The style number is 94532 and its price was a reasonable $58. Made in the USA is imprinted on the leather belt, but I’m not sure if that also includes the metal hardware. It’s awesome either way.

As luxury clothing begins to recover from an economic crisis that damped appetites for expensive goods, fashion houses are chipping away at the traditional model of all-powerful design chiefs that ruled for decades. Far from the unquestioned authority of famous designers such as Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton or Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel, younger fashion houses are giving more power to the business side. The rationale: Clothes need to sell.

“Creativity has given way to product development,” says Christophe Rioux, director of the luxury and creation department at French business school ISC Paris School of Management. “Managers are trumping designers because what counts is profitability.”

Designer and creative director are interchangeable titles at most houses. But at Diesel they are now redefining creative director. He doesn’t have to draw, sew or execute any of the traditional craftsmanship of fashion. Rather, he must keep his finger on the pulse of trends and edit ideas—telling the design team what kind of look he wants in clothes, accessories or furniture.

For a fashion company, I would largely agree with Renzo Rosso on this. While there is certainly an interest in the artisanal aspect behind some brands, it is not why the majority of people buy into a line.

And on Martin Margiela:

Mr. Rosso began interviewing high-profile designers to replace him. But Mr. Rosso worried that a new designer would change the house’s image, so he decided to eliminate Mr. Margiela’s position and rely on the existing team.

“The consumer doesn’t care,” Mr. Rosso says, swiping a cigarette from a colleague. “They just want to see the right product at the right moment.”

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It’s also interesting to note that the listing has English for the language. Maybe it will be a translated version?

# Hardcover: 142 pages
# Publisher: pH Books (August 31, 2010)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 1576875504
# ISBN-13: 978-1576875506

Update: This is the real deal. The publisher is powerHouse Books and there will be a full English translation. Read more on powerhousearena.com.

Take Ivy is now considered a definitive document of this particular style, and rare original copies are highly sought after by “trad” devotees worldwide. A small-run reprint came out in Japan in 2006 and sold out almost immediately. Now, for the first time ever, powerHouse is reviving this classic tome with an all-new English translation. Ivy style has never been more popular, in Japan or stateside, proving its timeless and transcendent appeal. Take Ivy has survived the decades and is an essential object for anyone interested in the history or future of fashion.

Take Ivy cover scan via The Trad.

The new lightweight cashmere and linen scarves look perfect too.

The March catalog is available online as well, and it looks like J.Crew and Monocle are going to be close buddies for the next month or two (what will be next? J.Crew x Ace Hotel?).

Taken in 1979, it supposedly shows the first espresso cart in the U.S.

Bill down at Craft summed up several common complaints heard about the line in the past in this post: has Levi’s addressed these at all? Are we [denim enthusiasts] supposed to buy them just because they’re Levi’s? In the $200-300 range, you have a lot of choices from other denim lines made by folks who are very passionate about it.

LVC is currently available online at Blackbird and Farinelli’s, and this thread on superfuture is a good resource for information.

From Lost Highway Records:

The songs on American VI are drawn from all over the musical landscape and from various eras, and include Sheryl Crow’s moving “Redemption Day,” close Cash friend Kris Kristofferson’s “For The Good Times,” “Can’t Help But Wonder Where I’m Bound” by Tom Paxton, Bob Nolan’s “Cool Water,” the hopeful “Last Night I had the Strangest Dream” by Ed McCurdy, J.H. Red Hayes and Jack Rhodes’s “Satisfied Mind,” Queen Lili’uokalani’s song of farewell, “Aloha Oe,” and the never before heard Cash original, “I Corinthians: 15:55,” written over the last three years of his life.

And a review from the Independent:

As with A Hundred Highways, the song selection lacks the shock value of earlier volumes in the series, eschewing transformative covers like Cash’s version of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” in favour of material that fits the ageing troubadour like well-worn-in boots. Once again, death stalks these songs, though this time it’s the singer’s own looming mortality, rather than the emotional trauma of his wife’s passing, which seems to haunt them. “Ain’t no grave can hold my body down,” sings Cash on the title-track, but the arrangement suggests otherwise, a funereal shuffle-slouch with plaintive banjo underpinned by sepulchral organ and a few portentous piano chords. Of course, it’s not Cash’s body that survives, but his art and his lingering stature as a giant of American music.

The fit in the body is on the short side, and is similar to the Maine Guide jackets in the Woolrich Woolen Mills collection.

One of the new branded metal buttons, which are attached by a coil latch on the back. Be warned that this jacket has a lot of them.

Reinforced collar with throat latch.

More pockets.

A view of the side body seam. The armpit area is open, along with the large pocket to get to map/game pouch.

So far I’m very happy with it, and wouldn’t mind having another one in a heavier fabric.

Available at Odin, Garbstore, and Canvas.

2. Pre-shave oils are a waste of money. Instead just rub a little bit of shaving cream on the skin before applying it with a brush.

3. Art of Shaving’s ingrown hair cream is the best on the market.

4. Alum blocks are rarely needed, but are still handy to keep around.

After all these years they’re still going strong, and my favorite pieces recently created by them that I use regularly are a santoku chef’s knife and a mechanical pencil (both are very comfortable to use for long periods of time). The lighters are quite cool as well.

Here are a few ads showing some of their creations from the 80’s and early 90’s. The older sunglasses in particular have a bit of a cult following and can fetch high prices through vintage dealers and ebay.

I’ll admit that I felt a bit out of the loop a year ago when I first heard of Rin Tanaka and his “My Freedamn!” book series which covered Americana elements from the 30s-70s of motorcycle, surf, hot rod, and hippie fashion scenes. It was a bit like finding out that Steve McQueen, Elvis Presley, Brian Wilson, and Jim Morrison had made a home movie documenting their road trip weekend binge in Las Vegas. When I got the call about the two-day show, I knew it wouldn’t take much coaxing to get me to trek down to that hangar in Santa Monica.

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Related: Previous post on Inspiration.

Image by Albert Thomas for Styleforum.net.

This chambray sport coat and pink gingham shirt combo is also noteworthy.

Some quotes:

Q: And where did you get the notion of Polo as an appropriate name?
A: I’ve always liked sports and athletics, and name were not important to me. I was not a guy that would wear a designer name. I wouldn’t wear Christian Dior, Bronzini, or any names of the names of that period. So I came up with my own style, which was a sport that had an aristocratic image, and that was Polo.

Q: What about the Japanese influence on fashion? Do you think that’s real, or media hype?
A: I think it’s real. You know, fashion is – that’s why I don’t like fashion – always looking for something new, something new to sell, something new to promote. I’m for anything that’s exciting, that’s interesting, that has individuality.

Q: What do you see in the future of evolution of fashion design, the nineties, the year 2000?
A: There are new technologies every day. As the new technology evolves, the clothes change, but people are still wearing warm tweeds, they wear cashmeres, they wear flannels, they wear scarves around the neck, they wear Chanel kind of shoes… People still need comfort, they need warmth, coziness, a sense of realness.

Scans from an older Lightning catalog.

Once again, models are ready to strut and designers take their bows in the latest reenactment of the emperor’s new clothes. The back story of New York Fashion Week is far more interesting: an industry in turmoil, the drastic loss of local factories and suppliers, the manufacturing dominance of China and other countries, the gradual decline of technical expertise in the face of apparent consumer indifference about fit and quality. As usual, the story goes well beyond the limited world of runway collections.

Recently, over a meal at Ben’s deli on W. 38th Street, I spoke to Cindy Ferrara, a veteran production specialist, about her job and how the work has changed. The wingspan of her career is enormous. Now manager of product development and production at Danskin, a Moret Group brand, Ms. Ferrara first came to New York in the early 70s to buy fabrics for a shirt company she started as an Iowa college student. She learned her craft from experience, seizing opportunities as they came along—Bendel’s Studio, cutting coats for a furrier. She made her first production trips to China and Korea in the early 80s, for a now-defunct silk clothing label. She then spent 11 years on the production side of Liz Claiborne, initially with its dress division. She has seen the close of one era — the garment made and sold in the Garment District — and now, she says, she is seeing the end of another — the shift of technical skill, and gradually even design and merchandising, to other countries, mainly China. Here’s an edited transcript of our conversation. I’ve kept it long because I feel what Ms. Ferrara has to say is worthwhile.

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Interestingly there is no mention of the whisky in it, and there are only a few references to other types of alcohol which only seemed to be used rarely for toasts, holidays, and cooking.

From a section where he is describing part of the cabin at Cape Royds (where the cases were found):

My room contained the bulk of our library, the chronometers, the chronometer watches, barograph, and the electric recording thermometer; there was ample room for a table and the whole made a most comfortable cabin. On the roof we stowed those of our scientific instruments which were not in use such as theodolites, spare thermometers, dip circles, &c. The gradual accumulation of weight produced a distinct sag in the roof, which sometimes seemed to threaten collapse as I sat inside, but no notice was taken and nothing happened. On the roof of the dark room we stowed all our photographic gear and our few cases of wine, which were only drawn upon on special occasions such as Mid winter Day. pg. 85

Maybe the wine above was the whisky? Earlier he also describes a situation where brandy is fed to one of the ponies named Chinaman, who had fallen in ice cold water:

Mackay started to try and get the pony Chinaman across the crack when it was only about six inches wide, but the animal suddenly took fright, reared up on his hind legs, and backing towards the edge of the floe, which had at that moment opened to a width of a few feet, fell bodily into the ice cold water. It looked as if it was all over with poor Chinaman, but Mackay hung on to the head rope, and Davis, Mawson, Michell and one of the sailors who were on the ice close by rushed to his assistance. The pony managed to get his fore feet on to the edge of the ice-floe. After great difficulty a rope sling was passed underneath him, and then by tremendous exertion he was lifted up far enough to enable him to scramble on to the ice. There he stood, wet and trembling in every limb. A few seconds later the floe closed up against the other one. It was providential that it had not done so during the time that the pony was in the water, for in that case the animal would inevitably have been squeezed to death between the two huge masses of ice. A bottle of brandy was thrown on to the ice from the ship, and half its contents were poured down Chinaman’s throat. pg. 63

Chinaman ended up being the weakest of the horses and was the first to be killed for food:

It can be imagined that the cook for the week had no easy task. His work became more difficult still when we were using ponymeat, for the meat and blood, when boiled up, made a delightful broth, while the fragments of meat sunk to the bottom of the pot. The liquor was much the better part of the dish, and no one had much relish for the little dice of tough and stringy meat, so the cook had to be very careful indeed. Poor old Chinaman was particularly tough and stringy horse. pg. 230

In those days, explorers used animals brought along as transportation and when needed, as a source of food. Shackleton describes this process in detail on pg. 168 if you’re curious.

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton

Photo by Joshua Trujillo for the Seattle PI.

I also noticed that they’ve added a few third party products, like Spring Courts and these probably-made-by-Saint-James nautical shirts.

Update: GQ.com now has pictures available of each of the looks.