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.

NorthernGRADE

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!

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!

The beat-up best from around the country is once again up for grabs just south of the Twin Cities in Shakopee at the fifth annual Junk Bonanza.

Vendors and vintage-vultures alike are known to descend upon the epic event from as far away as Australia to witness hundreds of booths worth of weathered old wonders.

From emptied bottles of fizzled out soda pop brands to tattered telegrams to faded dressmaker’s forms the event is more or less an antiques assault on all one’s senses and a one-stop shop for battered but beautiful bargains.

The Junk Bonanza continues through September 18th down at Canterbury Park, so if you can see Minnesota from out your front window, you best U-Haul it on over there and stock up on other people’s old stuff.

The goods: All-American.
The guests: Mostly Minnesotan.

This coming Saturday, the pop-up-style men’s market makes its way to Minneapolis thanks to the mavens behind J.W. Hulme Co., Pierrepont Hicks, Red Wing Shoes, and Fox River Socks.

The Northern Grade Ad-Hoc Men’s Market will be invading an old, antique Barn Door/Church Pew store in NorthEast Minneapolis from noon until 7. I’ll be making an unscheduled appearance at some point in the afternoon, and I think I heard there’d be hot, straight-razor shaves offered on-site too. So needless to say, it’s THE place to be seen this weekend.

I best go on now, and grow out my scruff as quickly as possible. I refuse to clash with all the domestic plaids and leathers.

Since publishing an entry this past January with an early 70s photograph featuring Paul Newman, a dirt-bike, and a pair of biker-esque boots, I diligently hit internet auctions every morning for seven months to race down, at last, this “near mint” pair of 1960s Red Wing Irish Setter Sport boots.

They differ somewhat from my original inspiration, but they were just the style and color I figured would work with my day-to-day wardrobe. Now that I’ve finally got them, I’ve had to figure out to make them look cool with my pants when I’m not wearing slim 60s denim and sitting on a mini-motorcycle as Mr. Paul Newman was.

First I started with my pants crammed inside, but it takes time and it takes work to get them in there alright, and the resulting look is undefined and essentially dowdy.

Pulling the pants out streamlined the silhouette, but I can only think of electricians and dishwasher delivery men wearing them this way.

Neither in nor out was working, so I finally tried my pants the way I normally wear them, cuffed up twice. So far that gets me and my boots nearest that Newman photograph so I’ll roll along that way and see how often I end up wearing these biker-y boots I spent all year yearning for.

(Slimmer pants will probably help too. I’ve loved these canvas, khaki ones quite a bit, but half a year without fried chicken and chocolate milk and they’re just too big now.)

To be clear, the camo case from ACL & Co. that arrived yesterday debuted on-line way last fall. So today is the first real day of F/W 2010 arrivals for me and my wardrobe with the front door appearance of my Alex Carleton designed L.L. Bean Signature classic Bean Boot in its brand new colorway.

Granted, they’re not exactly a “transitional” item. In home by mid-August, I wouldn’t even think of wearing them until a golden leaf or two has fallen, sometime deep into chilly crisp October. Although I won’t be wearing them anytime soon, I’ll adore my black over brown Bean boots as they sit patiently in some un-cool corner ’til full-length pant-wearing-weather returns.

They’re  a little dull right out of the box, but a swift swipe with a leather furniture wipe and they do dew-up just great.

When was the last time you were a real rascal? There’s a real and rare thrill in rustling up some trouble, a thrill we willfully deny ourselves as we sulk into adulthood.

So pop an Old Time Sling Shot into your back pocket this weekend, perch yourself up somewhere sneaky, then fling bubble gum or your wadded up phone number at eye-catching passers-by until things get thrilling.

You’ll end up either engaged or arrested, but either option makes for a better story than whatever you had going on this weekend otherwise, I reckon.

Plus, you’ll be doing my homestate suburbs some ecological good.

Get this. According to Hickorees: “This classic sling shot is hand made from branches of the Buckthorn bush, a European hedge plant commonly found in suburban neighborhoods in Minnesota, and now considered an invasive species. Buckthorn’s hard “Y” branches are perfect for sling shots, and harvesting Buckthorn wood helps with efforts to control the species.”

So when that mean mom on your block starts wagging her finger at you for slinging away at all the pretty young things in your hood, flatly ask her when was the last time she did anything to help control an invasive species?

By the time she sorts out her answer, you’ll be halfway home and fantastically full of yourself. Just like a kid, but with cooler clothes.

There’s many items I don’t mind spending a bit more on in order to land something really well-made or unique, although I’m not sure I’d put T-shirts in that category. T’s are just T’s, their whole point is to be cheap and replaceable.

Nonetheless, when I clicked onto the Nitty Gritty webshop to sift through their Levi’s Vintage Spring ’10 Collection the 50s Pocket Ts made a rebel out of me and I flippantly paid a premium (plus a shipped-from Sweden postage fee) in order to own one.

The 50s Ts, produced to exact historical Levi’s specifications are just cut so brilliantly boxy, as if bought at a dusty Des Moines dime store and shrunk in a shaky old Kenmore in your cousins’ cabin. It’s faded in a way that suggests it started as an altogether different kind of hue and will look better and better the worse the whole piece gets.

To an outside eye, it’s essentially a nothing-special, ordinary old T. Unworthy of an expensive trip across the sea to be seen in. But to me, the ways in which it is old and ordinary seeming is precisely why it’s special.