I may be speaking too soon – as this jacket is still in transit to me – but this Russell plaid sport coat by Steed may be the best tailored jacket I will ever own. It was inspired by a photo of George Frazier, a writer who started his career as a jazz critic before moving on to more general topics. In 1960, Esquire published his essay titled “The Art of Wearing Clothes,” which in my opinion, is one of the best pieces of writing on men’s style that has ever been penned. A must read, if you haven’t already.

Russell plaid is a distinctive check. It’s something like a tan glen plaid, but with the horizontal stripes stripped away, so only the vertical ones remain. For the lateral sections, there are dark, thin lines, typically in plum, brown, or rust orange, which help balance the rest of the pattern. You can find it in the form of a made-to-order hacking jacket at Leonard Logsdail, or in Harrisons and Hardy Minnis’ books if you’re going bespoke. Mine is from Harrisons (Porter & Harding’s Hartwist No. 32137), which is a darker color than the beigey version you’ll find from Hardy.

This jacket reflects Steed’s house style well, although I did have some things adjusted. The quarters are cut slightly more open, to give the jacket a dynamic look, but aren’t so open that I feel they define its style. I also asked for flapped welted pockets, rather than my usual patch, as I felt they’d give the tweed a certain kind of refinement. Additionally, I had the details done up in a more American or Italian sensibility, rather than British. The front is made with a 3/2 roll and a cheeky three buttons on each sleeve, rather than Steed’s default of four.

Keep reading

Most of the shoes we buy as style enthusiasts come from England, Italy, and the United States, but other countries have rich shoemaking traditions as well. Japan, for example, has a vibrant community of bespoke cordwainers, who are renowned for their sleek styling and shapely lasts. Certain countries in Central Europe also uphold a long Austro-Hungarian tradition, which includes making a unique style known as the Budapester – a brogued derby with high walls, large medallions, and slightly upturned toes.

In the past few weeks, as fall has been approaching, I’ve been eyeing a few of those Central European makers. They’re not always pretty to look at online, but once you imagine them underneath cavalry twills or corduroys, and paired with a thick and heavy tweed jacket, they suddenly make more sense. They’re country shoes, standing opposite to the slick city oxfords that men wear with business suits, and are great with casualwear (tailored or otherwise).

One such maker is Ludwig Reiter – an old, old Viennese firm that has been around for almost 130 years. As the story goes, the company started as a small workshop, but then grew to supply custom-made boots to the Austro-Hungarian Army. Sometime in the early 20th century, the owner’s son, Ludwig Reiter II, spent time traveling between Germany, England, and the United States, working at various footwear factories along the way. When he returned to Vienna, he came with the knowledge of how to make Goodyear welted shoes, so with some retooling, he turned his father’s boutique into a factory. Four generations later, Ludwig Reiter now makes some of the best Goodyear welted shoes in a slightly more “modern” take on classic Austro-Hungarian style.

Keep reading

For anyone who doesn’t want to pay bourgeoise money to look proletarian, J. Crew's Wallace & Barnes sub-line is worth checking out. The line has been around for a few years now, but has surprisingly attracted little attention from the menswear community. Not totally sure why. The pieces have more of a boutique feel than J. Crew’s mainline, are made from considerably better materials, and are supposedly inspired by the vintage pieces that Frank Muytjens and his team routinely collect for their design archive. All things that make other lines appealing, except that Wallace & Barnes doesn’t come with the same price tags. 

Take these two shirts, for example. The first is made from a heavy and thick cotton canvas, and has an interweaving of brown and cream yarns that gives it a unique textured look. The side seams, yoke, and sleeves are all tripled-stitched, and the overall construction has a sturdiness that’s more reminiscent of RRL than J. Crew. The second shirt is an inky-blue, deep indigo-dyed piece, with a white pin dot pattern that has been woven into the fabric (rather than printed on). The subtle variegation in its coloring makes it feel more hand dyed and special – something more like what you’d expect from a niche Japanese label. I picked up both shirts on sale for $35 and $65, respectively. You can hardly drink at a bar in San Francisco these days with that kind of money. 

Granted, the designs are not particularly unique, but the fabrications are nice, and the clothes are simple enough to be versatile. This season, Wallace & Barnes has things such as washed chambray shirts, which look better than Uniqlo’s (faux) Pure Blue Japan offering, and comes at a cheaper price than Chimala’s (you can add your own wear-and-tear for a more authentic look). There’s also some Japanese selvedge cotton chinos, which come in a heavier weight cotton than Left Field’s (a brand that I’ve come to really like), and a grey sweatshirt that’s presumably better than the company’s mainline. All things that you can probably pair with whatever casualwear you might have in your closet. 

Keep reading

I’m not much for the overly cute or quaint, but I find a lot of charm in the work of Tammis Keefe. Keefe was a textile designer in the 20th century, born in Los Angeles in 1913. She worked for a time as a colorist and print designer for the famous Dorothy Liebes, which is where she first became known for her creative illustration style and sharp sense of color. Much of this early work was for architects and interior designers. That is, textiles that would be used in homes and commercial settings.

Sometime in the ‘40s, however, Keefe designed a silk scarf for a friend as a birthday gift. It had “Happy Birthday” written in bold circus letters, and candelabras in purple, blue, and chartreuse. The friend liked it so much that she showed it to Lord & Taylor’s handkerchief buyer, who then showed it to the scarf manufacturer Kimball, who in turn commissioned six designs – each orientated to appeal to a certain type of personality (the antique collector, the musician, the sports fan, etc). The pieces sold out immediately, and happy clients continued to promote her work and commission new art. Between 1944 and 1960, Keefe created hundreds of handkerchief designs, with each one featuring her signature at the corner (a rare thing for textile designers at the time, and even rarer today). 

You can still find Keefe’s work if you search secondhand goods stores. I used to find them all the time in thrift shops, when I visited as a youth to rummage for home furnishings. Now that we have the Internet, you can browse for them more easily on eBay and Etsy. Just search for the name Tammis Keefe or Peg Thomas (Peg being the shortening of Tammis’ birth name, Margaret, and Thomas being her middle name). The Peg Thomas line was just something Keefe created for Kimball, who then sold them to stores who couldn’t market Keefe’s name for business reasons. 

The squares are admittedly on the small side (usually 14” or 15”), and the fabrics are nothing luxurious. They are, however, silkscreened – which is increasingly rare nowadays – and the edges are typically handrolled. More than anything, you’re getting one of Tammis Keefe’s designs, which are always charming and unique. Above are my three hanks: one was inspired by Chinatown, San Francisco; another by jazz music; and the last features hot air balloons. You can also see Keefe’s squares being worn by the always well-dressed Voxsartoria, and check out many of her designs at www.tammiskeefe.com (where the photos below were taken from). In a world where good pocket squares are increasingly approaching the 100 dollar mark, it’s nice that you can get something this fun – and with this much provenance – for about 30 bucks. 

Keep reading

Many brands maintain archives. Doing so allows designers to not have to reinvent the wheel every season. LL Bean Signature, for example, is mostly just a youthful reworking of the LL Bean’s archive, which the company started some decades ago with old items they received from customers. Ralph Lauren also has an archive. It’s apparently located off-site in New Jersey, but access is so limited that few designers from the company are even allowed in. So, fat chance you or I will ever see photos of it pop up somewhere.

The closest we’ll get is this old issue of Free & Easy, which is dedicated to Ralph Lauren. There are interviews with the man himself and his family, some shots of his stores around the world, and a pretty awesome section on vintage things he’s collected over the years (lots of early 20th century military watches, leather jackets, and Navajo jewelry. A couple of old jeeps are thrown in for good measure).

The best part of the issue, however, is the section on vintage Ralph Lauren clothing. It mostly covers RRL and Polo, but there are also some examples of things that came out of the now-defunct lines of Polo Country and Polo Western. I tend to roll my eyes nowadays whenever someone writes about “timeless style,” but for a fashion brand, it’s amazing how little Ralph Lauren has changed over the years. We’re looking at about three decades worth of design history here. 

Keep reading

For those who want to take the term “international style” a bit literally, Australia-based designer Christian Kimber has been slowly building a collection of city-themed pocket squares that I think is both highly unique and appealing. The squares all feature original art by the designer, and are inspired by the different cities he’s been to. The London square, for example, features the Gherkin skyscraper that he used to pass by every day, while the Hong Kong square is inspired by the skyline he saw in Kowloon (where my shirtmaker Ascot Chang is based, coincidentally). I’ve been admiring the set for a while, but had to wait until the Kimber released his square for Vietnam – where my family is originally from – before I bought my first one.

The designs are great, and have a nice international flavor that I think most men can appreciate, but it’s the abstracted shapes that make them a bit more unique than my usual favorites from Drake’s, Rubinacci, and Holland & Holland. In the pocket, they take on a modern look, perhaps more in the line of Tom Ford than any of the aforementioned companies. Twist a little here or there, and you can show off different colors as you wish. The size, thankfully, is also big enough to not slip down the pocket (something that’s increasingly hard to find nowadays, unfortunately). Quality and make here are similar to Drake’s, and I believe both lines are produced at the same factory. 

I’m told that more designs are coming. There will be one for Milan, Italy and one for Colombo, Sri Lanka. Those might not be out for a while, however. Kimber is a one-man operation and currently working on expanding his footwear line with some new sneakers from Italy and more Goodyear-welted shoes from Spain (suggesting, perhaps, that a Spanish square might be forthcoming). In the meantime, you can find five designs at Kimber’s website and Exquisite Trimmings, the second of which is having a 20% off sale with the checkout code BANK20. Unfortunately, the code doesn’t apply to these squares. I know cause I checked. If it did, I would have bought a few more.

(Photos from Christian Kimber’s website and Instagram, as well as me) 

Keep reading

Before custom shoemaking in the US was mostly bespoke and made-to-orders, there was a small niche of manufacturers who would make shoes based off of the individualized foot tracings that customers would mail in. Russell Moccasin was one such firm. They sold shoes through outfitters such as Orvis, Eddie Bauer, and Abercrombie & Fitch (when the company still served outdoorsmen and adventurers), as well directly to customers through their large catalog business. 

Here are some photos of such catalogs. These date back to the early ‘80s and late '90s. Notice that every one includes a foldout form, which has a Brannock-looking diagram on which you’re supposed to trace your foot. This tracing – along with fourteen other measurements you’re supposed to provide of your feet and legs – is what gave Russell enough information to make you a perfectly fitting pair of sport shoes.

Russell still makes custom shoes from self-tracings today. I think they might be the only firm to do so, although there are probably a few Northeastern manufacturers that I’m missing (LL Bean, from what I remember, used to offer this service, but it’s all ready-to-wear now). If you’re interested in ordering a pair, you can browse this Japanese site for design ideas. Ready-to-wear models are available at Haven, Context, Nepenthes, and Sid Mashburn, and you can find discounted shoes at Russell’s sale page and eBay account. The second will have shoes going for particularly low prices, so it’s good to check back regularly if you already know your sizing.

Keep reading

Nothing rare or esoteric today, just a bunch of new Ralph Lauren fall/ winter releases that I think look pretty great. Some notables:

• Polo Label Outerwear: Ralph Lauren’s Polo label has some basic, but well designed, outerwear this coming season. There are some field jackets in cotton canvas and nylon, the first of which is priced surprisingly low. In addition, they’ve brought back their Cadwell jacket, which is an iteration of the lightweight, quilted bombers they do every year, and introduced some bolder designs through these tartan hunting coats and belted blackwatch oilcloths. I also really like this B-10 bomber, which is a reproduction of the cloth-shelled jackets that the US government supplied to servicemen in the 1940s, for the brief period that leather A-2s were discontinued (which Ralph Lauren has a repro for as well).
• RRL Outerwear: Not to be missed is RRL’s outerwear, which includes a roughed-out sueded ranch jacket that looks like it was pulled out of some 1920s archive, as well as a reproduction of early motorcycle jackets, which had shawl collars and button fronts. A fold-down collar moto is also available if you want something less old-timey. For more affordable outerwear, there’s a quilted jacket with a Western-styled yoke and a navy deck jacket to wear with jeans. I also really like this indigo discharge print jacket and Southwestern piece, although I’m not entirely sure I have the flair required to wear the second. 
• Knitwear: For knitwear, Polo has some basic Shetland sweaters with sueded elbow patches (which I imagine can be removed with a seam ripper if they’re not to your liking), a mock neck cable knit that I think would frame the face well, and a blanket striped shawl collar cardigan for those who are brave enough to wear something bright red. For RRL, there are some basic grey sweatshirts, which will be less stout, but much softer, than Buzz Rickson’s. 
• Casual Shirts: Some of the best casual shirts this season are in the workwear category. Notables include plaid indigo flannels and chambrays in both dark and light washes. I also really like this indigo calico print shirt, which End has better pictures of. Ralph Lauren’s Polo label has a similar piece for a bit less money.  
• Shoes: Nothing really new in footwear, but Ralph Lauren’s best pieces (i.e. their shell cordovan penny loafers, tassel loafers, and wingtips, as well as RRL engineer boots) have been restocked.

Keep reading

Step into any vintage shop today and you’ll find the surviving traces of a once-great American footwear-manufacturing sector. To sure, good shoes are still being produced in the US, but the industry isn’t what it used to be. Its last heave was in the 1940s and ‘50s, when companies were bolstered one last time by a boom in sales – first from the US government, who needed to supply troops abroad with quality shoes, and then from the growing domestic workforce in the immediate postwar period.

Since the ‘60s, however, things have gone into steep decline. The introduction of affordable synthetics and increased competition from abroad have forced many companies into producing cheap crap. Just compare anything made nowadays by firms such as Stacy Adams and Bass, to what they produced seventy-five years ago, and your mind will be blown.

Today, there are only a few companies that still produce in the US, unless you count the small number of handsewn moccasin manufacturers and few bespoke makers of cowboy boots. Of the big companies, most have off-shored much of their production, even if they’ve kept some of it here. Heck, even some shoes stamped “Made in the USA” aren’t necessarily made here at all. When Allen Edmonds was sold in 2006, for example, and ownership passed from John Stollenwerk to the Minnesota-based equity firm Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison, the company shut down their Lewiston, Maine factory and opened a new one in the Dominican Republic. There, some shoes are half produced and then sent back to the company’s main plant in Port Washington, Wisconsin, where they’re “finished” and stamped with a “Made in the USA” label, while others are fully produced in the Dominican Republic and correctly labeled as such.

Keep reading

Every once in a while, Architectural Digest does a feature on Ralph Lauren, with the last one being this online slideshow they put together of some of his homes. Lauren and his wife actually own five residences. There’s an apartment in Manhattan and two houses not far away: a beach house in Montauk, at the tip of Long Island, and an estate in Bedford, which is an hour north of New York City. There are also two more distant getaways: a ranch in Colorado, and a two-house retreat in the posh Round Hill Resort, near Montego Bay in Jamaica. 

Through the years, some of these have been cover features for the design magazine. I’ve pulled out three such issues here, which were published between the years of 2002 and 2007. These won’t be of any interest to anyone who’s not a big Ralph Lauren fan, but for those of us who are – they can be fun glimpses into the life of the man himself. (Spoiler alert: Ralph Lauren’s homes look a lot like Ralph Lauren home catalogs).

A quick breakdown of what you’re looking at: the first residence is a Norman-style manor in Bedford, which was originally constructed in 1919. It’s something between a hunting lodge and a stately home. The mahogany paneled walls are dressed with dark green velvet curtains and decorated with paintings in dense arrangements. The décor feels dramatic, the colors deep, and the rooms seem like they’re caught in a perpetual late afternoon. All over the place, you see references to English life, but in a way that feels co-opted and made American – much like Ralph Lauren’s clothing. 

Keep reading