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Victim has begun to update its website with items from their fall/winter 2010 collection. Highlights are the worker jackets, the club collar workshirts, and aviator pants. More pieces will show up over the next couple of months to round out the selection.
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The newly resurrected Menswear magazine has an interview with Frank Muytjens. Here are some excerpts, questions by Jean E. Palmieri:
How do you come up with novelty, given the inherent limits of men’s wear?
Men’s wear is almost like a framework. All the shapes are there and you can tweak them, but you have to keep it understandable. You want a guy to recognize it. There are only so elements you can play with. That’s a challenge, but it’s also what I find interesting.Which artists inspire you?
Many. [Constantin] Brancusi, Fairfield Porter – he’s a great American painter. The Belgian architect Vincent Van Duysen – I love his clean lines. The photography of Irving Penn… I also look at nature. I love the California coast – Big Sur, Muir Woods. I’ve always been a bit of an outdoorsy guy, and that translates well [in my designs]. Nothing is too precious or too elegant – there should always be a tougher, masculine edge to it.Who are your style icons?
They’re all dead, but I love Montgomery Clift and how he dressed, Jacques Cousteau’s striped Ts, The Clash, and Brancusi – he had great style. With people like this, it seemed more genuine, less thought out. There were no hair and makeup people. It’s hard to see personal style anymore.What’s up next?
For fall, we have Crescent Down Works and Russell Moccasins. [Russell’s] factory is about as big as this room, and their process has been in place for such a long time now. It makes me appreciate the craftmanship even more because you know what’s behind it.
On a side note, the first issue of Menswear is pretty decent and has some interesting profiles on several different designers and companies along with current industry trends – pick it up at your local Barnes & Noble. I know I’ve spent six dollars on worse things.
Related post: Frank Muytjens in Free & Easy
An old video on midcentury design in America – many icons from Eames, Saarinen, and Mies van der Rohe have cameos (among others). Via BoingBoing.
Some things from last week that you might have missed if you’re not following me on twitter:
– Shorpy has put together a fun gallery of digitally colorized black and white photos. Pictured above, Birth of the American Flag – and the original version.
– Legion, Coggles, Blackbird, Mohawk, and Stuart & Wright have started their seasonal sales.
– End Clothing has posted some pictures from their Pitti buying trip. Includes some peeks at next year’s collections from Engineered Garments, Yuketen, Nigel Cabourn, and more.
– From the NYTimes, there’s a good profile on the man behind Best Made Co. and an opinion piece on the wimp effect in men’s fashion.
– Billy Reid needs a new pair of shoes.
Some older looks from nepenthes.co.jp. They changed the format of this section recently, and it’s not as good as it used to be.
The most versatile of summer patterns? From Men’s Ex:
In case you hadn’t already seen it, Ivy Style posted a short interview today with Jason Lazar, an executive for Harbor Footwear (the company that holds the G.H. Bass & Company license).
This particular section struck me the most:
IS: What about quality? Longtime Weejun wearers are quick to note a steady decline over the past couple of decades.
JL: The Weejun of today is by far the best quality shoe in the marketplace priced under $100. It is a true-moc construction and handsewn on the last. Many consumers may think that the quality has declined over the years due to the fact that the Weejuns are no longer made in the USA, but all materials and workmanship are consistent with the Weejun made years ago.
For argument’s sake, here’s a good refresher: Bass Weejuns vs J.M. Weston Loafers
Now I’m not old enough to know what Weejuns in the 1960’s were like quality wise, but I do know that Weejuns today just look and feel cheap. It probably is true that the construction has remained the same – a moccasin is a moccasin. However, you can tell just by picking up a pair at a store that something is not right; the leather is shiny and plastic like, the insoles may or may not be held in place, and sometimes they even emanate an odd chemical odor (which is most likely a byproduct of the manufacturing process).
No matter how much they spend on ads, Harbor Footwear will be unable to change the perception of how consumers think about their shoes. Problems with this: one, the shoes have no heart and soul, and a marketing campaign full of happy hipsters walking around Williamsburg while wearing Weejuns is not going to help. Two, people will not forget history. And three, unlike American made shoes they can’t educate customers on how or where they’re made – in this case it could be some random factory in the middle of China with cheap leather sourced from a random tannery in India (many of which are places you would never want to visit). We’ll never know who made them, but then again maybe Harbor Footwear doesn’t even care about all of this.
I do know that with all of the other made in the USA options on the market, I will never buy an imported pair of Bass Weejuns.
Pictured, an old Cable Car Clothiers ad from when Weejuns were still made in Maine.
J.Crew has finally put up some high-res images from their lookbook for fall. It looks like you can pre-order these items, and I would guess that their seasonal rollout will start getting to stores later this month.
See previously: J.Crew Fall/Winter 2010 Presentation. Secret Forts had some extra scans up as well.
Also new is a video from the presentation where they highlight a jacket made from blue tweed – an unusual fabric today that was more common decades ago (it’s easy to find vintage J.Press jackets made with it in fact, along with other unusual patterns).
And in other J.Crew news:
– it was announced today in WWD that J.Crew will be working with Imogene + Willie, a high-end line based out of Nashville. Read more on imogeneandwillie.blogspot.com.
– browsing their website today, you might notice that J.Crew has added a new chat feature where you can talk with sales specialists – this is a great idea and will be very convenient to get answers right away instead of having to call. Look for the “chat now” button on the top right corner of the page to see if someone is available.
More companies should take advantage of these types of technologies if they have the resources and staffing available to do so.