A Treasury Of… Minneapolis Fashion and Interior Design Blog

This photo from Outlier was floating around the blogosphere this fall. The focus of the posts were the snazzy yet sporty wool pants, but I was taken in by the cap. I thought I’d found a navy one that approximated the look, but I appear much more like a Dodgers outfielder in it than I do a cycler.

My failed search for a cycler’s cap wasn’t all that hard to recover from, initially. The workwear trend was keeping me and my headwear busy enough as it was. But the launch of the Treasury is prompting me to examine from a new perspective the way we dress and why we’re dressing that way. I won’t get too esoteric just yet. For now I’ll simply state that, for myself, it sounds bright and breezy to take a detour from this backward-glancing workwear trend, and aim my Spring wardrobe toward the wide-open future. 

Escaping, for a spell, the earth-tones and raw-cotton earnestness of workwear that’s starting to feel humorless, honestly – I’m eyeing a new look that’s perkier in its color palette, its references, its mood. By incorporating the swift lightness of the cycling aesthetic, and its use of slick, shiny, man-made materials, I’m gonna be racing toward a sunny, shiny new look for my Spring 09 wardrobe. A proper cycler’s cap will be crucial, as well as a gaze set toward the future, for a while, instead of on the past.

Bag: Raf Simons for Eastpak. Windbreaker: Patrick Evrell at Barneys. Bicycle: Fuji.
Knickers: Unholy Matrimony at Blackbird. Cap: Walzcaps.com. Blazer: Comme des Garcons x Brooks Brothers. Key Ring: Jack Spade. Shoes: APC.

This listing will be the first in a series examining the more daring clothing items that have crept their way into my closet during those naive moments when I legitimately believed I’d someday begin dressing like a runway model.

As much as I am drawn to the risky thrills of fashion, when I wake up in the morning my sartorial bravery and ambition are at their lowest, so again and again I just wiggle into whatever seems the most interesting (but) in the quietest way possible.

A Dapper-Dan decked out to the nines a la Chuck Bass is eye-catching, but really the best-dressed gents are the ones who appear to hardly have tried at all, no?

The ongoing challenge I’m giving myself is to incorporate these difficult items into ensembles that appear effortless enough to wear outside the pages of the Treasury. First up is the Sleepwear as Daywear sub-trend in the form of this pajama top left-over from a film project I’d mounted a few years back.

It’s two sizes too large for me. And it isn’t silky in a Prada-esque luxe way, it’s more of a starchy cotton-blend (which might make it a little easier to realistically wear without branding me a total fool).

So I attempted the top un-tucked and under a cardigan. Then took another stab at the piece, tucked, belted and with its sleeves imperfectly rolled up.

I’m not sure which technique was the better executed. But in the end, on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being the most difficult to pull off while still maintaining one’s good name) the Sleepwear as Daywear look garnered overall a moderate score of 6, the board reveals.

The two outfits I assembled were maybe a bit more Milano-playboy than I usually lean, but I was able to veer clear of the Julian Schnabel Jr. trap, which was the real trick.

Whether I’ll be incorporating this piece of pajama-ry into my actual wardrobe routine, the world waits to see…