This Can't Be Good

Though the recession has brought some interesting trends and price corrections, not all is well. Apparently the idea that coffee is a beverage made from water infused with roasted, freshly ground coffee beans through either the drip or press process has receded below the line of good taste. Starbucks has announced Via, a new instant coffee that it insists is "just as good" as its store coffee. Perhaps this is true, given that Starbucks coffee is really not very good, but this could launch a disturbing trend of insisting that cheap and fast is good. This is all part of Howard Schultz's plan to save the $4 coffee vendor from the recession. Frankly, I'm never in so much of a hurry that I'll go in for Insta-Bucks. Folks, Starbucks has been destroying the world's taste for good coffee for years. Now, having beaten the planet into caffeine-addled submission, they're going for the killing blow. Duck.

Note to DVF: Rich Hippies Suck

I just finished watching the highlights from Diane von Furstenburg's Fashion Week show. Blah. The whole line desperately harkens back to the Summer of Love, and I can't imagine anyone except retired former hippies wearing it. In the interview she demonstrates how fully she has failed to grasp the zeitgeist of the post-credit-crunch world when she talks about her whole line being about "freedom, the freedom to mix a big bag with an evening gown." Society is in a state of hangover after a huge bender. Carrying ostentatious DVF shoulder bags with this nonsense is like curing your hangover with a wake-and-bake. It might feel good, but don't plan to be taken seriously... by anyone. The worst part is that I envision this line being worn mostly by people who liked this crap when it was first popular (i.e. people as old as Diane von Furstenburg herself). I just hope they don't try to bring back "free love" with it.

Let's Get Depressed

Fashion Week has come and gone, and it's looking "depressing." Mark Jacobs new line is loaded with bias-cut dresses evocative of '20's and '30's couture. The styles range from seemingly Orientalist-inspired fabrics and designs to this faux-dowdy Depression-era style worn by Jamie Bochert. Jacobs is all about little, round hats this year, very '30's. And, though his fabrics are all fabulous, there's a great deal to evoke the home-made clothes of the Depression both in the fabrics themselves and the design.

The New York Post recently ran photos of a leggy NYC fashonista in paper boy inspired regalia: baggy, high-waisted pants, a boyish, collared blouse, a tight-fitting vest, and a tweed ivy cap.





All-in-all, people are at least looking to the Depression for inspiration, if not totally flocking back to it. I've been attached to these styles for years. I keep one high-waisted, 3-piece suit that belonged to my grandfather to wear on occasion, and I regularly sport a tweed ivy cap. I'm quite happy to see the waistcoat make a big comeback, inspired, no doubt, by both the recession and the success of Mad Men.






William Rast (Justin Timberlake and Trace Ayala) made a fascinating debut. I've never been a big fan of Timberlake, but I like his clothing label. He and I are the same age and grew up in the same small town near Memphis, and I have vague memories of a young Trace Ayala, but the similarity probably ends there. They went west, and I went east.

As much as I don't like West Coast style sensibilities, William Rast does something very un-California and successfully invokes the barbeque-laden town where we all three grew up. The northern part of Shelby County (Memphis metro area) was quite rural when we were young, and it's laden with a "white-trash" element.
Back then there was a Naval Air Base that gave the town a low-down military feel and skanky character.
William Rast takes hold of that dirtiness and twists it into something brilliant. In the brown jacket and waistcoat (above-left), Johan Lindeberg (the designer) has really grasped something from the antiquated Southern style that I love so much. This stuff is part gentleman part trailer-trash, and it works so very, very well. In an interview at his President's Day show, JT referred to this stuff as stylistically part of what he called a "new leadership... new era... new culture... a new America." Like most things New and American, this draws on much older ideas, but unlike most things New and American, William Rast draws on those things most quintessentially American and Southern and elevates them.

And the NY Times Gets It!

The recession is on, and that means that we don't care about the hot new pinot that will send us into bankruptcy.


The Times, which has been teetering on "getting it" for months, finally wrote on obscure Italian varietals under $20. I've been touting most of these grapes and regions (if not always these specific wines) since moving back stateside from Italy in 2002. I lived near Soave and Valpolicella, and I drank good whites and reds from those regions nearly every day. The article might slightly overstate the brilliance of some of these wines, (Soave is not Chablis, unless we're talking about extremely good Soave and négociant, village Chablis.) but it does not overstate the fact that these wines are great values.

If you can't find these in your town, don't gamble on Italians too much. There's a lot of bad Italian wine out there. Ask around, or find a decent Italian restaurant with a big by-the-glass selection. If you comment here, I'll probably be able to find something that you can get your hands on.

Geithner's Fashion Sense

MagnificentBastard.com recently posted this comment about Timothy Geithner's choice to wear a four-in-hand knot with a spread collar.

I can't say that I find that to be the worst thing about this picture. Geithner really shouldn't go for the "artfully disheveled" look at all. The four-in-hand can go nicely with a spread collar, if the knot is wrapped enough times to make it fill up some space, but it looks a little devil-may-care for a man trying to project an image of obsessive-compulsive meticulousness.

In this image, Tim's hair, tie, and tax records all imply a sort of artful disheveledness that one wants in their drinking buddy, not the guy who handles the money (all of the money).

+ Charles Tyrwhitt, - Thomas Pink

My recent trip to NYC (a city I love and detest in equal portions) hardly gave me any time for shopping, but the friendly maître d' at a well-known French restaurant tipped me off to a men's clothier with whom I was previously unfamiliar. Charles Tyrwhitt is a Jermyn Street shirt seller a la Thomas Pink. It differs in that CT is a bit more conservative (read: They don't sell socks with pink, winged skulls or hideous orange anything.) and a lot less pricey (read: They don't try to charge you $30 for socks with pink, winged skulls.).


I've been a longtime fan of Pink. Some of their fabrics do an excellent job of blending classic with trendy. That said, in the past couple of years they've become increasingly bizarre. Their staples are still staples, but most of those staples can be custom made for less money. My trip to their NYC store on 6th at 44th was simply bizarre. In an economy spiralling downward (and in a city loaded with sales), Pink's sales reps insisted that everything was going well. The prices reflected the reality of the middle of the decade, not now. Where their style then had been to focus on a sort of flashy Britishness, now they were hawking garish oddities. The winged skull pattern was on everything. I purchased what must have been the most conservative red tie in the store (a replacement for a staple tie). While browsing briefly at socks the shopgirl insisted that the perfect accent to my red and burgundy striped tie would be a pair of pink socks with the flying monstrosity logoed on the sides. It was just a pathetic attempt to sell anything. I felt as though I was in some sort of ultra-luxe Hot Topic. That's two bad Pink experiences in as many months.

By contrast Charles Tyrwhitt (which only has stores in London and NYC, but does a brisk mail order business) was fabulous. They were having an end-of-season sale that made my eyes bulge. I rarely buy non-custom shirts anymore, but for $29 (down from $100+) I bothered to grab a couple. They don't do custom in-store tailoring on shirts, but for the price I didn't mind. The place was filled with outstanding ties, quality shoes, suits, topcoats, formal attire, etc. Genuinely, it would be an excellent place to put together a "my first wardrobe" from white-tie to casual. It was like Jos. A. Bank's clever English cousin. The women's section was small, but nice. Mrs. SG was rather pleased with her prizes, which I wouldn't have been able to manage except for the phenomenal staff. A wonderful sales rep helped me pick out sizes and styles for her. The staff took lots of time and made sure everything was perfect, and I really appreciated that when everything turned out to fit Mrs. SG perfectly.

So, Charles Tyrwhitt replaces Thomas Pink for anything basic, and I won't be wanting anything unique from Pink until those little skulls fly away forever.

What Not to Wear

This is among the best lists of toolbag attire I've ever seen.

I'm especially fond of avoiding Crocs and, well, any of this other shit. Please, though, unless you're Bruce Campbell, you cannot pull off a Tommy Bahama shirt.

Bluetool

Congratulations to Details for cleverly coining "Bluetool."

n. A person who wears a Bluetooth earpiece at any time other than while driving.
Provenance: Annoyed pedestrians
Usage: "The bluetool behind me on the sidewalk was telling the loudest story about who he hooked up with the night before."

This ranks with "Prostitot" (a semi-pubescent or younger girl dressed for a frat party) for best hybrid perjoratives.