I came across these interesting early 20th century Omega watches a few weeks ago on ebay, and it was fun to watch the auctions where prices went as high as $1150.
Background reading on Omega SA.
Category: Men’s Clothing (page 47 of 74)
There is an interesting but short piece on Simon Spurr on Interview.
“There’s still a certain civility to menswear. Whereas women’s collections so often become enveloped in a front-row frenzy, a paparazzi free-for-all, and full-tilt after-party mania, the showing and selling of men’s clothes remains a much more staid, methodical affair. And that’s just the way Simon Spurr, the English-born, New York–based menswear designer, likes it. Formally trained at Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Yves Saint Laurent before launching his own label, Spurr, in 2006, the 35-year-old designer is one of the driving forces behind American menswear’s return to simple, well-tailored fashion.”
BLASBERG: Before you started your own line, you worked for a handful of menswear masters, like Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Hedi Slimane during his tenure at Yves Saint Laurent. What did you learn at those places?
SPURR: I learned something distinctive from each one. From Hedi, I learned to disregard trends and focus on my own sense of proportion and color. At Calvin, it was this purist, modern, less-is-more, take-stuff-off idea—Calvin wanted a simple backbone and not much else. And then from Ralph,
I started to understand what it meant to build a brand. There were times when I was working there that it seemed so repetitive. At the time, I didn’t understand what was happening. But when I stepped out of it, I realized what he was doing was achieving a signature look and reiterating that. That’s why when you think about a polo shirt you think about Ralph—he owns that garment.
Continue reading more.
Images for Spurr Fall/Winter 2009 and Spring/Summer 2010.
Wisdom from an old issue of LIFE, published in 1967.
Available on rby45rpm.com.
And right after my last post I found these awesome ring webbing belts. I will have to hunt one or both of them down.
They’re part of the Engineered Garments Spring/Summer 2010 collection. Image from nepenthes.co.jp.
Spotted in this month’s J.Crew catalog – military webbing belts with slide buckles. I’m guessing that they’ll be selling them this season, along with the Mister Freedom belts that are on their site (and are currently sold out of).
If you’re looking for something to wear besides the usual leather or ribbon belts this spring, these would be a good alternative. Instead of spending $65 though, you can get nearly identical belts in a variety of colors from military surplus stores for much less.
The more expensive antiqued Mister Freedom webbing belts.
gr8gear.com by the way, is the web store for the famous Federal Army & Navy Surplus store in downtown Seattle and is where I purchased the navy colored belt above.
Before there were Bloods and Crips, there were the Lo-Lifes. They worshiped Ralph Lauren, and shoplifted as much Polo gear as they could. Their distinctive looks would later influence and define urban street fashion throughout the 90’s.
From vintagegearaddicts.com.
When we traveled, we would roll at least 50 or 60 deep and could be recognized by the rainbow of Ralph Lauren labels. By 1989, we grew and had members in the “90’z” (East Flatbush) and East New york. We would get all dressed up just to go out and commit crimes. Sometimes we would go to clubs wearing like 5 different polo shirts each. We would wear one on top of another and switch shirts. All night while walking around the nightclub, your prop status was rated on how much “Lo” you had and how big your heart was.
And from an article in Vibe, March 2005:
Many of these guys are now collectors, and if you ever see odd vintage Ralph Lauren items on ebay getting ridiculously high bids, it’s probably one of them.
Further Reading:
A History of the Lo-Lifes
Lo-Lifes Documentary Trailer
This last week I received the new canvas tote that J.Crew is selling from Superior Labor and I was able to take a few shots of it this morning after my errands at the Pike Place Market. The heavy duty canvas it’s made from is the same type used for 2way Engineer Tote, and on this they’ve also added an extra layer of it on the bottom of the bag. The cotton webbing handles are very sturdy, and are reinforced with extra stitching and rivets (which are also used to reinforce the seams along the sides). So far I’m very impressed with it, and feel that it’s a much better bag than the special Mister Freedom tote that J.Crew had previously.
Read more about it on jcrew.com.
Some things to look forward too…
Vintage Cotton Dry Fly Jacket
Carbon Durham Kagoule
Carbon Harrington Blouson
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