End-on-End Shirt Cloth
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.
My Magic Number with Wool Supers
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.
All About Sex and the City for “What I Wore When” on Lyst
My amazing and brilliant writer friend Sophia Stuart (@teamgloria_) asked me to be a part of a series of sartorial anecdotes on Lyst called "What I Wore When." For my interview, they were curious about my experience on Sex and…
The New York Times Men’s Style Section is Great (If You’re Wealthy)
Anyone with money can acquire. What’s more interesting to me is when someone does something fantastic with limited resources. There is a popular school of thinking that equates style and refinement with big spending – a frustrating philosophy backed up by countless magazines, blogs and online influencers pushing the luxury agenda. The new Men’s Style section of The New York Times appears to be yet another one.
Episode 26: When to Splurge
As a frugal consumer and creator of content that advocates living well and looking good without being a millionaire, I got called out by a follower on Instagram when I posted a picture of a new pair of Alden Chukka Boots. With a price tag of nearly $700, Alden Chukka boots aren’t cheap, and my follower had a point… to a point.
In this episode, I make the argument for when a splurge is justified. It’s all about value and what a particular item means to you. As my friend Glenn Gissler eloquently put it: value is quality over time.
The New Teaser Trailer for SPECTRE
Here it is. It looks like more from James's past has come back to haunt him. And to add to the fun, Mr. White is back... https://youtu.be/GvQJbF2CXLQ www.007.com
Charles Tyrwhitt’s Return to Real Cotton White Dress Shirts
Non-iron cotton is the death of dress shirts. Any semi-serious sartorialist who appreciates real soft cotton that breathes would have nothing to do with these formaldehyde-soaked (and potentially toxic) Frankenshirts. The wash/dry/wear convenience of non-iron shirts has made them extremely popular and very profitable for shirt makers. These days, it seems you have to go on a black-ops covert mission to find a handsome, affordable and well-made white dress shirt made with real cotton. Even trusted brands like our stalwart Brooks Brothers have gone as far as making regular cotton shirts unavailable entirely, at least for any reasonable cost.
The Kenmoor: A Smart Long Wingtip from Florsheim’s Imperial Line
I know… “Florsheim.” But hear me out…
When I hear the name Florsheim, I think of shoes my dad would wear. “Old man-ish,” “conservative,” or “uncool” are some descriptives that come to mind. I wouldn’t consider Florsheim an edgy brand on the “get” list for most hipsters.
But when someone makes a smart and well-crafted long wingtip shoe with a quality leather upper, a leather lining, and a Goodyear Welted double leather sole with nice English “heft” to the thickness and width, I don’t care what the perception of the brand is.
Three Days of the Condor
Three Days of the Condor (1975) is a stand-out thriller among the great crop of movies made in the “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls” era of filmmaking in the late 1960s and the 1970s. It stars Robert Redford as a CIA operative (codename “Condor”) working in a branch of the agency that researches foreign books that might contain hidden codes and messages.
After Redford steps out to get lunch, he returns to the office to find all of his coworkers murdered. The movie unfolds over three days as Redford tries to find safety and to get the truth about why his department was wiped out. He can trust no one, especially his bosses at the CIA.
Shopping a Sale at J.Crew
I’m on the email list of a lot of brands and companies. The reasons I subscribe include getting updates on what’s going on with these brands, educating my eye and learning about sales. Most of these emails end up in the trash without any actions or clicks on my part, but depending on the season, on the brand and on the sale – in light of my particular needs at a given time – I’ll do some careful clicking.
Such careful clicking happened in the wake of a recent email I received from J.Crew, advertising a rather substantial sale on winter items. A few days and a few dollars later, some nice new gear arrived at my door. In this episode of the podcast, I talk about how I navigate big sales online.