If it’s Fall…
It must mean it’s time for “A Fistful of Style attempts to take WIWT pics in his apartment that don’t look like total dogshit!”
Today’s attempt?
6.5/10
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Thrifted:
Vest: Vtg. Levis Panatela $3
Shirt: Vtg. Van Heusen “Profiles” -$2.50
Jeans: Levis 505 $5
Shoes: Johnson & Murphy $14.80
Lets see if anyone like this.
Got that tie yesterday with my leather jacket, unfortunately after a day of wear, the zipper stopped working… I was glad I bought it at goodwill (and that I have access to a pricing gun to reattach the tag), but I’m always sad to have to return something.
Such are the travails of a seasoned thrifter.
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Thrifted:
“Spearat-Lee’s” Corduroy Sport Coat - $4
J Crew Cotton Cashmere Sweater - $7
Jordan Marsh “A Fitted Shirt” OCBD - $2.50
Penguin Japanese Selvage Denim - $5
Vintage Longwings - $12
Turquoise Scarf - $2
Pocket Square - $1
Hat - Gift
Dressed by the Internet.
I’ve always been in the minority in readily admitting to being “dressed by the internet”. Mostly I think that the line between “inspiration” and “dressed by the internet” is like the line between “bold/eccentric” and “trying to hard”; it’s all in the eye of the beholder (blog-holder?).
In any event, this is 100% inter-blogo-tubes fodder. I started today with my sage green cords and this plaid shirt. I originally figured loafers and a denim jacket, but couldn’t quite make it work, so I switched to ranger moc boots and at the last second put my tweed jacket over the top.
My basic thinking was that the jacket isn’t much bulkier than my Aran sweaters, and I’d layer with those (this tweed is slightly roomy for layering purposes), so why not the denim jacket? I’ve seen it done well, and if I never try how will I know if I even like it on myself?
The verdict? It’s alright. I’m glad I tried it, and I might again. But that’ll probably have to wait until spring.
Also of note: The belt. I have a couple of these that I break out occasionally. I love the idea of a wool “ribbon” belt, unfortunately they don’t hold super well, so I have to wear them with pants that already fit as decoration instead of for function. Alas…
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Thrifted:
Jordan Marsh “Varsitonian” Tweed Jacket - $5
CK Jeans Denim Jacket - Free
Orvis “Glen Mac” Cotton/Wool Flannel Shirt - $7
Eastland Made in Maine “Seneca” Camp Moc - Free to me (thrift gift, $15 orig.)
Olive Wool “Ribbon” Belt - $2
Brown Plaid Wool (?) Scarf - $2
Green Edged PS - $3.20
Corduroy and Cashmere.
Upwards of 60 again today. Good day for a corduroy jacket. I like the mix here of the corduroy wales with the cable knit cashmere. This outfit also speaks to the value of vintage items. The shoes and jacket are both thrifted vintage pieces, $8 and $3 respectively. Slightly better than the $600 and $180 you’d spend on comparable pieces.
And since the jacket is unstructured with big patch pockets, it means it looks just as modern as this season’s items. And since the shoes are shell cordovan it means they’ll last basically forever.
While you might have some trouble finding some more “modern” items, finding anything that’s coming back after a long time out of fashion, or that’s “timeless” (corduroy jackets, tweed, flannel pants, etc…) is fairly easy and infinitely cheaper to thrift than to buy retail.
It’s late and I’m tired, so I’ll just offer this for commentary.
It’s fine to wear dark jeans with a navy blazer. Just remember that the informality of jeans provides a lot the of contrast. Pair this with a white spread collar and navy tie and it looks kind of like you were trying for a suit but wore jeans because that’s what the cool kids do. Keep the elements casual and the navy jeans on navy jacket plays much better.
So I’m finally realizing it’s probably better to take pictures and then upload them when I have time to actually… you know… write something about it.
So without further ado, WIW(Last Saturday).
Because I have a Liberal Arts degree (and am a wicked hipster) I love the idea of deconstruction. To whit, this is a look with summer colors, rendered in fall fabrics. It was 60 and sunny on Saturday, so why not? It’s still fall, no need to break out the linen, but on a beautiful day a nice turqouise wool tie and floral pocket square make for a nice offbeat way to enjoy the sunshine. It stands in stark contrast to the leafless trees and concrete of Portland in the late Autumn.
Also of note, the deconstructed 3-piece. As I’ve mentioned before, suits are just too formal for me to wear on a regular basis. I just don’t have a lifestyle that calls for suiting in my day to day. But I still love the idea of a 3 piece suit, so I like to do things like denim, corduroy vest and tweed jacket. Or flannels, tweed vest and hopsack blazer. Take the elements of the 3 piece suit that I like, and deconstruct them. Then render them in more casual form. Makes for a nice break from straight jacket and tie/denim and shirt type casual wear.
That night I swapped out the cord vest for a navy worsted vest, brown bucks for black captoes and dad jeans for uncuffed-straight leg dark denim. A bit sleeker, still informal and still a good basis for the turquoise. Another advantage of a “deconstructed” outfit is that it is component parts, so you can mix and match relatively easily.
11-11-11
Natl. Corduroy Day
My Girlfriends Birthday (Observed)
Spent the day eating German food 3 counties away and thrifting up and down the Maine coast.
Bed time.
It’s still Autumn.
I have 4 corduroy jackets.
It’s gonna be a good year.
Autumn came in a hurry. We snapped some other photos that I liked. They’ll be up soon.
Not much to say about this, Corduroy, Flannel, Longwing Brogues, Green Wool Sweater. Gingham.
It’s fall dudes (also, dudettes).
Alright, I was overdressed for like an hour from 2-3. Otherwise, the temperature was correct. Is it fall yet? Maybe not, but I didn’t swing for the fences quite as much as the first time I thought autumn was upon us, so I think this is a solid double. Maybe could have been a triple if I had socks that matched. But maybe it’s better this way.
Now to try and cram a weeks worth of reading into 2 hours.
GO BRAIN!
So after getting soaked, I decided to do something I rarely do (or at least rarely blog about) and change clothes for the evening!
I’ve been working for the past forever and a day, so I figured I’d get drinks and Korean* Taco’s with Ashley.
Went with something about a million times more understated than I usually do.
Corduroy sport coat, gray trousers, large gingham cutaway sans tie and a royal blue w/ red accents (look close) pocket square.
Oh yeah, and my fucking black Church’s captoes brogues. I don’t think I’ve worn black shoes but 5 or so times since I started the blog. Good thing I only own 3 pairs (smh…).
My token nod to classic menswear.
*So when I first typed this up I found I had written “Koran Taco’s”. Then I went back and edited and found it. I think the blowout from that would set a new standard. Even for me. Glad I learned to always do a second draft.
WIWT.
(Note to self: Come up with witty caption to make up for crappy outfit).
Twists on prep. GTH chinos and STF kakhi. Morning to night
This is all from yesterday. Apologies for not posting the day of, I (apparently) am a busy man.
Also, this is gonna be long. Though I guess if you’re following me already you’re down with that (not like this is the first time I’ve gone on at length, won’t be the last)
This is what I wore yesterday. It was kind of gray, but not that cold. The kind of day where a cotton bomber jacket is perfect.
Punched up a bit with a woven belt and a butcher stripe shirt. Just to make it a bit more interesting.
Matched with 501’s and blucher mocs (both thrifted, I’ve found a surprisingly high amount of raw denim at thrift stores), it was a pretty good, easy wearing outfit.
But also…
The “air tie” is apparently a look I’ve been rocking on and off for a while. Mostly inspired (like most of my style) by thrift stores. This shirt fits well in the body and arms, but has a really floppy collar (so no tie) and is a bit too big in the neck (so open collar looks schluby) solution? Just button the top button. Right? Seems easy enough for me.
We went to Freeport, hit the bean outlet then got something for me to wear that night…
Some killer lime green chinos.
I wrote on my old blog that while I like some aspects of “prep” styling, I have a lot of trouble with the baggage those styles can convey. Living around a lot of New England wealth often places you around people who equate “style” (or just about anything else in life) with wealth. The sort of WASP “prep” aesthetic is fine, but the connotations bothers me on a personal level (which is my problem, not anyone elses, I’m well aware). So when I wear something “preppy” I make it a point to remove it from that context. So to that end…
Kept the shirt, swapped in GTH lime green chinos, and a navy corduroy blazer.
I love the strangeness of this sport coat. It’s corduroy, but its very tailored (nipped waist, double vents, pick stitching) and has a number of slimming details (jetted pockets, skinny lapels) which appeal to me. Plus the wale is so fine that it gets an awesome velvety sheen (which the camera and flash unfortunately can not capture). It has a lot in common with a traditional navy blazer, but with a more avant garde feel.
Finished with LL Bean ranger mocs instead of boat shoes and then bar-hopping instead of sailing.
What a twist!
For when you never see the sun…
The rain let up today. Mostly just fog. I couldn’t take it anymore and needed to wear something outlandish and not put on that raincoat for a day.
As some of you have noted, I wear a lot of orange. It’s a surprisingly versatile color because of the fact that it’s so bold. It works with about any cool color (blue, purple, green, etc…) and gives a lot of life to neutrals. Plus if you have blue eyes (like I do) it really makes them pop.
As much as I like to go over the top, since I started blogging I’ve been more mindful of the details, even the ones that usually don’t get noticed. Nobody can really see this belt today (except you internet!) But I figured the look was appropriate for a bright, but cool spring day (even though it was a dreary and cool spring day). So I went with chocolate bucks and a woven leather belt.
Topped off all this business with a navy/red bow tie. Normally I wouldn’t wear orange/red, but I thought the tone was dark enough and the pattern different enough that it didn’t go too overboard (which is really easy with a bow tie).
Since the look already had some whimsy to it (what with the bow tie and all) I used my flik n’ flak watch from when I was a kid. I have pretty small wrists so I love that this watch is extremely low profile and doesn’t make me look like I strapped a dinner plate to my wrist.
So that’s what I wear when I haven’t seen the sun for a week and needed to pretend that it was nice.
As to the new direction I’ve sort of been taking the blog (think pieces and long form outfit breakdowns) how do people feel? I’d like to take this a bit more seriously (but not too seriously) and I’m trying to find a balance. I have lots of ideas, but as much as I’m doing this for myself (mostly for myself) if I didn’t care who reads it I think I’d be doing myself a disservice.
