It’s officially summer time.
And for the fashion conscious (or maybe just lazy) man that inevitably means shoes without socks. The problem is, whether you’re sporting leather boat shoes or canvas slip ons, shoes w/out socks can be a touch uncomfortable.
Which is where these “invisible socks” come in handy.
Came across these cool t-shirts the other day. I have to get myself one of these.
I’ve always been a big fan of typography and love seeing it used to make clean and simple shirt designs. Messages like “& then I woke up”, “7-days a week” and “easier said than done” really resonate.
Ugmonk is a young company based in Vermont. Show some support for this young designer/entrepreneur.
Epaulet is a men’s clothing store in Brooklyn run by the extremely friendly Michael and Adele. Michael used to be the buyer at SAKS. He also designs a lot of his own clothes.
Yeah, read that again.
Michael used to be the buyer for SAKS men’s department and he is waiting at Epaulet right now to answer your questions.
Michael really knows men’s clothes. Ask him about his raw denim jeans and he’ll break them down for you explaining the cut, the type of denim, where the denim is made, how it is finished, where the dye comes from, where the jeans are manufactured, who designed them, what the designer likes to do on the weekends, how his company was started, how the jeans will wear out, how much they will shrink and on and on.
Ask him about his Alden shoes and he’ll start explaining how the leather comes from this one part of a certain kind of cow and the process required to age and form the leather and how the company was started and what they’ve been doing the last few years and what they’re doing next, and what the factory smells like and how one shoemaker there is an 85 years old veteran that makes his own scotch and likes to go duck hunting on the weekends…
Ok, I made that last part up.
But, basically, Michael really, really knows what he’s talking about.
And he cares.
There’s not a lot to choose from there. The store is pretty small. But, this is a good thing. You get the feeling that every item there was carefully selected. You get the feeling that if you shop there, you’re buying quality products from authentic, perhaps relatively unknown, brands.
So, next time you’re in the market for a blazer, or a jacket, or some jeans, or some quality shoes, or pretty much anything, consider making the short trip to Brooklyn to visit Epaulet. Or, of course you can also visit their online store. It just won’t be as fun.
If you wear French cuffs, then you wear cuff links. They’re a great way to add personality to your outfit in a subtle way. Unfortunately, they can be expensive and really unique cufflinks are hard to find. At least, I thought they were hard to find – until I found all the cufflinks for sale on Etsy. I believe these are all hand made, so definitely unique. And not too expensive at all. There are many cute, vintage looking, conversation starting, quirky pieces. Stylish ones as well. Here are a few I liked:
We like to travel light. If it won’t fit in out pockets then it must not be necessary.
Unfortunately, that’s not always true.
Certain situations call for a certain sized carrying device. Something between a suitcase and a briefcase.
It could be a weekend in the Hamptons. A week in BVI. Coachella. Tuesday night with that girl you met last weekend because she’s house sitting her aunt’s mansion in Beverly Hills and she says she’s scared to be alone and wants someone to watch the bootleg copy of “Date Night” that she just downloaded with her. Burning Man. Spur of the moment Saturday morning trip to Rosarito.
Or maybe just the gym.
And backpacks will not do. Please leave the North Face and Jansport backpacks to high school students and camping. Seriously, you don’t need all those straps and hooks and loops and padding and zippers and water bottle holders. You look ridiculous.
What you need is a nice canvas duffle bag. Hip, and functional. Not too expensive either. We found some cool ones. Enjoy.
Filson Traveling Bag 349 Euros
Qwstion 150 Euros
Brothers Bray and Co Bag. $88
Kill Spencer Weekender $375
Temple Weekend Duffle Bag $324
Johnston Murphy $299
Jack Spade $495
Common Projects $475
APC Weekend Bag $240
The guys at Street Etiquette are doing cool stuff. Love the music track on this.
From the letter box:
Dear Proper Cloth,
I’ve always bought my dress shirts from Brooks Brothers, size 16-34 Slim Fit. I believe this means my collar size is 16 and my sleeve size is 34. I’m now thinking of switching to custom tailored dress shirts, so I went to a tailor to be measured. According to the tailor, my sleeve length should actually be 35.5. What gives?
Did he mess up and exaggerate the sleeve length or is this just different in some way?
Thanks,
Long Armed in Los Angeles
Dear Long Armed,
Don’t be alarmed. The proper way to measure your sleeve length is from the center of the back of the neck, over your shoulder and down to the center of the back of your hand. It’s common for this sleeve length measurement to be longer than you’re used to. Truth is, you’ve probably been wearing the wrong sleeve length your entire adult life.
Try this – next time you prop your elbows up on the mahogany conference table while contemplatively rubbing your chin and mentally preparing your response to the analyst questioning the ‘employee morale’ expenses you incurred in Greece last quarter, take a moment and note how far up your forearms the cuffs of your shirt have moved. If you’re not wearing a custom dress shirt this will probably look mildly ridiculous.
You were probably convinced that your shirts fit fine because when your arms are hanging relaxed at your sides, the cuffs come just to your wrist. It would seem that if you add another inch, they will be too long. After all, you don’t want your sleeve coming over your hand.
You’re absolutely right that you don’t want the sleeve coming up over your hand. With custom fitting shirts this doesn’t have to be the case because can specify the correct cuff size. Most off-the-rack shirts have over-sized cuffs, made to be loose on even the largest wrists. However, a proper fitting cuff will have a circumference of just 2-2.5 inches more than your wrist’s measurement (to the skin). A properly fitting cuff will not slide up your hand when your arms are at your sides. It will hold the cuff in just the right spot at the base of your hand.
Long story short, custom shirt sleeves are usually made a bit longer because they should be. And with custom, they can be.
It’s finally summer in New York, which means that the average temperature, humidity and degree of discomfort while waiting for the subway have increased dramatically. We’re also seeing the number of women wearing skirts, dresses and short shorts increase but that doesn’t really cool things down. Which brings us to a peculiar trend:
This isn’t the first summer we’ve heard about the summer-man-scarf. A (very) little research shows that the trend was spotted on celebrities in Summer 2008, but the buzz around the topic is on the rise this summer (at least according to Google).
The momentum of the trend became most obvious to us when watching the trailer for Ashton Kutcher’s new movie “Spread”. In the movie, Ashton plays the role of really-cool-guy-that-every-girl-wants-to-sleep-with. No, we’re not going to discuss how intricate the plot of the movie is, but we do want to point out that his character seems to wear a lot of summer-man-scarves. In LA. Where it’s not cold.
Now, I have a strange feeling we’re going to start to see these summer scarves everywhere, and you may find yourself asking “Are summer-man-scarves cool?”
So, let Proper Cloth break it down for you.
Summer scarves are really cool in the right situation.The first situation is that you are either David Beckham, Kanye West or Jay-Z.
The second situation is if you own your own yacht and need to protect your skin from sunburn while cruising between the British Virgin Islands.
The third situation is that you’re spending this summer in Argentina, where it’s technically winter, and are trying not to freeze in the Patagonia’s.
The fourth situation is that you’re partying in the desert at Burning Man at 3am, have several tattoos, play lead guitar in your band, and go by the name John Mayer.
The fifth situation is that the scarf around your neck is bright red, you’re in Pamplona, and you’re being chased by a bull.
If you don’t fall into one of those categories, summer scarves are not cool.
Be yourself. Stay Proper.
We recently got our hands on Esquire Magazine’s “Handbook of Style” - a cool little black book with loads of information, advice and style rules for men. We like it – and can definitely recommend it as a suplement to closely following The Proper Blog. Just remember – rules are made to be broken, so do your own thing. Here are the top ten tips the book provides (and our thoughts)
1.) Know your neck size – you should be able to fit one finger between your collar and neck when buttoned up.
Yes – without a doubt. Sleeve length is helpful to. You should know these. If you don’t, drop by Proper Cloth and we’ll take your measurements for you.
2.) A tie’s stripes should always be bolder than a shirts.
This is pretty sound advice. Of course there are exceptions to this rule though. But, if you find yourself always being the exception, then please double check if you are dressing like an idiot.
3.) It’s ok to not wear socks in summer, but only if you give your sweaty shoes a break every other day.
Ok, this one left us speechless followed quickly by WTF? I never understood the attraction of wearing sneakers without socks- but do what you want – at least until it starts smelling.
4.) An invitation saying “black-tie optional” means you can choose between a black tie (tuxedo) and a suit, but it really means black tie.
We generally disagree with this – but it depends on what sort of parties you’re going to. In business school we had several formal “black-tie optional” affairs and at all of them, it was often a minority wearing tuxedos. Depending on your age and the caliber of events you go to, there’s a good chance you don’t really need a tux – but – of course, it doesn’t hurt.
5.) Know the nuances of khaki pants – don’t roll up the cuffs to your calves like clam diggers unless you are actually digging for clams.
No comment. We don’t wear khakis, we don’t dig for clams and we don’t roll our pants up.
6.) Never put eyewear, your cell phone, an ink pen, or a bulging key chain in your pants pockets.
Hold on! Are you serious? We understand that having stuff bulging out of your pockets can be distracting and unappealing, but there’s NOTHING wrong with having your cell phone in your pocket! Those clip-on-your-belt cell phone holders are so nerdy looking.
7.) There are three proper ways to tie your shoes: straight laced, criss-cross, and over-under.
Ummm – who really cares?
8.) Your wallet is for credit cards only – cash goes in a money clip in your front pocket.
I had never heard this before – always thought that men simply had the option of money clip or wallet… turns out we need both… What’s so bad about putting cash in the wallet anyways? If you have ideas about this, please share them.
9.) The five terms your barber will understand are thinned out, layered, choppy, razored, and texturized.
Unless your barber is a man in china-town that doesn’t speak English…
10.) It is acceptable to wear your jeans five to ten times between washings – but fewer if they get visibly dirty or baggy at the knee.
Thanks for approving of our dirty secrets!
Stay Proper!
Happy New Year! Yes, we are a day late with the greeting, but post-NYE-hangover had Proper Cloth pretty much shut down yesterday. Now we’re back though! Well rested, well hydrated, and ready to take on 2009.
We’ve been thinking about making some New Years Resolutions so today we considered the popular ones, (courtesy Wikipedia). Sadly, nothing seemed to really stick. Lose weight (already skinny), get out of debt (just finished business school – impossible), get a better job (love my job), get a better education (see get out of debt), drink less alcohol (hahahahahaha), and quit smoking (never started that one)…
So, after careful consideration, we decided that our New Years Resolution for 2009 will be to dress better. It’s one of those great commitments that provides infinite room for improvement and thus zero chance of failure: We pledge to spend more time crafting our personal image and aspire to present a polished, professional image at all times. We’ll try to look good at all times – kind of like James Bond in Quantum Solace (with two exceptions though) 1.) We might not wear Tom Ford suits EVERY day and 2.) instead of battling an evil villain in Bolivia, we’ll be battling crowded subways and winter storms in New York.
So, what is the key to dressing up in 2009? We’ll try to focus on the basics:
Now, more than ever is the time to invest in a nice pair of leather shoes. These will typically cost $200-$300+, but with the discounts going on now you can find great deals. Avoid trendy but low quality shoes (Steve Madden) with rubber soles. These look nice on the shelf but wear out quickly. A good pair of shoes will last several years. A really good pair of shoes will last you over a decade. Look for leather soles and wooden heels. You can never go wrong with a nice black dress shoe from Kenneth Cole, or something of similar or superior quality. Keep a good pair of brown dress shoes in the rotation and if it fits your personality have some trendy blue leather shoes, or black combat boots as well.
If you’re going to dress up and look the part, especially if you’re in a cooler climate, you’ll need a nice jacket that fits the look. This should be a high quality dark gray or black wool or cashmere coat. It could be double breasted, a nice pea coat, or a more classic 3/4 length suit overcoat or trench coat. A nice coat like this will dress up any outfit. Your snowboarding jacket is not an appropriate cover to your suit and tie.
Don’t take this for granted. If you’re still wearing the belt you wore in High School, it’s time to upgrade. Make sure you have a couple high quality leather belts in black and brown. The general rule is that the belt should match the shoes, so pick the shade of your belts based on the shade of your shoes. When you wear slacks or khaki’s you should wear a narrower belt – probably 1″ wide. When you’re wearing jeans the belt should be wider – probably 1.25″ or more. Get this right at all times.
If you didn’t get the memo, worn out jeans with raggedy holes are not in style. And even if they were, they don’t qualify as dressing up (no matter how much you paid for them). This year, dressing up and looking good is best accomplished with a nice selection of dark colored wool slacks. Our friends up the road at Bonobos have some cool stuff as does J Crew and Banana Republic. Avoid front pleats and make sure they fit right (length, waist and ass).
Seems like people only wear ties for “special occasions” these days. Put on a tie and suddenly everyone assumes you have a job interview or something. But, there’s nothing wrong with rocking a tie every now and then. You might think this is crazy talk – but trust us. We don’t suggest styles that are out-there and truly “fashionable” or “trendy”. Wearing a tie is as classic as you can get, so show the confidence to look good in one. The good thing is that there are plenty of cool looking ties you can find at H&M, Express and Thomas Pink – and they’re probably all on sale now!
If you read this blog frequently, you knew this was coming. The real key to dressing up and looking good is the shirt. Everything else just supports this part of your outfit. So, if you want to look better in 2009 than you did in 2008, make sure you get the right dress shirt. Pay close attention to fabric quality, collar construction and especially how well the shirt fits. Go for a slightly slimmer fitting shirt than you did before. This can either be a custom tailored dress shirt made just for you or something you find off the rack that you have altered. Just focus on quality and take the time to get the fit right.
So if your goal for 2009 is to take your style up a notch, these tips should get you (and us) there. Best of luck!