Mister Crew

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Back to the Basics

Embarrassingly, my formal shoe selection has been lacking for some time, so I took advantage of Brooks Brothers’ latest Friends and Family promotion to pick up a new pair that would be more appropriate to be worn with suits. I went intending to find plain Peal and Co. captoes, but came back with some featuring medallions instead. Close enough I think.

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Some of the recent models that they’ve been selling under their Peal and Co. brand have slightly chiseled toe shapes, not too unlike Alden’s Plaza last. It is a good middle ground between a classic round toe and the longer pointed shapes like the Crockett & Jones 337 last.

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Peal and Co. exists only by name today – facing hard times in the mid 1960’s, the then owners of the company closed the factory and sold the brand to Brooks Brothers, who have held onto it ever since. The shoes are still made in England, but are contracted out to various firms around Northampton.

Brooks Brothers Peal and Co History
Related Post: Generations of Style, Revisited

Twitter and PR for Brands, Engaging Customers

A recent piece in the WSJ profiled the use of Twitter by several companies in the fashion world, that I think highlights a transformation in customer/business relationships:

Ms. Bearman is one of several executives who tweet on behalf of luxury fashion brands, masking their marketing in a Carrie-Bradshaw-esque life-stream. Dozens of labels now have a presence on Twitter, the benefits of which are seen most clearly during New York Fashion Week. Tweets come fast and furious during the shows, providing designers with instantaneous feedback from attendees and giving the events a much bigger marketing stage, albeit a virtual one.

When starting a new company or store, opening accounts on Twitter/Facebook/etc should be on the top of the to-do list.

New Yuketen Boots

Opening Ceremony has some new Yuketen boots available online. The ranger boots with the strap above the vamp remind me of older moc boots, particularly those made by Eastland before they closed down their U.S. manufacturing operations.

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A selection of Monitaly pieces are available as well.

Engineered Garments FW10 Leather Jackets

Pictures of the new leather jackets in the Engineered Garments Fall/Winter 2010 collection have finally started to show up on the web. Outside of Barneys and the Nepenthes NYC store, I don’t think any stockists in the U.S. picked these up. Images from Dice & Dice, Starling, and Nepenthes.

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eg_fw10_leather_02 Read more

Twitter Roundup

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Some things that you might have missed if you’re not following me on twitter:

– Have you heard of Grahame Fowler? Take a look inside his store in NYC. Earlier coverage on The Trad.

– Monocle has a great article in this month’s issue on the business and ethics of the “Made In” labels. (subscription required)

– There is a restock of trousers for fall/winter at Howard Yount, many are already selling out fast.

– Noteworthy blogs to follow: Riveted and welldressed.

– Here’s another Ivy Look interview, in both French and English.

– Slashstroke Magazine makes a visit Nigel Cabourn. Also, did you know his Army Gym flagship store in Japan has a blog?

– French comics: wall art, and a blog all about Tintin.

Review: J.Crew’s Wool-Jersey Roll Necks

I ordered one of these not long after they went on sale online, hoping that it would be decent enough for a budget roll neck to layer with for the season. The fit is the same as their other sweaters, but the wool-jersey blend that they’re using for this is pretty uncomfortable, and not even in a regular lambswool kind of way.

My recommendation: don’t buy, and splurge on something nicer instead.

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Local Delicacies

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Ballard Honey is locally produced under unique arrangements: because the city limits the number of bee hives that a person can keep on a single lot, the Ballard Bee Company finds neighbors who are willing to host them in their backyards (or in the case of the Bastille restaurant, their rooftops). It is very clean tasting honey, and comes in a jar with an awesome label. Read more about it on Seattlest.

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Made by a local food truck crew, bacon jam is a delicious concoction of meat and is also a great conversation starter. What is it, exactly?

we take a big bunch of really really good bacon, and render it down…add a bunch of spices..onions, etc..and let it simmer for about 6 hours…give it a quick puree, blast chill it…and you have bacon jam…

New jars are now labeled as “bacon spread” – it turns out that in order for these guys to sell it in stores, they cannot use the word “jam” to describe it (by law and in the eyes of the FDA, jam is very specific). Read more about bacon jam in T-Magazine.

Bring Your Books

Engineered Garments Mountain Parka
A Nepenthes look, circa Fall 2007.

My Rugged 211

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My Rugged 211 is a new book out in Japan by Minoru Onozato, the chief editor of Free & Easy, and it is essentially a visual reference guide to about 200 pieces of “rugged” clothing and gear from his own collection. Examples include well worn boots, some obscure military jackets, and a selection of surprising designer pieces sprinkled in. The two bonuses of the book: the photography is well done and Onozato focuses in on the details that make the items great, and that the text is published in both Japanese and English.

Is it a must buy? If you’re a vintage enthusiast, it would be a nice addition to your bookshelf, but for more regular folks I think the money spent on the book (it costs roughly $60-65 USD) would be better used on a few issues of Free & Easy instead, many of which will show some of the same pieces shown in the book.

If you’re curious on the format, several Japanese blogs have more pictures:
http://www.bhs-nyc.com/news/2010/09/my-rugged-211.php
http://blog.sweetroad.com/2010/09/my_rugged_211.html
http://ameblo.jp/ware-house/entry-10652465891.html
http://shop.plaza.rakuten.co.jp/vintage-works/diary/detail/201009170000/

Where to find it: contact your local Kinokuniya bookstore.

Reviews for The Ivy Look

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A new book called The Ivy Look was recently published over in Europe and reviews are starting to show up on the web.

From the Trad:

JP Gaul and Graham Marsh have make it their own again and this time they’re inviting everyone. The Ivy Look, like Take Ivy, is an appreciation of what many of us take for granted. Weejuns, button downs, khakis, Jazz, Horween cordovan. And unlike True Prep or the Official Preppy Handbook, the aesthetic here is a quiet whisper of traditional. What is best described as invisible but with style points for those in the know.

From modculture.co.uk:

Now I’m pretty sure both Mr Marsh and Mr Gall aren’t averse to talking about the appropriate rise of trousers, the hang of a jacket or the width of a lapel. The former has been a devotee of the look since mixing with stylish American illustrators in the early 60s, the latter a refugee from the 80s mod scene, inspired by Blue Note sleeves, vintage Esquire and the knowledge of Mr John Simons, a man who has kept ivy’s torch burning for the best part of 50 years. But they’re no fools either. As evangelists for the look, the pair have reined in the desire to preach to the converted, instead producing a fascinating introductory guide to the look, its history and its influence throughout the years and around the world.

From the Independent:

In the book there are numerous examples of how the Ivy look is best done. It’s Miles Davis in a green Oxford cloth button-down shirt on the cover of his 1958 album Milestones. It’s Steve McQueen in a pair of brown-suede crepe-soled boots in the 1968 film Bullitt. And it’s Paul Newman in 1956, displaying effortless Ivy style simply by virtue of his khaki trouser/corduroy jacket combination.

Also be sure to check out TinTin’s interview with the men behind the book (source of the image above). If you would like a copy you’ll have to go through a European bookseller for now.

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