Everyone’s favorite sale of the season, Mr. Porter’s, just started. The sale isn’t advertised on the homepage yet, but you can see prices already marked down on select items (just browse around). If history is any indication, more items will be marked down as the night moves on. And by tomorrow morning, the entire sales inventory will be up.
Things here tend to move fast – very fast – but I’ll be updating this post in the next half hour with some of my favorite finds. If you’re having trouble accessing the sale, use a browser other than Google Chrome. For whatever reason, Chrome occasionally glitches on Mr. Porter’s site.
The next week or two are going to be big for end-of-season sales. Some are just starting to roll in, although at least one store (End) is on their second round of markdowns. I’ll be rounding up some of my favorite sales over the next week, but here are five this weekend worth checking out.
End:The thing to remember about End is that they’re located in the UK, which means that listed prices tend to be about ~20% lower than what you’ll find at most other shops (since they automatically deduct for VAT). Add to that their current 50% off promotion and things become pretty sweet.
There are two often-recited stories for how tweed got its name. The first is that it was originally a misreading of tweel – an old Scottish word for twill – which was supposedly written on an invoice somewhere. How that misreading eventually made it into the more general vernacular, nobody knows, but it’s probably the pithiness of the story that counts. The other guess is that the word tweed refers to how the cloth originally came from the valley of the River Tweed. That, to me, seems like the more likely reason. Many of the ancient names we have for fabrics are derived from the places where the material was often made – cashmere for Kashmir (India), muslin for Mosul (Iraq), worsted for Worstead (England), cambric for Cambrai (France), and the endlessly cited denim for de Nimes (also France). In many ways, the names we have for fabrics today tell a story about earlier waves of globalization.
For all the histories we have about tweed, however, few people really know what defines the cloth. It’s one of those “you know it, when you see it” type materials. Prickly in texture and earthy in color, it’s the fabric of fall and winter. It somehow manages to be one of the least and most comfortable materials you can wear. Least in the sense that it’s often too scratchy and rough to be worn against bare skin, which is why it feels and looks better when layered over thicker dress shirts – oxford cloth button downs or brushed cotton flannels. Tweed trousers, if you have occasion to wear them, often need to be fully lined. At the same time, tweed has an undeniably comforting quality to it. It’s hardy and reliable; sturdy and flattering. In a genuinely classic cut, a tweed jacket is something you can wear for the rest of your life.
The best definition of tweed is a kind of negative definition – a way to understand to cloth by what it is not, rather than what it is. Tweed is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, of British textiles. Before the advent of modern loom technology, European fabrics were stiff and heavy. City fabrics (such as those that would be worn in London) were naturally more refined than country cloths, but they were still more substantial than the Super 100s you’ll find in stores today. Scottish fabrics were rougher still. After the union of the two kingdoms, an economic board was set up to organize and encourage the cottage industries around Scotland. Among those were tweed weavers, who for centuries, made workwear fabrics designed for heavy use out on the countryside.
A few years ago, British writer Alain de Botton penned an essay on why we hate cheap things. His point was simple: we don’t think we’re snobs, but we often behave like we are. We conflate worth with price and assume cheap things can’t be any good – after all, there must be a reason why they’re cheap. And in doing so, we miss many of the more common pleasures surrounding us.
His essay starts with the story of the pineapple. Once a rare and exotic fruit, pineapples were difficult to cultivate and even more difficult to transport. In the 17th century, a single pineapple would cost about $7,500 in today’s dollars. Only royalty could afford to eat it. Russia’s Catherine the Great was a big fan, as was Charles II of England. Grand monuments and buildings were erected in its honor; poems were written about its flavor. If you were so lucky to get a pineapple, you’d put it on your mantle until it rotted and fell apart. Pineapples were a luxury, even a status symbol.
Then, at the end of the 19th century, two things happened. First, large commercial plantations were set up closer to the West, such as in Hawaii. Second, the advent of steam ship technology dramatically lowered transportation costs. Today, you can get a pineapple for less than $5 in almost any supermarket, sometimes available in bite-sized pieces contained in see-through boxes. There’s no glamour to pineapples anymore, but it’s not because the fruit has changed – only our attitude towards it.
Traveling can be rough, especially during the holidays. Last year, I decided to treat myself to some Rimowa luggage – suitcases built on four wheels that I can easily roll through airports when trying to catch a flight. Airports are often harried and stressful places, but I figured I can make the experience a little better with good luggage.
For all the online articles about luggage, surprisingly few focus on both form and function. It’s not hard to find posts about various features – the spacious pockets and smart technologies – but many suitcases, frankly, are kind of ugly. You can get bags nowadays that will weigh themselves and give you GPS tracking anywhere in the world, but few that will do the simple job of looking good. That said, if you’re curious about some of the more innovative designs that have come out in the last few years, just browse YouTube. Some are interesting, some really interesting, and some outright bad.
One of the inherent problems with luggage reviews is that few people, including me, have enough experience with different brands to give a comparative perspective. Doing so means testing out enough models across a range of price points, as well as flying frequently enough to put a piece of luggage through the paces. I’ve flown with my Rimowas a little more than half a dozen times now. Not enough to give a meaningful review, but enough to confirm everything I’ve heard is true.
I have to admit, this blog is mostly full of random posts until I can gather enough photos to do something on Yukio Akamine. For all the men who are admired nowadays for their sense of style, you’d be surprised how many weren’t always so well dressed. Like the rest of us, they wore things that perhaps weren’t so great in 20/ 20 hindsight. You can search forever, however, and you’ll never find a bad photograph of Akamine. The idea of timelessness is often overwrought, overused, and even overvalued, but there’s something to be said about how his style has aged so well over the years.
Akamine, for those unfamiliar, is a style consultant in Japan who runs a small label called Akamine Royal Line. He’s been a popular figure on various menswear blogs for years, often photographed by street style sites such as The Sartorialist. Back in the day, before there was Blogspot or Tumblr, Akamine had his own site instructing men on the finer details of men’s style. He had the sort of tutorials you’d find in Men’s Ex, where a photograph of a well-dressed man was punctuated with various “dos and donts.” I can’t read Japanese, so I never understood the text, but the photographs alone kept me coming back.
One of the things I love about Akamine’s style is how well he combines English, Italian, and French influences. He wears suits and sport coats from Liverano, ties from Drake’s, shirts from Charvet, and shoes from John Lobb. The shoulder line on his jackets is always soft and sloping, but also slightly extended to give his frame a flattering v-shaped figure. The trousers are trim; the overcoats generously sized. The shirt collars are long enough such that the points neatly tuck behind his jacket’s lapels. And as conservative as his dress may seem, his outfits have a lot of personality – knits layered on top of each other, socks worn to match dress shirts, and monochrome outfits riffing off one color.
We’re doing a Black Friday sales roundup at Put This On. The list is massive, reaching into the hundreds of stores, and we’ll be updating the list from now until Sunday as we learn of new promotions. For those who want something more manageable, I thought I’d put together ten sales from the list that I think are worth specially highlighting. Combine this with this past week’s posts onother Black Friday deals and you have nineteen Black Friday sales that I think are worth checking out.
End just started their Black Friday sale. Much like Mr. Porter, the selection here is massive. The UK retailer carries everything from niche Japanese labels to old British names favored by traditionalists and fashion enthusiasts alike. They’re widely known for their limited sneaker drops, but I also love them for their general casualwear. You can find labels such as Nigel Cabourn, Inverallan, and Orslow here, as well as more contemporary brands such as Maison Margiela.
For Black Friday, they’re offering 20% off with the checkout code BLACKFRIDAY. That may not sound like much, but the prices here are already about 20% lower than what you’ll find in the US (they discount for VAT, but that deduction is already included in the listed prices). Better still, the code stacks on already-discounted items in the sale section, which will give you the best deals.
Some of my favorite things here include the textured knitwear. There are some lofty Shetlands from brands such as Jamieson’s and Howlin’ by Morrison, the second of which uses old, traditional Scottish knitting techniques for new and youthful designs. Inverallan is a cult favorite for their hefty, cabled cardigans and Arans; SNS Herning makes unique bobble-stitch knitwear that you can layer under rugged coats. Just be sure to size up on those Herning sweaters – they fit very slim.
Black Friday sales are upon us. Every year, I roundup some of my favorites both here and at Put This On (we’ll have a comprehensive list of every worthwhile sale later this week, on Friday). Some of my favorite stores, however, are getting a jump on things. Many have started their Black Friday promotions already, with discounts going as deep as 50% off. From Mr. Porter to No Man Walks Alone to East Dane, here are eight early-bird sales I think are pretty great.
Mr. Porter’s massive selection has put them in everyone’s orbit. Whether you favor classic tailored clothing, Japanese workwear, or oversized, minimalist contemporary garb, Mr. Porter likely carries more than a handful of brands for you.
For men who wish to dress better, the first cardinal rule anyone learns is to avoid black. Black suits are for morticians and Model United Nations representatives. Black shirts are for magicians and cruise ship DJs. Black shoes, at best, are for suits and eveningwear. In fact, giving up square-toed black shoes in favor of more anatomically correct brown ones became something of a rite of passage for well-dressed men twenty years ago. And in binning those shoes, many have learned to avoid black entirely.
The thing to remember is that color has a rich and complex social meaning outside of traditional rules. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, black has come to signal arrogance and evil thanks to its association with anarchists, motorcycle rebels, and fascists. At the same time, it’s the color of humility and discretion. Think of how Quakers and Orthodox Jews have wrapped themselves in black in order to show their religious devotion. Additionally, writers and poets during The Beat Movement made black an intellectual color; designers such as Givenchy and Armani made it cool and cultivated.
This nuanced appreciation of color is natural in womenswear, but it can take a while for more traditionally minded guys to think outside the box (or, at least, it did for me). Black footwear is de rigueur with navy and grey suits, and you wouldn’t want to wear anything else with a tuxedo. However, black can also be great for casual days. Black nicely complements colors such as navy and green, largely because of how those combos are associated with the military. With other black pieces, black can also look austere and chic. And in certain styles, such as Gucci’s horsebit loafer, black is simply iconic.
