HOLIDAY: The Quiet World

This has nothing to do with the Midwest. Or with style, for that matter—except that it takes a certain amount of it to write and love like this. But there's no better time to be irrational than on the day devoted to love, and this is my favorite poem about the subject of all time. So we're going for it.

The Quiet World by Jeffrey McDaniel

Oh, and @calebdann won the bow tie giveaway from Annaruna last week. Don't worry if you missed out this time; there's always next. Happy Valentines Day.

Thrifty Thursday: Coated

Whenever I make a purchase, I think about whether the item is an addition to my wardrobe as a basic (button downs, denim, tees and other layering pieces) or if it's going to be a specialty piece.

What do I mean by that?
You can buy button down shirts, trousers and denim year round, generally in the same fit, fabric or wash. You can walk into a men's store at any time and find those pieces. Great, those are your basics in your wardrobe. But each season a brand releases a new jacket or a familiar one but in a different wash or fabric.

Those are your speciality pieces. They are typically higher in price and are trend-driven or not something you'd find everyday. A jacket would be one of those pieces.

Let's talk jackets. You can never have enough jackets. But seriously.

Wait, what?
Most great outfits have three pieces to them. A top, a bottom and a jacket.

Why buy more jackets or blazers? Do my shirt and pants not do the job?
If you look at a majority of our shoots and daily outfits, you'll likely find a third piece. And that third piece is typically a jacket. A jacket pulls an outfit together with the top or bottom. It cleans it up and finishes it off. Throw a blazer in the back of your car or carry a cardigan in your bag.

And that third piece is usually more expensive because it's special and thats where the dollars start to add up. However, those dollars were not on this piece.

Nope. About four-Chipotle-burritos' worth of dolla-dolla-bills-y'all were spent on this jacket.

"The Braydon" Jacket by Comune.

It's a nice, structured-but-soft, slim-fitting jacket with high-cut arm holes, which is tough to find when it comes to getting a jacket off the rack. I sized down and got a small, but the medium fit well also. Quite a deal for a great alternative to a blazer and a different take on a denim jacket, thus making it "special."

STYLING TIP: Throw this jacket on with a pair of dark wash denim, tailored pair of khakis or do the monochromatic look. My style is generally pretty preppy, but this was too sharp and filed under "specialty" pieces that will instantly pull my look together.

It's available at:

• Need Supply in "Stone"


• Urban Outfitters in "Stone" and "Charcoal"


• Amazon.com in "Black," "Stone" and "Charcoal."


• Dogfunk in "Black," "Stone" and "Charcoal"


• ....and just Google Shopping search the damn thing, too.

File this one under: a monochromatic look, too.

On Jeff: Coated black denim jacket (sale $32, Nordstrom) by COMUNE; handmade yellow striped bow tie ($20) by Annaruna; grey pin-stripe straight leg pant ($175) by Nonnie Threads; refurbished white leather topsiders ($30, Nordstorm Rack) by Sperry; cotton grey button-down by J.Crew.

Photograpy by Bradley Siefert

Friday Wrap-up: June 10th

SNEAK PEEK AT WHAT'S TO COME:
Earlier this week, Cam and I did a photoshoot with Scout Photo (@scoutphoto) in Kansas City. Here's a snippet of what's to come in the coming weeks of some of our fresh summer looks.

Gerard (@gerard_brown), husband of Concrete Catwalk, and Cam strollin' down Brookside Boulevard in Kansas City. Photography by Nick Welch of Scout Photo.

Also, we have 776 followers on Twitter. Let's go ahead and bump that up to 800, shall we?

Moving on to our FRIDAY WRAP-UP:

We love our friends. They're doing great things. We particularly love our friends in the Midwest who are in the middle of some exciting stuff we'd like to mention:

• Jessica of What I Wore (@WhatIWore) is releasing a book in a month. You should pre-order it. I did. (Bloomington)
• Jena of The Style Tribe (@The_StyleTribe) and ChiCityFashion (@ChiCityFashion) is a finalist in a great competition that is bringing a little more love to Chicago. Check it out here and cast a vote her way. (Chicago)
• Jessie of The Concrete Catwalk (@concretecatwalk) celebrated her second year of the Concrete Catwalk and just put some fresh finds on her shop, The Spice Rack. (It's women's apparel, but I want this woven belt anyway and this hilarious sweater.) (Kansas City)
• Anna of Annaruna (@Annaruna) restocked her etsy shop of handmade bow ties. Let's make her sell out again and put up some more great patterns and prints. Give her something to do this summer, right? (Kansas City)

What about gentlemen in the Midwest, you say? Let's check in with our good friends at Baldwin Denim...

• Baldwin Denim (@BaldwinDenim) revealed a couple previews of the Baldwin Denim flagship store that is opening this Fall on the Baldwin Denim Blog. They also restocked their "Selvedge & Leather Wallet" that was featured on Selectism. It's also Made in America. Right on. (Kansas City)

Back to some more previews of next week.

Everyone loves a crotch shot, right?

Well, how about three.

But really.
What's the purpose of a crotch shot in menswear style blogging?
The purpose of a crotch shot is to show the intersection of the various patterns, textures, prints and styles colliding at a central point.
FACT: That central point is usually the crotch.

Have a crotchtastic weekend, y'all. We are.

Photography by Nick Welch of Scout Photo.

midweSTYLE: Entryway

Since moving to Chicago, I've been fortunate to meet passionate people. I love meeting folks who are going after what makes them tick. It's a beautiful thing to meet someone who loves what they do and attacks it relentlessly. I've met a few of these types already—take roommates Drew and Anthony. Drew is a hairstylist and Anthony is a photographer. Here's how we met:

When I was jet-setting to Chicago for interviews in the tail end of what we all thought was winter in March, I bumped into Drew at a Thursday-night event that bridged our interests. His style was a little West coast, relaxed but put together, but the dude is from Wisconsin. We starting chatting about why he was wearing slim-fit, white rolled denim and why he is in Chicago. I asked him what he liked to do and he replied, "I cut hair and you need a hair cut."

Cool, I thought. I've got my guy to cut my hair. It's a thing that many don't have these days: "their guy" at the barber shop, at the menswear store, at the tailor, at the local restaurant. Their guy. Your guy who helps you out when you need the latest or a fixing. He knows enough about your life to ask how your family's doing. How work's going. What you thought about that thing that happened on the Blue Line the other day. I just moved here, and I've officially secured another year of not having to step into a professional salon. Glory, glory, glory. I can pay AND tip the hairstylist in booze, meals and bargains. Relief.

---

A month later when I moved to Chicago, I show up to Drew's apartment and met Anthony while I was getting my hair cut. I told Drew to do whatever he thought would work best. (It's hair. It'll grow.) Anthony is a rad man from Pennsylvania who has got a serious case of trigger finger. Dude's got the camera glued to his face, and when you get a chance to see his face past the scruff, he has a smile that stretches from ear to ear an reveals an enthusiasm to know you and your passion.

Anthony took some time off between shooting medical hip replacement surgeries and New York weddings to hang out with Seth and I. We got a little work done...

FAVORITE PART OF THE LOOK: Clashing patterns and prints. If these socks had parents, Mortia Adams and Beetlejuice would be a notch above in the family tree. Kind of a dark and quirky feel much like the set in Anthony and Drew's old apartment entryway. Mix these with a preppy and spring-madras bow tie, and it somehow works. Or maybe it doesn't. Give it a shot.

Straight-leg "Mushroom" stretch chino ($175) by Nonnie Threads, small; brushed cotton navy button-down (900 Shops in Chicago, sale $30) by J.Crew, extra-small; spring-madras bow tie (Etsy, $20) by AnnaRuna; brown leather belt with brass hardware by J.Crew, size 32; black-and-green striped socks (sale $2.99) by J.Crew, one size; brown leather wingtips (Nordstrom Rack in Chicago, sale $40, reg. $140) by Florsheim, wool scarf (thrifted at Urban Mining in Kansas City, $8) by Pendleton; unzippered green canvas tote (eBay sale $50, reg. $90) by Filson.

Photography by Anthony Barlich.

BOW TIE GIVEAWAY from AnnaRuna

We've been rocking bow ties lately to add some personality and character to our looks. (Hell, we've been doing that with accessories, bags, tie bars and other quirky pieces, too.) Something subtle or something with a statement—that's the key to finishing off an outfit. A bow tie is one such touch. Our Midwestern lady friend understands this and wants to help fellow gents (or ladies).

Shirting by Apolis Activism, cardigan by J.Crew and madras bow tie by AnnaRuna.

Her name is Anna, and she's going to be a senior at Mizzou this coming fall. She and Cam and I grew up cannon-balling at the Willow Farms swimming pool, eating copious amounts of salsa deckside at the Hastings house and shooting off fireworks in the suburbs in front of the Flemings curbside detonation zone each Fourth of July. She's talented, sweet, tall/Icelandic and Midwestern. (Did we mention beautiful? If not, beautiful.) She makes bow ties and neck ties. She's not an East Campus dweller (yet) but she's a frequent dance party fiend at the 516 boys' house.

So here's the situation: We want to give you one of Anna's bow ties from her Etsy shop: AnnaRuna. Here's how you can snag something fancy for your neck...

Simply:

1. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and/or Tumblr if haven't already. Don't forget to tell us which one(s) you chose.
2. Tell us who in your life needs a bow tie and why. If it's you, that's cool. If it's your brother, great. If you're a lady and want to rock some camo steeze with your chambray button down and floral skirt, that's cool too, Cary.

We'll pick randomly, (but really whichever one is the wittiest and makes us laugh the most). The giveaway will close on FRIDAY at 5 p.m. We'll announce the winner on Saturday via Twitter and a small blog post. Sounds simple, I know.

Pick one, any one. We'll send it to you.