https://youtu.be/Sr2SR_O47lI Here's how it goes on Saturday mornings in my apartment. Lots of coffee and lots of iPad (The New York Times and Flipboard). I also catch up on my favorite podcasts while I do a some cleaning. (When I…
In a fascinating conversation on his Here’s the Thing podcast, Alec Baldwin talks with Ian Schrager, who started and co-owned Studio 54 with the late Steve Rubell. After Studio 54 (and 13 months in prison for tax evasion), Schrager and Rubell went into the hotel business and invented the concept of the “boutique” hotel with Morgans, their first property that launched an empire.
With summer fast approaching, I was in the market for a simple, handsome and elegant slip-on for casual wear. I thought about loafers from Alden and Tods, but an easy everyday shoe that I’d be wearing for walking the dog didn’t strike me as an occasion to splurge. Then I remembered Jack Erwin.
Sometimes you need the right card to convey the right message. No one makes cards for such specific and special instances quite like Terrapin Stationers. With an impressive collection of stock stationery and calling cards printed and engraved with messages like “Good luck with that,” “Go home and change” and the ever popular “FUCK OFF/STFU/NO FUCKS GIVEN” series, head honcho Ted Harrington has added to the collection with what might be my favorite to date
I’m loving HBO NOW. After a glorious 30-day free trial, this cord-cutter is gladly renewing.
I love a classic valet. When I was growing up, my father had one that was made of a medium stained wood with a tray for coins, cufflinks and collar stays, and a rack on the base for shoes. He used it every day.
After he died, I inherited it and used it… sort-of. During my twenties, I wasn’t so into suits and hadn’t much use for the valet, which I carelessly lost on one of my numerous moves in Manhattan. When I saw one much like my dad’s in a movie recently, an urge was reignited. So I took to eBay.
My friend Baylen sent me a short but fascinating article in The Atlantic about the power of wearing a suit. The piece explores recent research about the psychological effect of “formal” clothing, both on the wearer and on those around him. In this episode of the podcast, I talk about how the article articulated and validated much of my own personal experience with a suit’s effect. When I made the decision in my late thirties to start regularly representing myself in suits (both for work and social occasions), things changed – and all for the better.
The operative word? Empowerment.
One of my favorite shirt cloth weaves is end-on-end. It combines alternating light and dark threads to produce the look of a solid from a distance but a nice rich texture up close.
I’ve been lucky. I’ve made it my entire life without needing corrective lenses of any kind. Until now.
Since I turned 44 last year, small print has decided to become harder for me to read than the terms and conditions of an Apple software upgrade and may need to use computer reading glasses. After a little bit of denial, a lot of squinting and ultimate acceptance, I decided to march over to the CVS across the street and investigate the reading glasses situation.
In certain sub-sects of menswear enthusiasts, there is a serious fetish for an extremely fine type of suit wool with an extraordinarily soft hand. These wools are delineated by what is called an “S” or “Super” number. The higher the S number, the finer the wool.
The number itself refers to the number of times the wool thread is twisted. The more the yarn is twisted, the finer and thinner it gets, yielding a super-soft fabric with an extremely silky feel.
The average wool suit that most men wear is probably made with somewhere between a Super 100s and a Super 120s. Maybe up to a Super 130s on the outside. The ultra soft (and ultra expensive) wools happen at around a Super 150s and can flirt with 200 or higher.
Here’s the thing with the higher numbers, though: While these high Supers are extraordinarily soft, they’re also very delicate, making them very impractical for regular wear. Sit for an hour in a suit made with Super 180s wool, and you’ll be far more wrinkled than someone wearing a Super 110s. Another drawback is that the high Super wools don’t “bounce back” like the lower numbers, which means your suit will need a press or a steam before each wearing.