Valentine's Giveaway: Annaruna Bow Ties

Just in time for next week, we partnered up with the lovely Annaruna to do a giveaway

No, it's not a date with Anna. You wish.

You missed your chance, because she's taken by a mountaineering, slack-lining, has bigger-pecs-than-you, Kansas City boy. You're a dog, Chris. A dawg, I tell ya.

Look at these handmade beauties. I can't believe these three above don't have homes.

If you want one so bad, just buy it before another sucker wins it for free on the giveaway.

Cool, we'll announce it on one of our social media mediums on who gets the goods.

Comment, tweet or send a howler with your one-liners.

Friday Mop Up: Missing Jeff

It's that time. And because I'm so distraught that Jeff has left the country, I can hardly bring myself to create anything original. So we'll use this time to survey the goings on of the 'Net this week.

Oh, and we realized something today. We've been at this menswear thing for just over year. Our first post went up on Jan. 27, 2011. But that's the way we prefer it: not too much fanfare, and we'll just keep doing that thing we do. But thanks for sticking with us for the past 372 days. It's been wild.

Here's our fourth and final post for Details Magazine:

For Mom—or more aptly The Commodore, considering the tight ship she kept—handwritten notes were a sacred art. After each birthday or Christmas present, a forced marathon of grateful notecards was guaranteed.

It's an art that's nearly lost. These are the days of email. The days of emoticons, text-speak and unfinished drafts. The days of flitting between open computer windows because something might have happened on Twitter in the 45 seconds you were thinking of what to say next. 

Done well, a handwritten note trumps everything else. It's a deep breath—a pause from the daily free-for-all—and it carries an inherent thoughtfulness and permanence text messages and emails will never have.

I caught up with Ted Harrington, of Terrapin Prints, to get his suggestions for picking out the right stationery. Check it all out at Details. 

Oh, and here's a bonus: some recommended reading. Completely unrelated to style, but definitely related to humanity:

New York City's cops and robbers as captured by...an NYC cop. Seriously. Check it out. (via the New York Times' Lens blog)

That's all. We endorse keeping it brief.

midweSTYLE: Building A Still (To Slow Down The Time)

Last week we debuted the photography of our guy Grant Heinlein, who was in home-sweet-Kansas-City for the holidays. He led Cam and Jeff out into the woods and then shot them. But thankfully it was with a camera.

Since Jeff skipped the country on a whim last week—he's somewhere between a pack of Parisian cigarettes and the Louvre right now—I (Seth) have had to hijack his byline. He's obviously lying low until the heat dies down, and consequently didn't have time to leave much in the way of an explanation for this series. So, we'll let the photos do the talking.

Without further adieu: Cam, ladies and gentlemen. Ask him where he got that watch.

Photos by Grant Heinlein.

midweSTYLE: West Bottoms, two.

Cam made several great points about thrifting: If you're an avid thrifter, you often time buy something because it's so cheap and it may fit a little sloppy. You know, you slip it on and think of all the ways you could make it perfect but never end up doing it. Even though that $2 blazer almost fit correctly, you still needed to let out the sleeve and take in the waist, but it just sits in your closet. The whole tailoring thing for me, well....I would rather save the time and money when I can and just spend a little more. 

Plus, does anybody have a great tailor? Let us know if you do (anywhere in the Midwest, but especially in KC or Chicagoland.) We'd love to publish a list on the site. We've been receiving a handful of inquiries lately, and we've been slacking on that front.

Furthermore, my two recent purchases were a little impromptu but definitely filled a void in my closet, especially my winter essentials. I needed a tweed blazer and a pair of thick pants for the Chicago winter.

So, while picking up some last minute gifts for my sisters and mother down on the Plaza in Kansas City, I strolled into Standard Style wearing my J.Brand cargo pants and walked out wearing the duck canvas "Reed" pant by Baldwin Denim. Yeah, it happened. I was that guy that wore the clothing out of the store because I loved it so much. So warm and substantial for this not-so-nauseatingly cold Chicago winter we're having that I don't even need to throw on my retired running tights on underneath.

 

And then if the stars align and your step has that pep, you walk into Barney's on day when a sale is happening. My guy at Barney's helped me find exactly what I was looking for that day. "I need a tweed blazer, and I'm don't want to get it it tailored."

Shout out to Riley at Barney's on Rush Street in Chicago for being a boss and knowing what I needed: Harris tweed, two-button, dope fabrication and phenomenal fit. And it was on sale.

Whammy.
Sold.

Extra credit: It was A.P.C., one of my favorite labels. Size small, any season, any pant or shirt, fits like a glove. Gotta love that consistency between seasons with the label. You're a genius and fascinating, Jean Touitou. (See also: WSJ interview, Jean's Rules of Style from Details, Interview Magazine.)

On Jeff: Two-button "Harris Tweed" blazer (Barney's, sale $260 reg. $580) by A.P.C.,; denim shirt (thrifted, $2); Timex weekender watch (Amazon, $20) with colored strap ($10) from J.Crew; the duck canvas "Reed" pant ($158) by Baldwin Denim; chocolate suede "8878" boots by Red Wing; skinny Giles & Brother railroad spike cuff ($50); sterling silver southwest inspired bracelet; deadstock copper bracelet that looks like a Cartier that girls keep on trying to steal from me but I say, "Hell nah, shawty;" black-framed glasses by Gant Rugger.

Shout out to our homeboy, Grant Heinlein, for goofing off with us for a day in Kansas City, photographing us jerks and enjoying some badass BBQ later in the day.

midweSTYLE: West Bottoms

Every now and again, I'll do a round of thrifting in my home neighborhood in Kansas City. If I've recently gotten a paycheck, I get a little chance-y and pick up pieces that I know I'll probably never wear. Some of them are ill-fitting, others are just ridiculous, and more than not, they end up in my closet unworn. If you thrift with any regularity, you've been there. You know that feeling. You don't need it, and you don't really even want it that badly, but you grab it just in case. After all, it only costs ¢50 or a few bucks. If worse comes to worst, it would make for a good Halloween costume at some point in the future. 

Anyway, that was the story behind this blazer, initially. I didn't have a go-to blue blazer at the time, so I bought it, even though it didn't really fit. The shoulders framed me well enough and the chest wasn't bad, but it had a huge waist measurement. The gentleman that owned it before definitely had a belly. Seriously, Santa Claus status. Regardless, I bought it for a staggering $4.50. A navy blue, American-made, hopsack blazer for under $5? Sure.

After a few lonely months in the closet, I finally took it to get tailored. Tailoring thrifted clothing sounds and feels a little unnatural. Taking something that you bought dirt cheap and investing another $25 to $75 seems wrong at first. But, if the piece is of high enough quality, the investment is well worth the fit and wearability that comes with tailored clothing. I've gotten a jacket or two fitted, some legs of old trousers tapered, waists taken in. It can turn a forgotten thrift store purchase into one of your wardrobe favorites. In this case, the arms ride up a bit, making them appear a little shorter, but hey, it's perfect everywhere else.

Clarks, beat to death.

On Cameron: hopsack blazer, thrifted ($4.50), tailored for $45; patchwork button-down (eBay) by Gitman Vintage; cream sweatshirt (sale, $80 at the Baldwin Men's Shop) by Todd Snyder; the Henley in California wash, (sale at the Baldwin Men's Shop $116, reg. $232), by Baldwin Denim; beeswax desert boots (gift) by Clarks; WWII-era Russian watch (Etsy, $30) by Vostok; leather wrap (gift) by Tanner Goods; recycled cotton socks (Christmas gift purchased from Hickoree's), by Solmate Socks.

Photography by the one and only Grant Heinlein, check him out!