest and safest step, I’ve decided.

With that caveat, only these Common Projects court shoes have called to me clearly and dearly enough.

The other boy-blogs claim there’s much to revere about this brand’s output. For me though, the attraction centers squarely around the gilded little numbers gliding across the rear of every Common Projects shoe.

I’m uncertain how long I can rationalize my fantasizing when the price of these shoes breaks down to be nearly $35 per each of the 10 golden digits.

Golden or not, they’re certainly spendy little numbers.