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.

Valentine's Day Gift Guide: 14 under $40

We asked our favorite ladies what they wanted for Valentine's Day. 

We trust 'em, they've got great taste and so kindly responded to our desperate tweets.
These ladies are intelligent, talented, quirky, strong-willed, go-getters and all-around-badass women.

The trick to good gift giving is all about picking up on cues. In fact, it's not a bad idea to keep a running list of gift ideas when you hear her mention something that catches her eye. If your lady's is like our ladies, these suggestions might help you save that day next week with a last-minute gift.

• Shani will snuggle up with the West Wing. She had the absolute best advice for V-day gift giving: "anything that can be shared." Here's hoping that Josh/Donna and CJ/Danny finally found love after their stints in the White House.
• Emma wants to be written little love notes. Message in a bottle, friends.
• Sara will take sonnets, prose and all that romantic jazz. 
• Emily goes global with her sweet greeting cards. Rifle Paper Co. can do no wrong!
• Jena would love some delectable dark chocolates.
• Lisa's loves unite with prints, Etsy and coffee. Cutest eskimo, ever.
• Kate wants ampersand jewelry from Etsy. 
• Sara will take a pink ring. You nerdy nerd, you.
• Nicole will brush up on pop commentary with a subscription to the New Yorker. 
• Alison's shooting for knot nesting rings.
• Emma A. will play you a tune or two with a harmonica. 
• Mallory, well, she swears this is the greatest album. Favorite tracks, please?
• Cary will muse with a symposium of sorts. Good luck at your race this weekend!
• Finally, Amy just wants a home-cooked meal. You can do that under $40, right?

Ladies, thanks a million. Y'all are amazing.
Gentlemen, good luck.

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.