Cosmetic Surgery

As some of you may be aware, we in Boston are currently in the midst of some full blast Winter worthy of the Frozen North. I decided to spend a portion of the snowbound day (the part not spent consuming brandy, Guinness, and beef stew) performing a bit of cosmetic surgery on an old coat.

I've had this old Brooks Brothers duffle coat for a few years now. Originally picked up at a thrift shop (of course) for $12.99, it quickly became a favorite. I wear it a lot with jeans and sweaters, and over preppier jacket and tie combos involving tweeds, blazers, button down oxfords, cords, et cetera. The blanket lining keeps me warm, and the brownish shade of tan works well with anything. The only thing I never liked about it was the leather thong toggles and silly plastic "teeth", but I could live with it. But a real duffle coat ought to have rope and wood toggles.

Fortunately, replacement sets can be ordered from Gloverall, the English manufacturer of these coats, for less than $10. I ordered a set over a month ago, and it arrived in short order. In the package are eight pieces of jute rope and four wooden toggles.  I had hesitated about bringing the coat to the tailor to have the new toggles put on, mostly because I didn't want to be without the coat for a week or two in the middle of Winter. Then today we were snowed in, so I decided to have a go at it myself.

The fist thing to do is basically assemble the toggles. Each wood toggle is wrapped in jute rope which I then sewed tightly in place. The remaining four pieces of jute were sewn into loops. When doing this step, make sure to leave the loops wide enough to easily accommodate the wood toggles when fastening them.

Next, after carefully removing the old leather thongs with a seam ripper, I sewed on set on partially to insure that I had the placement correct. In order to keep things neat, I made sure to stitch through the ghost of the stitch marks left by the original thongs. Then I tacked down the other end and trimmed off the excess jute. Repeat with the rest of the toggles.I set the project aside a few times to do other things, but all told the entire process took little more than an hour.

In the end, I find the coat to be vastly improved. It's a small detail, but an important one. No doubt I've gotten my $12.99 worth out of this coat in the last four years, and with these new toggles it will last for many more to come. Sometimes the best new coat is your favorite old coat.

Darts or No Darts (addendum)

3/2 undarted front, three button cuffs

2 button darted front, three button cuffs

Two button undarted front, two button cuffs

In photographing some new items for my online shop, I came across these three navy blazers. All three are Brooks Brothers, and all three have natural shoulders. The button stance on each is different, and one has darts while the other two do not. No one of them is any more "classic" or "correct" than the others, and each would be perfectly at home with the usual suspects: button down oxfords, khakis, penny loafers, striped ties, charcoal flannels. The "right" one would be the one that looked best and most flattering on the wearer. Let these serve as a perfectly timed real life illustration of the points made in my last post.

p.s. lots of new items arriving in the Shop over the next few days. Keep an eye.

Dress for The Season...and the Weather

So it's almost October, and I'm itchy to get into my tweeds and corduroys. But as I write this, it's nearing 80 degrees in Boston. The tweeds will have to wait, but the madras and linen would be way out of place.

I recently picked up the jacket above, a recent Brooks Brothers piece. It's made of a blend of wool, linen  and silk, and I find it's handy thing to have on a day like this. The color and pattern aren't too summery, but the jacket still wears cool on a warm day.  When I packed the Summer clothes up, I left this one in rotation, along with a lightweight navy blazer in wool hopsack, and a couple of lighter weight worsted suits in dark colors. It's helpful to have clothes that bridge the gap. In the photo above, I combined the jacket with a wool knit tie, perhaps a bit unconventional, but a nod to the season, despite the warm weather. Below, a pair of charcoal worsted trousers, rather than the lightweight tan cotton I might usually put with this jacket, keep things more Fall as well.

I don't want to walk around sweating bullets in a tweed jacket and flannel slacks pretending I'm not uncomfortable any more than I want to be wearing shorts right now. Nothing is less stylish than being uncomfortable in your clothes, no matter how nice they may be. Dress for the season, but dress for the weather too.

Get Ready

I heard that the Farmer's Almanac has predicted an unusually cold winter this year. Not that I neccesarily put much stock in the Farmer's Almanac, butI say bring it on. I've been preparing, and I'm ready. Are you?

Currently in the closet are some old friends and some recent off season acquisitions. Left to right: Vintage Southwick heavy wool twill in hunter green; vintage wool tartan jacket (great for Bobby Burns parties); Paul Stuart brown glen check with gold and burgundy overcheck; old custom cashmere large scale glen check with blue overcheck; Andover Shop Russell plaid heavy tweed; Brooks Brothers gun club check with open patch pockets; Andover Shop moss green tweed with orange, red, blue, and lavender check; Andover Shop brown tweed with burgundy overcheck; Norman Hilton brown color fleck herringbone; three piece cavalry twill suit. All acquired through thrift shops, ebay, or trade. 

Not bad for a broke cheapskate. Persistence pays off.

p.s. Looks like we have temps pushing 80 on the way this weekend. Good thing I kept the khakis and hopsack blazer in rotation.

Sunday Best

Recently good friend James of 10 Engines gave me this suit, straight out of his own closet, to do with what I could. It's the very definition of a stalwart classic, a charcoal grey single breasted suit in a three season worsted wool. It's been said that a man's suit is like armor, and this one bears that point out.

At first glance, it's a trad/ivy/preppy thrift shop/ebay score dream: a vintage 3/2 sack suit from the Brooks Brothers University Shop, likely late 1950s vintage. It's the kind of thing the trad/ivy fanatics dream of at night. But I won't be selling it. It's well worn, and in it's wear and tear lies a story and a soul.

The tips of the cuffs are worn through, and a few of the buttons are broken...

The trouser hems are frayed beyond repair, but check that old style big cuff on a narrow leg opening...

The edges of the trouser pockets have been beaten so hard in sixty or more years of active service that someone saw fit to have them reinforced with a grosgrain strip...

And a crotch worn straight through was at some time seen merely as a call for some old time thrifty repair rather than a ticket to the trash pile.

While this suits condition may render it useless to almost anyone, it has value in it's own way. Indeed, it's value lies in the very defects and repairs that make it an unsalable vintage piece. This suit speaks to a reality in the past that vintage fetishism tends to ignore, and it hints at a story that's worth bearing in mind, especially if you spend any amount of time hunting for and reusing old things.

In the strange world that is the online #menswear community, we tend to think of the Brooks Brothers of bygone days as something of a holy cathedral. It is viewed, along with a small handful of other old purveyors, as something of the supplier or royal armor to the knights of the #ocbd. And indeed, in most ways, it was. But there is another side to that story, and this suit is a strong piece of evidence.

What follows is all pure conjecture on my part, but I beg you hear me out. I think that the man who owned this suit didn't have a lot of good clothes, or a lot of money, but he did have values. He probably scrimped and saved in the late fifties to buy this suit, knowing that quality was worth the time and effort it took to earn it. He likely purchased this simple charcoal grey suit on virtue of it's versatility, usefulness, and probable longevity. It was probably his Sunday Best, and he probably wore it to every important occasion of his life for decades. He might have been eighteen when he bought it; he danced in it with his sweetheart at the Spring semi-formal; he wore it to his high school graduation; every holiday, every Sunday at church. He put it on for his grandmother's birthday that time they surprised her with a trip to the city for dinner in a fancy restaurant; he put it on to pick his wife up from the hospital after his son was born; he wore it to both of his parents funerals.

He wasn't a business man, definitely not a man who wore a suit all the time. Had he been that type, we wouldn't see either the wear or repair that we see on this suit. He appreciated the value in it since it's original purchase, and had it repaired as best he could every time it was needed by a little town tailor who was resourceful in his work. Despite the suit becoming increasingly ragged, he kept it clean and pressed, and every time he had occasion to wear it, that same sweetheart he danced with in the Spring semi-formal told him how handsome he looked in it.

Maybe that's all a bit maudlin, but I hope you see my point. In the romantic past, when everyone wore suits, even poor guys had to have some Sunday Best. In a very strong sense, I'd bet the guy who owned this suit valued it far more than any guy with a lot of suits values his clothes. It was his armor, his good clothes, and though it may have been a bit ragged, it wasn't any less of a grey Brooks Brother suit. Old clothes sourced from a thrift store are great for being well made quality things had for a fraction of their worth. But they also have a story and a soul. For some that's a turn-off, but for an inveterate cheapskate like myself, it's where the beauty in this lies.

The Virtues of Perseverance

Back in the 90s, my Dad had a subscription to GQ. This was in the end days of GQ being a publication for professional men interested in adult topics, rather than a pop rag full of twenty somethings in clothes that don't fit. I read it back then, and even though I may hate to admit being influenced by a magazine, I was. All those now famous Polo ads from the heyday were there, and the clothing photo spreads featured some pretty great stuff. Sure, the models were young, athletic, and handsome, but the clothes fit properly and it was obvious that the demographic was grown ups.

I'd see an outfit like the one pictured above. The model would probably be photographed descending a flight on stone steps on the front of an old official looking building, briefcase in one hand while checking his watch or hailing a cab. Or maybe he'd be in the park buying a hot dog from a street vendor while an attractive young lady in a business suit admired him from behind a newspaper. The caption would read something like this:

Dashing and simple, you can't go wrong with a good grey suit and blue striped shirt. Suit by Polo Ralph Lauren, $1295; shirt by Brooks Brothers, $149; tie by Robert Talbott, $125; belt by Coach; shoes by W.S.Foster and Sons.

I lusted after those things then, and I did my best in my teenage way to fake it with bargains and thrift shop purchases. In retrospect I missed the mark by a mile, but I was a kid and still just learning. I stuck with it, kept what was good and discarded the rest, in terms of both clothing and knowledge.  All these years later, I finally have the Polo suit, the Brooks Brothers shirt, and the Robert Talbott tie, albeit for a lot less money. I sometimes buy hot dogs from a street vendor, though I'm not sure how many attractive young ladies in business suits are admiring from behind a newspaper.

Perseverance is a virtue.

The Prodigal Son

I've written before about the perseverance involved in successful thrift shopping. Often, suits will be separated into their constituent parts and priced individually, but a pro-level thrift shopper (cheapskate) knows how to find the orphaned components and attempt to reunite them with their missing family. Not long ago, I brought together a three piece suit, from three different racks. Many other times I managed to put coat and trousers back together. Once, I completed a suit by finding the two pieces more than a week apart from one another. But the suit above marks a new level of thrift serendipity, even for a seasoned and perhaps even jaded cheapskate such as your humble author.

Last weekend, a regular consigner brought in the jacket pictured above, with the caveat that he knows I don't want orphaned suit coats, but this one is from Brooks Brothers, and maybe this one could exist as an odd jacket. My initial reaction was to answer with a resounding "no", but then he showed me the coat. Almost immediately, something occurred to me. I went to the trousers in my shop, and brought out a pair in the matching cloth, also Brooks Brothers, and in a waist size and inseam consistent with the size of the coat. Thing is, I've had these trousers in my possession for nearly two years. A new one, even for me.

Divine intervention? A prodigal son returns.

p.s. This suit, plus a number of other great new items, now available in the Shop. Check it out.

Go Big or Go Home

Sometimes, you just gotta do it to the hilt

All in The Details: The Right Seersucker

I've wanted a seersucker suit for as long as I've know what one was, maybe for about 25 years now. Just this past week, patience and persistence were rewarded in the form of a classic old one by Brooks Brothers, had via ebay for $62. Given the limited time and occasion for wearing seersucker, I guess it's ironic that I paid more for this than I do for most of my other harder wearing, more useful clothes. But if we take an average, I'm still doing alright.

Seersucker is one of the most difficult things to buy vintage or used. Simply put, the cloth is just too lightweight to last. Finding one in this good shape, complete, is a real treat. But whether you're buying your seersucker new or vintage, it's important to know the details and be sure you're getting the good stuff. Not all seersucker is created equal. The first rule is of course to make sure you're getting all cotton. This is easier with new clothes as poly blend seersucker has pretty much fallen out of common use, but many old garments from the 60s and 70s were made of blended fabrics. Besides the fact that polyester is gross 90% of the time, using it in seersucker is downright antithetical to the point of the garment. Cotton wrinkles and breaths well, which is exactly what you want in a suit that you wear on a hot day.

Construction is important too. A seersucker suit should never be fully lined, again because that antithetical to the point. Reasonable suits will only have partial lining. The best kind, like the one I was lucky enough to grab, are partially "buggy" lined in their own fabric rather than a synthetic liner. Again, this adds to the breathability of the jacket and keeps it lightweight. This one has 1/8 lining at the shoulders and unlined sleeves. The shoulders are unpadded, and there is no canvas or other structural material in the coat, so it's like wearing a shirt. Yet for all that, it's well made enough that it still has the shape of a suit jacket. As you might guess, that's harder to do than just reproducing a stock jacket pattern and just using seersucker cloth, but it makes the suit what it is even more that the fabric itself.

Patch pockets are a must. Internal pockets will require additional structural material inside, and we already decided that's not what we want here.

Trousers can be either flat front or pleated depending on your own taste, but make sure they're a little roomy in the legs. This pair is relatively conservative but on the loose side. Remember, it's hot outside and you're already wearing a suit, probably by choice. Do yourself a favor and don't wear a tight one.

Accessories should be laid back here to. A surcingle or ribbon belt is a cardinal sin with any other suit, with the exception maybe of Summer poplin, but it's right at home with seersucker's laid back vibe.

Same goes for penny loafers: never with a suit, except seersucker. White bucks are of course a standard, but can be a bit much, even for me. Southerners pull it off with aplomb, but in all honesty on a Northerner and combined with a bow tie, I saw Pee Wee Herman looking back from the mirror. Brown shoes it is. And don't forget your socks. You do have suit on after all, and I don't care what magazines you've been reading, suits need socks. I thought these yellow ones did the job nicely, but argyle in bright colors, another general sin with a suit, work well too.

I can't say it enough, but dressing well is all in the details. Even if most people don't think they notice, they do. Others may not know what it is about your clothes that makes them look just a bit better than the average guy, but you'll know and they'll sense it. Pay attention to the small stuff.

p.s. Before one of you reminds me of that time I broke every rule and concept I just laid down here, allow me to beat you to it. We live and we learn, don't we.

What's In A Name (it works both ways)

Recently on a hunting trip I found a glen check suit with a tan cast and a faint blue overcheck, styled in full blast traditional American details: 3/2 roll, undarted front, two button cuff, center vent, and flat front pants. First thing I saw in amongst a lot of junk that day, I scooped it right up.

Via none other than the High Holy Brethren Theyselves, the Brothers Brooks. Score, right? Maybe not.

This suit felt a bit "crunchy" as I say. Lots of times, in thrift shops, things feel this way when they are in desperate need of dry cleaning. Lots of times, good dry cleaning brings hem back and renders them soft and cozy once again. But not always...

Turns out this ones "Crunchy" a'cause its made mostly out of polyester. For shame, Brooks Brothers, you say. But let us not forger that it was the very Brethren Theyselves that unleashed DuPont's Dacron monster on the world. In the end, I left this one behind.

A "Good Name" isn't always attached to good quality, just as good quality isn't always attached to a "Good Name". Know the difference.

p.s. new stuff in the Shop. Go see.

Business Casual

The other day, I read a post  on Put This On about dressing down a suit, and I thought I might offer my own two cents on the subject. As someone who only ever wears a suit by choice, it's something I think about now and then. I personally tend to prefer a sports jacket and trousers most of the time. It's a look that is inherently less dressy than a suit, and allows for more room to play. Jackets can range in color and texture from the staid formality of a classic and well cut navy blazer to tweeds and linens in all manner of bright color and pattern. Still, I do like to wear a suit sometimes. The tough thing is that many suits, particularly navy and grey, are difficult to wear without looking like you're dressed for a business setting, which I never am, so it helps to find ways to soften the edges. 

I'm not a fan of the look of a suit with no tie, something that's become increasingly popular in the past few years. To me, it always looks like you just left the office and are out grabbing a beer before heading home, in other words, like an incomplete outfit. Rather, I like to use accessories and minor details less aligned with business situation to do the trick. Pictured above is a worsted grey pinstripe suit, ($12.98 in a thrift shop), softened with a glen check tie in an earth tone, a pattern and color hinting more at country clothing ($1.99),and a densely printed paisley square rather than white ($2.99, found in the ladies scarves in a thrift store). A white shirt with a suit like this may be as proper as can be with a suit like this, but I opted for a softer one with a button down collar by Brooks Brothers ($5.49). 

Instead of black, all my leather accessories are brown. Added to that, the shoes are heavy longwing brogues, another style derivative of country clothing. The skull and bones socks are perhaps totally silly, but again, a good degree less formal than plain black or grey. (side note: don't wear argyle socks with a suit, ever. I hate that.)

With a little whiff of imagination, you can wear your business clothes in a more casual way.

p.s. In writing this post and searching back through my own blog for links, I realize that I have written much the same thing on this same topic about this same suit before, right about this time of year when I first pull this suit out of storage (see here). I suppose that means that a grey pin stripe suit really is the most challenging thing to wear outside of its proper context of business, or that immutable things like classic menswear are hard to blog about for over five years without at least a little repetition. Oops.

One Thing At A Time

A collar pin can be a quick and easy way to punch up a simple outfit and set yourself aside as one of the few guys who's been paying attention. I find the best way to wear one is to let it be the only unusual element in an ensemble, let it stand alone and do the talking. Being something of a luxury item, I find it also works best with quality clothes and fabrics. In this case, a grey nailhead suit by Paul Stuart ($40 on eBay), a blue point collar shirt by Brooks Brothers ($5.49), a simple navy bar stripe tie by Liberty of London ($1.99), and a plain white linen square. The collar pin is from the Andover Shop, a simple gold colored safety pin style, and the only item purchased at retail, for $17.50.

I find the older I get, the more I appreciate simplicity in an outfit. Before any of you points it out, I'm fully aware that this very blog is rife with photos of combinations that "push it", and I still appreciate sartorial adventure. But lately, I'm really digging the One Thing At A Time school of dressing.

Of course, not being one to ever leave well enough alone, I simply couldn't resist the purple socks.

Rules of Thrifting : Get It While You Can

I'm not one to complain about the weather, but it sure as hell has been one long, cold Winter. Dare I say it, I'm getting tired of all my Shetland, flannel, and tweed. So to lighten the mood, I thought I'd offer a little preview of the upcoming Summer wardrobe.

Pictured left to right: a Brooks Brothers tan poplin suit, inexplicably tailored with a darted jacket and forward pleated trousers; a no name, made in USA seersucker suit in classic blue and white; a knockout vintage cotton blend navy and white gingham check jacket from the Andover Shop; a vintage 1980s real Madras jacket from J. Press; and an unusual jacket in grey and blue seersucker tattersall check, also from J.Press

Also, a pair of grey and white forward pleat seersucker trousers from Bill's Khakis and a pair of pale yellow silk and linen forward pleated trousers made in Italy for Polo. These items ought to supplement my usual warm weather uniform of navy jackets and tan trousers quite nicely.

All of these items were picked up at thrift stores over the course of the last four months or so,  with the exception of the Andover Shop jacket which was acquired through buddy Zach. Outside, Mother Nature continued to batter us with cold winds and piles of snow relentlessly, leaving everyone in a search for all the sweaters and blankets they could gather. But thrift stores are wonderfully chaotic and random places, and the most successfully thrifters know that you have to get what you find when you find it. If you wait for summer to look for thing alike this, there may not be much left.

Get it while you can.

A Good Suit

Last Saturday, my first customers in the shop were a boy, about twelve, and his dad. The boy wore sweats, a ball cap and sneakers, and the dad looked like, you know, a dad. My first thought was that maybe the dad was going to make the boy suffer through an awkward vintage shopping experience. But I was wrong.

Turns out, the boy needed an outfit for an upcoming school production of "Guys and Dolls". It just so happened that I had a recently acquired Brooks Brothers blue glen check suit in less than 36 short, likely from the boy's department anyway. Not exactly period correct, but the kid tried it on and the coat fit him like a glove. Trousers were good too, but for a bit big in the waist. I also had a small size grey fedora hat in stock, and offered to throw in a couple of vintage 1940s ties I had laying around if they bought the suit and hat.

"Well sir, do you need a new suit" said the dad. "Really?" said the boy, beaming. "It's a good suit. You'll even be able to wear it for a few years if someone gets married or something. I bet your mother would approve." I said. The dad bought the suit, the kid was happy, and I was reminded of the best reasons why I do what I do.

p.s. new stuff today in the Shop. Check it out.

The Forgotten One

Just the other day, I had a massive thrift shop haul. Among the items I gathered was this chocolate brown corduroy sports jacket, for $6.99, less 50%, $3.49. It's missing a button and needs to be cleaned and pressed, but it's definitely a worthy acquisition. I call it "the forgotten one" because a corduroy jacket is something I tend to forget about as an option.

I don't find many of them out there, and when I do they tend to be a little too worn to salvage. Being cotton, corduroy doesn't hold up as well as wool. Frequently, they are worn down at the elbows, edges and other stress points.  This one shows just a pinch of that, but not to an unwearable degree. 

This one is from Brooks Brothers, and is very comfortably tailored, with no darts and barely any padding in the shoulders, which suits the overall laid back vibe of such a garment. I have seen similar jackets in a more tailored cut, but they never quite click for me. A cord jacket should be slouchy and comfy. Worn over a shirt and tie with flannels or khakis, it should have a softening effect. Worn with jeans and a sweater, it can bring things up just half a notch, but just enough. I plan to put this one with charcoal trousers, tassel loafers knit ties, and blue shirts. Turtlenecks should work well too.

Tres Wes Anderson perhaps, but that's not a bad thing. Don't forget the corduroy sports jacket.

p.s. I may be late to the party, but I just joined Style Forum, user name Giuseppe Timore. Drop by the "introduce yourself" thread and reply to my post there to say hi.

p.p.s Tons of new stuff in the Shop this Saturday. Hits the online store early next week.