12 Best of 2012, Part I

With 2012 drawing to a close, and the Mayan's incorrect about our end, I wanted to put together a list of my favorite "gets" of 2012. Shoes, accessories, shirts, jackets - this list has it all. Below are 6 of my 12 favorites of this year:

Walkover Suede Saddle Shoes - $269

These shoes brought my summer wedding game to a new level, and really paired nicely with everything from suits, to jeans, to, well, the below...

Dockers Alpha Khaki in Olive Camo - $64

2012 was the year of camouflage, according to sources like GQ and Complex. I was hooked by camo from the second I saw it return, however, my lovely wife was less sold, and deflected my inner Jay-Z, vetoing any purchase of the lovely Baldwin Ryan Camo pant. However, at considerably less cost, I was able to negotiate these lovely Alphas. They are very comfortable, and are a great place to hang...

 Corter Bottle Hook - Currently Sold Out!

I was smart enough (read: my wife sent me it) to help out with the Kickstarter of this lovely invention, and poof! - my carabiner key holder was forever cast away. Now, when the time is right for a beer, I just used my bottle hook. And I know the time is right for a beer, thanks to...

18mm NATO Watch Band - $11.95

Yeah, this neat watch band holds my watch to my wrist, letting me know it's late enough in the day to crack a beer. Red and black are two colors I love together, so this was a no-brainer. You can see it working in concert with my next favorite item from 2012 in the photo below taken at Haberdash's Fashion Night Out party where I'm wearing...

Frank and Oak Hemingway Button-Down - Not Available

This shirt has a nearly 1 to 1 wear to complement ratio. Nothing else I own has that. Not. One. Thing. And it was $45, super cheap relative to it's quality. It's cool, and how do I keep cool? With...

Ray Ban New Wayfarer - $125*

The * is because my wife got these for free as a gift from a client. She immediately gave them to me. My wife>your wife. And because they were free, to me, they were cheap sunglasses like ZZ Top. 'Nuf said!

Stay tuned for Part II

I Demand the Supply Jacket

This Christmas holiday, snow fell outside the suburban Cleveland windows of my in-laws house, as I reclined on their leather couch, a fire going in the fireplace behind me. Recent wants having been sated by gifts, good food, more than adequate alcohol and relaxation, my mind drifting in the winter wonderland haze turned to...why spring wardrobe possibilities of course! I mean, what do you think about when reclining by a fire during Christmas time, Christmas movies?

A few days before our Christmas trip, I read about Rogue Territory's Houston pop-up shop. Filing it away in my mental rolodex, I thought perhaps I would check out their site to see what else they had of interest aside from the well-buzzed about (and deservedly so) Stanton cut jeans - sold here in Chicago at Haberdash.

I immediately noticed their Supply Jacket on their homepage, and in three different, but equally beautiful denims:

SUPPLY JACKET-LTBLUBRKTWL- $195

SUPPLY JACKET-ISC- $210

SUPPLY JACKET-DKIND- $210

I admit, I am something of a sucker for a jean jacket, but I particularly admire the qualities of this cut. First of all, it's long in the body, a nice nod to those who don't dress in a vintage, high-waisted style. Second, it's got hand warmer pockets; even though this jacket is meant for spring and mild weather, hand pockets are absurdly useful. Lastly, each of the three varieties are cut from wonderful, high-quality selvedge fabric, sanforized to minimize shrinkage, but hard wearing. I am most drawn to the DKIND model - dark indigo in 10.5 ounce sanforized fabric from Kaihara Mills (bottom). The lighter weight of the fabric would make it an ideal spring/fall garment here in Chicago. But honestly, any of these jackets are a great cut, well-priced, and tasty as all get out. While this cut (hopefully) will be around a while, these particular denims are very limited, so order one while ye may.

I May Have

A problem.

I dig these Made in USA Eastland of Maine moccasin chukka boots too much. It's gonna be a chukka-filled fall for me, I can tell. Available online at Blackbird.

The Fall Has Begun

Well, it has begun to put a claim on my money, anyway. It is time to take a break from displaying my nerd credentials, which are at this point self-evident, to discuss, in this case, boots. Simply put, these boots are killing it. Yuketen has been has been making gorgeous goods since 1985, and in my personal opinion, designer and founder Yuki Matsuda has knocked it out of the park with these Maine Guide DB Chukkas. Horween leather from my hometown of Chicago, hand-sewn moccasin construction, and a real cool ankle height boot with a crepe sole. Wear these with chinos or jeans, or if you are real confident, shorts. I don't think there is a wrong move, except not to get them. Time to start selling organs folks! Available at Context. Now go buy them! But leave a pair in size 11 for me.

Killing

it

I Blame Lego

I thought I'd take a break from the usual denim and what have you (what do I write about anyway?) and briefly, and publicly admit something: I like Lego. When I was a wee nerd, watching Battlestar Galactica (the original series, not the re-imagined one, though I love that too. So say we all.), Buck Rogers, etc, I'd scurry off to my lego bins, and try my best to re-create the spacecraft I saw on the shows. I once even tried to build the Searcher big enough to actually hold starfighters, but I lacked the pieces, and at age 7, attention span required. Jeez, you look back at a paragraph like this, it's amazing I actually found a girl (and a hot one, too!) to marry me.

This is a better starfighter than I could make. What do you want? I was 7. It was the 70's.

So, I can trace my love of lego to the late 70's, a long time, but how did they get there? Who created them to ensnare me so? Well, for that, you can thank a Danish Carpenter (I don't think he was Jewish, but a Lego messiah? Maybe.) named Ole Kirk Christiansen. During the Great Depression, he began making wooden toys to support his family, and by the late 1940's, he had created over 2oo wooden, and later plastic, toys. The name, Lego, came from the Danish words leg godt, "play well". Lego also means "I put together" in Latin, which because I am obsessed with Rome, and as if further proof was needed, a nerd, I think is cool. In 1958 he patented the block system; blocks built today can still be connected to blocks from 1958. Unfortunately, in March of 1958 Ole Kirk (that's his name, not 'ole Kirk) had a heart attack so he didn't get to see the success his company would become. But his son, and grandson did, and that's awesome.

I still have my bins of lego (and an understanding wife), awaiting my next sick (really sick, like flu sick) day where building something and eating grilled cheese is about all I can manage.

Okay this may be going too far.

Now this is more my speed. Skull One FTW!

Hot Time, Summer in the City

In Chicago, it's been a million degrees for way too long. Okay, it's been in the 90's plus heat index in the hundreds (thanks humidity) for a LONG time. All of last week, which totally sucked. But it illuminated something to me, namely, while women can dress for summer in a way that is age appropriate - yet stylish, men, seem to have few options that really work.

Option A - dudes wear shorts, and look like they are 19 (if they are lucky). They can't go to work like that, and next to a woman in a nice ensemble (summer dress, skirt, tank top, shorts, etc), they look like a tool most of the time, or at the very least, lack comparable sophistication.

Option B - to hell with the weather, I'm wearing jeans! Sure, they still look cool, but encasing profuse sweat in denim isn't actually all that comfortable. Nevertheless I know tons of dudes who do this, refusing to wear shorts, for the reasons I list above (it should be noted that I, under exposure to heat, do not mind looking like a tool, so I am wearing shorts as I type this. Plus I have nice legs. Hey, don't look at me like that; knowing your strengths isn't arrogance when it's true).

Option C - Linen. Sure, you could look like a British colonial overlord. My friend Brian pulls that off, but it's not for everyone. It certainly doesn't work for me.

Why is it men are forced to sweat? How do you think, my good readers (all ten or so of you), men should dress in summer to avoid profuse sweating and yet dress like an adult?

Business Casual: Casually Stupid

I am unsure how it got so popular. Apparently, over 40% of people who aren't self-employed exist in a "business casual" dress code environment (in the US and other White Collar western nations, anyway).

It is also not considered a uniform. This is news to me, because 90% of the people I see on the train look like some variation of this:


Or, this:
Khakis and collared shirts can be cool. But no one seems to want to try, it makes me sad.