As it goes with fashion, everything old is new again. This time literally and figuratively, as I’ve come around to being less apprehensive about pre-distressed clothes. Pre-washed denim, for example, has a nice sky blue that’s difficult to achieve with raw denim, and the lighter color goes excellently with canvas sneakers in the summertime. I’ve also recently been wearing this heavily washed chambray shirt from Chimala. The problem with most chambrays is that they’re too much of a mid-blue, like this, which makes wearing them with jeans difficult. This chambray, on the other hand, goes great with jeans and a field jacket when the weather gets cold, and can be worn alone with a t-shirt and denim when the temperatures near 90, like they did yesterday.

Strangely, heavily washed chambray shirts don’t seem to be easy to find. There’s this Chimala (which is available at J. Crew and Unionmade), an RRL, and a slightly dressier version by Acne. If you’re willing to go a bit darker, however, a world of options opens up. Barney’s has an especially large range this season. There’s also this heavily washed denim shirt from The Jean Shop. It’s too thick to wear as anything but a shirt jacket, but it works well as one if you size down.

In the above, the boots are from Oak Street Bootmaker, the t-shirt from Barns, the jeans from 3sixteen, the wallet from Flat Head, the belt from Don’t Mourn Organize, and the field coat from Aspesi. The field coat is about five years old now, and is no longer available in Aspesi’s collections, but they make similar ones every season. APC also has a really nice field jacket with a detachable lining, and if money were no object, I like these by Visvim, The Real McCoys, and Ten C. For a budget friendly option, there's J. Crew’s Garrison

 is a great value. It’s a touch overpriced at full retail, but there’s rarely a week when J. Crew’s mainline isn’t put on sale in some way.  

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What happened to the Internet’s obsession with Alden? It was just a few years ago when you couldn’t get through a day’s worth of blog reading without coming across a post gushing about the New England shoe brand. Today, you rarely see the company’s name mentioned, and most people seem to have moved on to other things (obscure Japanese shoemakers and rare sneakers, mostly).

Meanwhile, I’ve been finding myself coming back to Alden. True, their lasts aren’t the sleekest and the shoes can look a bit clunky, but sometimes a heftier looking shoe is what’s needed to go with a pair of jeans or some tweed trousers. Plus, they have a distinct American sensibility that really appeals. 

In their permanent collection, some of my favorites include:

• The Leisure Handsewn: Possibly one of the best penny loafers on the market, Alden’s Leisure Handsewn (colloquially referred to as the LHS) is handsewn right on the last. My favorite versions are the shell cordovan makes, which include Horween’s color 8 (known as the 986), cigar shell (6717), black (987), and Ravello (67540). The color 8 and black models are offered in unlined constructions through Brooks Brothers. The upside to that version is that, once in a blue moon, Brooks Brothers will include it in their 25% off mid-season sales. 
• Flex welt shoes: Alden has a number of shoes built on their special flex welt outsoles, which is a thin, heavily oiled piece of leather that’s both water resistant and more comfortable out-the-box. I particularly like the chukkas in dark brown suede (known as the 1492), snuff suede (1493), and tan suede (1494). There’s also an unlined penny loafer in dark brown suede (6245F), snuff suede (6243F), and tan suede (6244F). Truthfully, I like the moc-toe style of Rancourt more in this case, but those won’t come with these slipper-like outsoles.
• Wingtips: Still one of the best gunboat-shaped lace-ups, Alden’s longwings go excellently with everything from classic flannel trousers to slim-fitting jeans. You can find these in the more rounded toe Barrie last or the more shapely Plaza. Materials include everything from calfskin (black, new dark tan, dark brown, and natural Chromexcel) to shell cordovan (color 8, cigar shell, and black). If you stop by some stores, they may also have a few discontinued materials on sale. Just ask for them specifically, as they’re typically not displayed on the shop’s floor.
• Boots: The Indy boot is Alden’s bestseller, but they can also be a bit ubiquitous (particularly if you frequent “hip” spots). For something more unique, I like their simple cap toe boots, such as the 4060 model (a color 8 shell cordovan built on their Grant last) and 39702 (a snuff suede boot built on the rounder Barrie). There are also some really nice Modified-lasted boots in this StyleForum thread.  

Finally, there are the hundreds of special makes Alden produces for stores around the world. Leffot, LeatherSoul, The Bureau Belfast, Need Supply, Winn Perry, Lakota House, and Unionmade are all good places to start.

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The poor and humble t-shirt – too often reviled by men in coats and ties, and too often relied on by men who don’t know their own coat size – is simultaneously the most under and overrated piece of clothing in history. Personally, I think a t-shirt can look quite good if it’s cut well and wearer is trim. Granted, it works best layered underneath a jacket, rather than worn alone, but what kind of shirt doesn’t?

For a long time now, I’ve bought mine from Hanes. Their Beefy T model is slim, stout, and unbeatably cheap. You can get them for about $5 directly from Hanes, or $2 at Sierra Trading Post (provided you have a DealFlyer coupon and wear a size 36 jacket). I also like The Flat Head’s plain white tees, which are made from a thicker fabric and have triple stitching at the collar. This makes them less likely to stretch out over time, which has always been my main complaint about Hanes, but at $110 apiece, I’ve found them to be a hard purchase to justify.

Recently, I found what’s now my new favorite source for t-shirts. Barns, a Japanese label, makes them in loopwheeled constructions and basic, solid colors. Loopwheeling, for those unfamiliar, is an old knitting process where a garment’s body is knitted to shape (like a tube), so there’s no need for side seams. Since the process is slow and there’s no mechanical tension, the resulting fabric gets all of its texture and softness form the naturally relaxed yarns.

You can see the effect when you look closely at the Barns t-shirt. Given the yarns they use, the fabric is tufted in some areas, and not in others. This gives it a natural heathering (even when the shirt is white), as well as slightly rougher, more “natural” hand feel. The difference between this and Hanes isn’t too different from the slubbiness retained in some lines of quality Japanese denim, and the overly smooth, highly processed stuff you’d find at The Gap (even when the denim is “raw” and selvedge).

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I’m often quietly rooting for Frank Clegg. I bought my first bag from him years ago, when he was doing Lotuff & Clegg with Joe Lotuff. The two have split up now, but in the short time they worked together, Frank designed and produced all of the products. The bag I bought from him was his “Classic English Briefcase,” which you can see in the first few photos below. It was originally sent to me on loan, so I could do a review of it at Put This On, but the bag was so impressive that I asked if I could purchase it outright. The public relations company at the time kindly agreed, and gave it to me at a small discount since the bag had been used as a media sample. 

Despite getting it in used condition, it’s held up beautifully for me. The pebbled grained leather doesn’t scratch easily, and it’s retained the same beautiful deep color as the day I got it. The construction still feels very solid with the brass buckles, rivets, and clips, and despite stuffing this full of heavy books for years and lugging things around for miles, none of the stitching shows any sign of failure. I’ve been so impressed with the briefcase, in fact, that I’ve since bought a couple more of Frank’s bags (at full price) to give as gifts.

I don’t think I really appreciated how well made Frank’s bags were until last month, however, when I stopped by a well-regarded leather goods store in my area. They’re known for making nice briefcases, but the stuff I saw was a huge disappointment. The leathers felt overly processed and almost synthetic, and the edges – which should be tightly sewn – were peeling back and away from each other. On one tote I picked up, you could see where the uneven application of glue had leaked out and dried along the edge. It’s surprising that these can sell for $1,000 when Frank’s bags cost about the same. 

I admit, there was a time when Frank started making for his own label that I feared he wouldn’t get the attention he deserves. He’s always struck me as a guy who’s better at making bags than online marketing campaigns. The last couple of years have been good to him though. He’s been picked up by LeatherSoul and The Armoury, some company made one of those “heritage-y promo videos” on him, and he just finished a collaboration with fashion designer Michael Bastian. He also recently hired the creative agency Knowuse to redesign his webstore, which I think looks a lot better now. Granted, this is little more than shining up the window display, but at least this time, the products inside are genuinely nice. 

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It feels strange to write about fall and winter knitwear in the middle of spring, but with some new Inis Meain models up on their webstore, it’s hard to not get excited. All of my sweaters from them have been exceptional. They’re remarkably soft, but hardly pill, and are so densely knitted that you never have to worry about them losing their shape. My oldest Inis Meain sweater is probably about six years old now. That’s not a terribly long time for a good garment, but with proper care, it looks just as good as the day I bought it.

Included in the new batch are some flecked “Donegal” sweaters that are made to resemble Irish tweeds. These were available for a brief season a few years ago, but were then replaced with a set of really expensive cashmere sweaters. The merino-cashmere blends are priced much more affordably, thankfully, and presumably have the thickness that such a design requires anyway. There are also some buttoned mock-neck Arans with handsome cabling designs, as well as a moss stitch Gansey sweater with a buttoned shoulder. I imagine the second might be useful for layering underneath a boring coat.

Perhaps most interesting is the mock neck cardigan you see above. I recently tried the navy zip cardigan that’s on sale at East Dane, but was disappointed to find that, when compared their buttoned cardigans, the tension in the zipper pulls the collar too far back.

No Man Walks Alone is apparently working on a new cardigan design with Inis Meain, and I’m told it will be made available later this year. Here’s to hoping it’s something like this model, but with a button closure.  

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After seeing him on Hodinkee a few weeks ago, I knew that I would never have John Goldberger’s watch collection, charming accent, or swept back hair. I thought, however, that I could at least get something that looked like his shirt. That denim shirt, layered underneath a hard-finished tweed and paired with some tan chinos, seems like it makes for a great, casual look. With all the workwear and Americana revival these days, what could be easier to find?

Apparently, a lot. Part of the problem is that companies use the term denim and chambray interchangeably, which makes finding an actual denim shirt difficult. The two, however, are distinct. Chambray is a plain weave fabric, sort of like broadcloth or poplin. Here, each warp thread passes over each weft thread – over and under, over and under. Denim, on the other hand, is a twill, where each warp thread crosses over multiple weft threads before going under another set of weft threads. This creates diagonal lines in the grain of the fabric, which you can see in your jeans.

Chambray is nice, but I want the real thing. A rugged denim shirt that will hold its own against a tweed in a way that other shirtings can’t. 

The usual source for these things is RRL. They have some nice Western denim shirts at the moment, but they’re too … Western for me. Blue in Green also has this one by Eternal, but it looks too artificially faded. Club Monaco has a linen shirt that looks good, but it’s not indeed denim (although, I like that those puckered seams give it less of a “dress shirt” look).

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The appeal of soft Italian tailoring has set style trends in men’s clothing for at least a few decades now. Although the technique is commonly attributed to Giorgio Armani (particularly in the business press), it really goes back to the Rubinacci and Caraceni families in Naples and Rome, respectively. They’re the ones who took the “stuffing out of suits” by using thinner and lighter shoulder pads, reducing the weight of the canvassing and haircloth inside, and striping away the lining.

In popular writing, this technique often gets reduced to a simple description about a “soft shoulder,” but when I think of what makes this style appealing to me, it’s about much more than a shoulder line. Instead, I think of style icons such as Gianni Agnelli (who often wore Caraceni) and Vittorio de Sica (who often wore Rubinacci), as well as the many men who represent Neapolitan style today (Rubinacci, Solito, Ciardi, Panico, etc). The styles worn and created by these men isn’t just about their softer shoulder, but rather the overall “roundness” of their silhouettes.

Look at the photos below and see. The lapels are a bit wider; the chests a bit rounder and fuller; and while Voxsartoria will chastise me for saying this, a few of them look like they were designed with slightly wider shoulders as well. To my eye, this not only helps build a broader, more masculine look, but it also gives the illusion of a trimmer waist without actually needing to pinch it in. It’s this wider lapel, rounder chest, and soft, extended shoulder line that gives the casual, relaxed look that so many men love. Compare this to a number of other “soft” Italian jackets – especially the more fashion forward ones with a trimmer lapel, cleaner chest, and narrower shoulder – and you can see the effect isn’t the same.

I don’t mean to say that “clean and lean” silhouettes look bad, of course. My first love for suits – well before Man Men came around – was for the 1960s styles seen on Sammy Davis Jr. here. Very modern; very clean; and very, very smooth.

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I was disappointed two years ago to learn that my friend Stephen would no longer continue his site The Simply Refined. His blog was always one of my favorites. Focused on classic clothing (often of the tailored variety), it was informative without being overly stuffy. On the upside, he left it to start a new job as the associate editor of Hodinkee, which means for the past two years, I’ve had someone to bother every time I’ve had a question about watches.

Most of my questions regard watches I think I can wear with casual clothing, as my current 1968 Rolex Oyster is something I only wear with a coat and tie. My first instinct was to get a pilot watch, perhaps something from Stowa or Laco, but after seeing some vintage pieces at Hodinkee, I wanted something with a bit more provenance. So, Stephen and I talked about the possibility of me buying a CWC, a company that makes relatively inexpensive watches for military use. A vintage chronograph like this, for example, goes for about $1,000 to $2,000, and since they weren’t available to civilians, that means each piece was actually worn by a pilot at some point. They also come in 38/ 39mm, which is a great for a guy like me, who has small wrists. 

Slightly larger is the 40mm Sinn 103, a German chronograph that’s still being made today, but you can find vintage pieces from the 1970s and ‘80s. A bit larger still is the Heuer Bundeswehr, a 42mm flyback chronograph made for the West German forces in the 1970s. Given the exceptional movements and price tag ($3,000 to $4,000), Hodinkee described it as being one of the most underpriced vintage watches on the market. For a while, this Heuer was my top contender. 

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I was hanging out at Kinokuniya in San Francisco over the weekend, flipping through some magazines, and was pleasantly surprised to see Bruce Boyer featured in the March 2014 issue of Free & Easy. Bruce has always been one of my favorite menswear writers. He’s uniquely erudite and eloquent, and can write about men’s clothing in a way that’s substantive and thoughtful, but also not overly rigid or dogmatic. If you haven’t already, check out his books Eminently Suitable and Elegance. His essays at Cigar Aficionado are also must-reads.

The Free & Easy feature takes us through some of Bruce’s things. There’s an old Coach messenger bag from back when they used to manufacture in the United States, a Willis & Geiger watch set on a brown alligator strap, and a pair of Russell Moccasin's fishing oxfords. Among what I’m sure are his many tailored jackets, Bruce has a tried and true navy sport coat, a brown checked faux tweed, and a solid green (possibly Shetland?) tweed jacket. For casual wear, there’s a green patch pocketed shirt jacket with a unique lapel by Paul Stuart. It looks rather similar to the Justo Gimeno Teba jackets sold at The Armoury.

There’s also a great shot of Bruce’s shoe collection. I’ve always been under the impression that he wears nothing but suede, but a little over half of his shoe wardrobe is comprised of calf. Much like me, Bruce seems to favor slightly more casual looking pieces. Most of his shoes are bluchers or slip-ons, and of the few oxfords he has, many are made from casual materials. There’s also a pair of George Cleverley tassel loafers that look like the most elegant shoes ever. Handsomely styled and shaped, they seem infinitely better than the tassel loafers I own from Crockett & Jones and Allen Edmonds.

The best things in the feature aren’t about what’s in Bruce’s closet, however. They’re the photos of Bruce himself and his home. Bruce tells me he lives in a historic district of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where the houses on his block date back to the 1740s. His house is one of the “newer” ones, having been built sometime around the Civil War. The home itself looks lovely. On that leather armchair, where a big checked throw is draped, is exactly where I’d like to listen to some of Bruce’s blues records and read his copy of Our Age by Noel Annan. 

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Inspired by a post I saw at Breathnaigh, I recently bought a Needles Rebuild jacket. It’s easily the oddest piece of clothing I own, and I say that as a guy who walks around town in a motorcycle jacket. For those unfamiliar, Needles is one of the brands under Nepenthes – a Japanese company that operates as both a retailer and parent company to a number of labels. In addition to Needles, they have Engineered Garments, South2 West8, and Sonic Labs. The company’s founder and director, Keizo Shimizu, designs Needles and Sonic Labs.

The Needles line feels very eccentric and bohemian. It includes this “Rebuild” collection, where individual pieces of clothing (often vintage) are deconstructed and used to “rebuild” new garments. Given the construction and designs, each piece is totally unique, even if the sensibilities across models and makes are the same. Take this BDU field jacket, for example. There are snap button pockets (presumably from the cargo pockets of BDU pants) on the interior side of the left lapel. One is so strangely placed that it’s in the middle of where the lapel folds over, which causes the lapel to sit strangely. Snap button pockets have also been used to reinforce the elbows, and there’s one pocket – upside down, even – placed right next to the patch hip pocket. Should you unbutton it, a ribbon previously used to cinch the waist on a pair of pants will unravel and fall out, reminding you that you’re in the Willy Wonka world of field jacket designs. 

I’m told by Pete (of Breathnaigh) that these pieces never really go on sale, and that their prices just keep on rising. It might be a moot point since, as I mentioned, every piece is unique. When I contacted The Bureau Belfast about their stock, they showed me the photos of the three mediums in this jacket they had left, and none really looked the same. I decided to just buy the one I liked most.

The Needles Rebuild collection has other pieces like this. There’s this flannel shirt, for example, which has been constructed from frayed, mismatched strips of shirting. There are also a couple of Led Zeppelin t-shirts made in the same way. Neither are things I think I can pull off well, but they do look cool. This BDU jacket though? I’ve been wearing it with 3sixteen jeans, a Buzz Rickson sweatshirt, and some Red Wing 9030 workboots. For the most part, it just looks like a rumpled field jacket until you look closer. It’s only then that you notice this is an odd jacket.

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