Author Archives: Jasper Lipton

About Jasper Lipton

Jasper likes indigo, flight jackets, and boots - but he likes his dogs even more. He dreams of buried cities and the spaces between the stars.

The Pittilogues: Pitti Uomo 91, Day 1

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Since I flew to Florence from Denver, there was of course a Weed Bro on the plane who had Everything Figured Out. I was banished to the window seat (Lufthansa having somehow ruined my seating reservations), and therefore couldn’t escape from the lecture he gave the young german man sitting in the aisle. Car people just don’t know business, he’s told us, which is why he’s managed to disrupt the entire hail damage repair industry. He wanted to know what everyone did for work, and I was tempted to tell him that I was an ostrich wrangler.

Somehow it seemed like a fittingly absurd conversation to overhear on my way to Pitti 91, where there is an equal amount of absolute certainty about the rules of the fashion system with no demonstration that any of it is even real. My arrival in Italy was punctuated by a 10 hour layover in Frankfurt, which I spent wandering the Innenstadt and people-watching. I watched, for example, a couple flirting at the bar where I ate a truly humongous schnitzel. The boy was wearing cowboy boots with jeans tucked in. The girl was very, very drunk.

Listening to them flirt was fascinating. I took my time over a beer, wondering why we, as a people, seem to only be fascinated by the process of falling in love, and not what comes after. I’m thinking of this in part because of the incredibly trashy YA fantasy romance novels I spend every plane ride reading, but why do we lose interest once the “ILU’s” are traded? Why do we skip from puppy love to heartwarming wrinkled people, with no appreciation in between?

It’s maybe not the greatest metaphor, but I’m going to extend it to fashion anyway. We’re obsessed with the anticipation of what’s next, with the climactic experience of the purchase, and then – well, how many of us have lusted after a piece of clothing only for it to fade to obscurity once it’s in our wardrobe? Arianna, who is at Pitti with me, tells me that something about living in the US just makes her want to buy, buy, buy. And Pitti is very calculated to make you want to buy buy buy, as well – because I can walk into the Monitaly booth and say “I want to wear this head to toe,” then walk next door to De Bonne Facture and say the exact same thing.

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Some quick snaps of De Bonne Facture at Pitti Uomo 91

This was a train of thought that continued to chug along through the haze of jet lag when I arrived at the airport for my flight to Florence – because I had forgotten how easy it is to spot the Pitti-goers, double-breasted and bearded just as they were the last time I made this trek; playing the game even at ten thirty PM in an airport.

It’s a bit awkward to realize that you recognize most of what everyone is wearing. There’s a Gray knit blazer. There’s an LBM casentino overcoat. An East Harbor Surplus down vest. Stone Island. Adidas.  I wonder what the tarmac workers think of us as we climb the ladders to the aircraft, our strange parade of coats-draped over-trousers and bellicose lapels cutting a fine figure through the Frankfurt fog. And once arrived, we descend en masse in equal majesty; a riot of sparkly skull rings and undercuts and white sneakers and hoodies worn under overcoats. I wonder at the cumulative worth of the wardrobes contained within the luggage at the baggage carousel. It takes away the fun of things when it feels as though none of us have any imagination whatsoever. 

Pitti, however, hides some gems. We’ll report back, but I do have some pressing thoughts:

  1. First of all, I can’t help but wonder how long it will take for the see now, buy now mindset to take over Pitti. Choya, a Japanese shirt maker, is taking MTM shirt measurements at their stand, and I can’t imagine they’re alone – or that other brands are far behind.
  2. It felt empty today, on the guest front. I’d be interested to see what the official numbers are.
  3. Hype rules all. Arianna and I went to the presentation of the new collaboration Liverano & Liverano x Roy Rogers denim, and I’ll be damned if I didn’t almost want a pair by the end. And I wondered, per bullet point 1, how many people would have thrown money at the stand hand they been allowed to take the jeans home.
  4. There are a lot of well-dressed people, proportional to the number that look, frankly, ridiculous.
  5. There are a lot of neat brands, too – perhaps it’s Arianna’s idealism that’s rubbing off on me, or perhaps I’ve somehow never noticed in the past, but some of the brands here are, well – they’re cool.
  6. Yasuto Kamoshita remains maybe the best-dressed man on the planet. Wish I’d taken a picture.
  7. The Italian way of eating lunch, in which you drink wine, eat tasty charcuterie, and talk for two hours, is much better than wolfing down whatever hellish fast food you can find while continuing to work, like we do in the states.
  8. Since I know some of you out there are just waiting for me to talk about how miserable I am – yeah, my feet are a little sore.

After all of that, we attended the Permanent Style x Plaza Uomo symposium event, where we saw some old friends. And tomorrow we’ll get into the full swing of things, with a day of fashion shows, parties, and lots of photos from the Fortezza. You’re following us on Instagram, right?

pittilogues pitti uomo 91 styleforum instagram

A Look Back on Menswear in 2016

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It’s not just fashion writers who have a tendency to look back at years-in-review and make sweeping statements about the State of Things. Of course not – it’s human nature to place events into patterns, to try to make usable information out of a god-awful amount of noise. But fashion is interesting in that, despite the protestations of those who’d like to think themselves above the swamp, it’s nearly impossible to insulate oneself from trends that tend to suck all the air out of the room. There are always trends or events that seem to give shape to periods of time, and in that regard, 2016 was a year like any other.

Streetwear, already an all-encompassing term, grew to encompass even more. Athleisure has gotten its grubby little tentacles into everything, and along with the ferocious return of everything that’s even vaguely 90’s in style, that meant a lot of hoodies and track pants, and a lot of sweatpants masquerading as trousers. But in addition to the revival of teenage mall style there were, of course, a few Really Big Things that happened.

First of all, that whole Vêtements thing totally happened, in which there was this brand called Vetements that got super popular super quickly, and then one of the designers got hired to do Balenciaga, and now we can’t stop hearing about how Demna Gvasalia and Vetements are disrupting fashion, which is exactly the sort of statement that means precisely nothing.

Along with Vêtements’ re-packaged and re-branded clothing (labeled “cheeky” by many, or “cheap knockoffs” by collectors of Maison Martin Margiela), the logo has made a triumphant return. Nike has always been somewhat of a special case, but brands such as Thrasher, Palace, and FILA have emerged – or re-emerged – triumphant, laughing like cartoon villains in grey hoodies.

Most importantly, all the myriad fashion microcosms that we love, some of which – like “street goth”-bloom and die in the space of months, and others – such as Scandinavian minimalism, or heavy Japanese denim – that seem to be relatively immortal; can coexist effortlessly due to the proliferation of small boutique e-shops, online re-selling marketplaces, and the dominance of social media as a method for consuming fashion.

Love it or hate it, we have to talk about it. Grailed has become the go-to source for on-trend menswear, accompanied by all the headaches of dealing with a consumer base that really wants things but has no clue why it wants them. That’s not a knock on the idea of a marketplace for niche men’s fashion, nor is it a complaint about the democratization of said fashion, but it is true that Grailed’s easy-to-navigate grid marketplace, and sales concept based on always-frustrating offers and counter-offers, reduces covetable – and occasionally, historically important – objects to bullet points on the wish-lists of kids who don’t care about anything but accumulating “Fire.”

That’s been bookended somewhat by bite-sized “features” geared mostly towards given potential purchases some context, but the core experience remains the same: buy, wear, flip, buy more. I see a link between this kind of consumption – which I don’t necessarily think has to be negative – and a new kind of cynicism that has arisen from the combined forces of overconsumption and the over-saturation of social media accounts devoted to #fashion.


#Fashion was, in fact, the 9th most popular Instagram hashtag of 2016 (source: Shortstack), and Instagram itself continued to prove itself as one of the most influential mediums of fashion consumption. Alongside that rather broad keyword you’ll find words like #vintage, #instafashion, and #fashionblogger. You’ll also note that these sound equally broad, and they are, as with almost everything related to the internet or to finding things within its tubes, fashion has become a search for long-chain keywords that will distinguish the wearer. It’s just that they’re visual – choker, crop-top, denim jacket, and column skirt, for example; or a long coat, Palace hoodie, pin-rolled denim and ultra boosts; creative black tie – it’s all shorthand and worn to be searchable, all designed to stand out, both to internet algorithms and fellow tribespeople.

In fact, perhaps the most notable feature of the online community has been the continued fragmentation of fashion’s tribal subcultures. Due in part to the continued rise of Instagram personas and the free-trade-dream of Grailed, it’s possible to be wearing late 90’s band tees underneath Balmain dinner jackets with whatever-the-fuck-else-you-want and no one – on the internet – bats an eye.


You’ll remember that I mentioned cynicism. There’s a movement, among people who engage with fashion on some level beyond its consumption (and again, that’s not meant to be pejorative) – be they writers, photographers, designers – to disengage visually from these very empty signifiers by wearing whatever the fuck they want. And yes, there is a difference between “curating” your daily look to draw from your three favorite online subcultures, and looking into your closet and thinking “The hell with this.” What I’m getting at is that there are a lot of people these days dressing to look “not like that” rather than “like that.”

Cynical consumption of fashion doesn’t just mean following trends with no attempt to align them to your interests or personality, it means that you know what you are doing and yet you are doing it. Savvy consumers – including savvy internet personalities – are buying across a spectrum of brands and trends that largely defies buying conventions, always with an eye on engagement, on riding the crest of the wave, of adopting early – but not too early – and leaving just as soon.

This, of course, has the equal and opposite result of driving the die-hards deeper into their bunkers. The devoted Raw Denim Dudes are, if possible, even more into raw denim. The guys on Styleforum obsessed with the work of Maurizio Altieri have hunkered down with their collections of Continues pieces. Others are just as unabashedly prep as ever. On Instagram, tagging your post with those more specific terms – such as #acrhive, devoted to fans of ACRNM – labels you as a member of the in-crowd in a way that #fashionblogger doesn’t. Because a cohesive look, even if it’s calculated, implies authenticity – a word that means less every year, but that we, as hobbyists, can’t seem to shake.

Fashion has always been as much a matter of class and politics as any other measure of taste, but to me 2016 felt like the year when wardrobe choices stopped meaning anything. We talk about the organic growth of trends as though One day may call for one collection of brands, and the next may call for something completely different. The repeated refrain of “Wear what you like” (and I’ve been shouting it as loudly as anyone else) nonetheless means that all that raw visual data – that god-awful amount of noise – that we try to package into easily-digestible patterns doesn’t quite fit right.

On the other hand, smart companies and e-commerce sites have done just that, and have broken down our buying and wearing habits into rows and rows of data that’s used to decide everything from what goes up on an e-tailer’s website to what’s included in the newsletters they send out. When Mary Choi complains that dressing has become algorithmic, that’s because we are, in part, fighting against an algorithm. Fashion is another useful datapoint, and the lie we tell ourselves is that by “wearing what we want,” we’re somehow above all that.

Next week, I’ll be returning to Florence for Pitti Uomo 91. Just looking at the exhibitor list tells me that the trend in menswear, for the foreseeable future, will be to embrace all trends. Lucio Vanotti is showing. So is Tim Coppens. So are FILA and Tommy Hilfiger. All of this against a backdrop of brands as storied as Kiton and Cucinelli – and yes, it makes sense to have a spread of brands at a trade show, but I can only imagine that many of them will be worn by the same person, at the same time. Although a part of me would love to complain about the inappropriateness of it all, the rest of me revels in the nonsense. Because that’s what style is, and to pretend otherwise seems to me both a lie and a disservice. The only conclusion to make in 2016 is that we’re all participants in the same grand circus, and my sole resolution for the new year is to stop lying to myself about it.

A Holiday Outfit in Bad Taste

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outfit in bad taste

If you’ve followed any of my forum ramblings over the last few months – or took the time to read yesterday’s article – you may have noticed that I’m struggling with the idea of good taste as it relates to the Great Machine that is Fashion. And more recently, I’ve bee struggling with the very existence of ugly Christmas sweaters, which I loathe. Since I refuse to buy one of the latter, I thought I’d try to put together a look that was nonetheless a silent middle finger directed firmly at the holiday season. I’ll share it with you here – you’re welcome in advance.

First: velvet. Really expensive velvet, because the holidays are about spending money. This Berluti DB jacket will look even better if you refuse to button it. As the one gesture of obeisance to the Rules, I’ve included the very necessary linen pocket square, without which no iGent would ever be caught. A cotton chambray bib-front shirt from Margiela will look fantastic under the jacket, especially when paired with an onyx bolo tie.

Pre-distressed jeans from RRL round out the vaguely Western theme we’ve stumbled into, and zip boots from Carol Christian Poell add an extra bit of unpleasantness. They’re the perfect boot to wear with an outfit that makes no sense – remember to consume conspicuously, my friends. While these aren’t black lizard cowboy boots, they’re fulfill a similar purpose while hopefully looking less polished. And since you’re not cool enough to wear them in the first place, it doesn’t matter that they’re always sold out everywhere.

Finally, Tom Fords syrupy Black Orchid also reeks of sex and money. I’m a big fan of Tom Ford fragrances, although they’re about as far from “meek” as you can get. They’re big, juicy, and in-your-face – kind of like the rest of this ensemble. I think the whole thing is absolutely perfect for your next holiday party.

The only problem is that after picking all of this stuff out, I want to wear it head-to-toe. I figured I was crazy or suffering from burnout, but after sending the above to both Arianna and Fok, they both informed me that the outfit looks pretty awesome. Maybe I’m on to something here. Here are the details:

1. Velvet DB jacket by Berluti

2. Slim narrow destroyed jeans by RRL

3. Margiela cotton chambray bib shirt

4. Carol Christian Poell zip boots

5. Bolo tie

6. Linen pocket square by Kent Wang

7.Tom Ford Black Orchid

Is there room for humor in fashion?

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In addition to attempting to survive the nonsense of the holiday season, every year, my girlfriend and I are invited to an “ugly sweater party.” Since I think about clothing a lot, this always gets me wondering whether there’s any room for humor in fashion. As a matter of principle, I own no ugly sweaters, and refuse to buy a one solely for the sake of seasonal shenanigans. This year, attending said party (to which I wore a very simple Margiela pullover) did get me thinking about a bigger question: whether there’s any room in fashion – and more specifically, in my wardrobe – for humorous clothing.

I’ve tried in the past to incorporate silly or even ironic pieces into my closet.  I’ve played with the idea of dumb logo sweaters and intentionally ugly outerwear and shoes as an attempt to inject what could be construed as some kind of humor into my daily wear. It never sticks, though.

Now, “humorous” clothing is different from “whimsical” clothing, which I do favor – and I’d classify brands such as Kapital, Blue Blue Japan, even Margiela as whimsical – whereas an ugly holiday sweater has no use or significance outside one very specific time of year and one very specific in-joke. I suppose it’s an in-joke, but the number of people I see (granted, in Colorado) wearing truly hideous Christmas sweaters – and they’re specifically Christmas sweaters – on a regular, daily basis, suggests that maybe the joke’s gone completely over my head.

After all, the ugly Christmas sweater industry is now worth millions of dollars. I’m not kidding. Large (primarily) American and UK retailers (think Target, Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, Lord & Taylor) dedicate massive amounts of floor space to seasonal garbage, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of websites dedicated to providing users with endless options (as in, tens of thousands) for their hideous seasonal needs.

That one on the left? That’s the world’s most expensive Christmas sweater. It’s covered in Swarovski crystals and is valued at $30,000. The one on the right has a detachable reindeer stuck to it with velcro, and it’s a bargain at $67.

I had privately thought that we’d moved beyond the fad of whatever intentionally post-ironic hipsterism defined the years 2010-2013, but the meteoric rise of admittedly ill-defined “street” fashion seems to have proven me wrong. When a cotton tee with the DHL logo can become the must-have item of the season, as well as an intentional and in-your-face statement about conspicuous consumption (retail ~ $300), I think that an ugly Christmas sweater starts to make more sense. Yes, I do see a link between wearable seasonal garbage and it-brand Vêtements – if in no other way than that they’re both trends so runaway it’s impossible for anyone to point at why we still care about them (Vêtements did, I think, have some initial promise that has degraded for a number of reasons).

This year, uglychristmassweater.com is projected to make $5.5 million in sales, which is not a small figure. And this summer, Gosha Rubchinskiy more or less won Pitti with a show featuring collaborations with Kappa and FILA, among others – all of which are probably poised to sell out the instant they hit e-tailers in 2017. We’ve known that The Logo has returned in importance for some time now, but the popularity hasn’t faded. That it will, I’m certain – trends always die, and in five years I doubt we’ll be seeing many Instagram supermodels wearing chokers and distressed sweatpants.

There has always been room for “ugliness” in fashion, and more generally in art, whether it comes in the form of Rei Kawakubo’s continued insistence on clothing that’s almost nothing like clothing, or in Carol Christian Poell’s garments that often display – intentionally – the opposite of bourgeois good taste while largely ignoring the shape of the human body. In these cases, the ugliness has merit, meaning, and considerable intellect backing it up. The extent to which that matters is debatable – we’re all paying so that we can be in on the joke, and show that we’re a part of the club too.

I think that it is difficult for even the most resolutely self-aware consumers to avoid taking themselves far, far too seriously – whether it’s forming opinions on the “correctness” of Ivy League attire, desperately wanting your box logo Supreme tee to be real as opposed to a knockoff, or refusing to snip the stitches holding the tags on your Margiela garments. Taste is largely a matter of societal echolocation, and the world of fashion is a very big – if often nonsensical – echo chamber.

More importantly, it’s important to remember that all of this stuff is constructed more or less arbitrarily. Completely random or outdated occurrences have nevertheless resulted in what are now the “rules” of menswear. Welcome to fashion! The show where the game’s made up and the points don’t matter. And despite my griping, at this point the Ugly Christmas Sweater has become tradition solely due to saturation – and in that way it’s sort of a nice metaphor for the fashion system at large. So much of fashion is devoted to the idea of looking as though you don’t care about fashion, and perhaps an ugly sweater is no different: “This is my way of showing that I don’t take myself too seriously – but just seriously enough to make the effort to not appear serious.” Yes, you heard me – happily wearing the waste of capital and labor that is the Ugly Christmas Sweater is the same as adjusting the lazy puff in your pocket square so that it’s not too lazy.

As a good friend put it when I asked what he thought of the whole thing, “It’s important never to start seeing your clothes (or your sociological place) as having any inherent meaning outside human invention,” which is great advice that’s nevertheless easy to forget. As a matter of principle, I also asked forum member @Brad T, who told me that it was stupid to ask “if there is room for [humor] in fashion. Of course there is. There is an infinite amount of room for everything.” Which, as far as philosophical answers go, is comfortably non-nihilistic.

Loops and traps, my friends. This season, remember that all matters of taste are matters of class warfare. And, if fashion is merely the leveraging of existential pleasures or a visual form of reader response, I suppose you’re free to buy all the hideous sweaters you like this winter. Wear them over your button-down collars with buttons left undone, underneath your Margiela overcoats with stitches intact . Nothing’s stopping you!

As far as the sweaters go, I won’t be joining you – they’re just not to my taste.

Allen Edmonds Bought by Caleres

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Allen Edmonds, one of the most popular and most beloved of the brands discussed on Styleforum, has just been purchased by Caleres for $255 million. Caleres, the parent company of Famous Footwear, also owns several handfuls of not-quite-fantastic women’s footwear brands such as Vince, Diane Von Furstenberg, and Franco Sarto. This puts Allen Edmonds in an interesting place in the Caleres portfolio – or rather, at the top of it, from a very Styleforum-y perspective. Allen Edmonds may have retail storefronts  at numerous malls across the country, but it is an undeniably higher-quality product than those with which it now shares a room.

Of course, you’re probably wondering what this means for your beloved shoe company, and whether you ought to be panicking. Well, maybe not quite yet. Paul Grangaard, the well-regarded CEO of Allen Edmonds, will stay on in the same role, which indicates that Caleres is less interested in re-structuring Allen Edmonds than on capitalizing on the brand’s solid growth and Grangaard’s leadership. Additionally, their portfolio skews heavily towards womenswear, meaning that Allen Edmonds is something of a feather in the cap.

Here’s the one potential source of worry – the statement from Diane Sullivan, president and CEO, reads as follows:

“The addition of Allen Edmonds to the Caleres brand portfolio allows us to rapidly increase our exposure in men’s footwear, solidifying a new revenue stream to drive overall growth…Over the next several months we will work together to identify ways to benefit from each other, including brand and product development, materials sourcing and design capabilities, to name a few.”

For a paranoid fashion hobbyist such as myself, “materials sourcing” sounds a bit like trying to use Caleres’ larger network of producers to lower one element of production costs. And of course, “growth” is a dubious buzzword for the Styleforum member, since we generally don’t want our favorite brands to grow – and modern perceptions of American business have trained us not to trust anything that sounds like, well, business. However, in some cases the concerns have been founded – many well-regarded brands have lost some of their luster following an acquisition, and many hobbyists expect the worst when a beloved brand changes hands.

Mr. Grangaard took to the Ask Andy About Clothes forum to allay some of the concerns shared there. A selection of his response is below:

“Our strategies will stay the same but grow, and the team is all staying in place. Caleres bought us because of what we could do with them, not what they could do to us…So the changes you’ll see will be those of intensifying who we are and what we do in good ways — more marketing and customer development because of their longer term time horizon.

Manufacturing in Port Washington is our core commitment. It’s not going away. Period. Count on that one. The “materials sourcing assistance” they can give us is in componentry. They know European tanneries, sole makers and last manufacturers that we don’t really know but who could be helpful.” (Full response here)

Despite Caleres’ retail success, the brands sharing the stable with Allen Edmonds are not brands that I would associate inspiration or production quality, which is, I think, a fair source of concern. Mr. Grangaard’s qualified statement that access to material providers could be helpful is, well…pretty qualified.  However, Allen Edmonds has traded hands several times over the last decade, and has remained a go-to source in its particular corner of the market while seeing growth in reach and name recognition.

Based on the last decade of progress, I’ll choose to assume that Allen Edmonds’ very successful leadership will continue to find success, and that five years from now I’ll still be recommending Allen Edmonds to friends searching for affordable, quality footwear.

For further reading, check out this 2013 Styleforum interview with Mr. Grangaard

5 Gifts That Aren’t Clothing

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Jasper's holiday wishlist accessories gifts that aren't clothing

Not all of our friends and family members are as obsessed with clothing as we are, and that’s okay. It’s also worth keeping in mind before you go out of you way to buy a pair of 20-ounce Ironhearts for your nephew, or a limited-edition pocket square for your wife (“Wear it as a…scarf?”), here are five gifts idea that anyone – no matte their age, gender, or relationship to you – is sure to enjoy.

La Portegna ” Jimena” Portfolio

My iPad died halfway through The Proper Kit, which means I have to get a new one if I want stay up too late watching YouTube videos in bed again. Since I have a La Portegna briefcase that I adore (disclosure: they sent me one free of charge, and I now use it every single day), I have a pretty good idea of what to expect from this. Namely, fantastic leather that actually gets better as it ages (for real – everyone claims this and it’s not always true), and a size perfect for those days when I don’t want to tote around a whole bag. Plus, you can monogram it for the intended recipient. Future iPad, meet your future new best friend.

La Portegna, 215GBP

Lamy 2000 Fountain Pen

No one writes anything by hand any more, and that is a filthy shame. I carry two small notebooks with me wherever I go: one for story ideas, one for absurd Deep Thoughts. And I write with pens exclusively – no graphite here. As a middle school science teacher once told me, never erase anything – put a line through it, because you might come back to it later and find some unexpected brilliance. Having a half-decent pen to write with (or a really nice pen to write with), as opposed to the disposable ones we all steal from hotels, makes the experience so much more pleasurable. I’ve never owned an unabashedly nice fountain pen, because I’m probably too scatterbrained to be trusted with anything fancy, but that’s what a wishlist is for. I am mildly obsessed with the design of the Lamy 2000, which is unassuming but (in my eyes) gorgeous; not the heavy gold-and-black cigars that still dominate the world of higher-end fountain pens, but sleek and futuristic. And it’s built for writing – which is, after all, the point.

Amazon, $120

L’Artisan Perfumeur “Al Oudh”

Jasper's holiday wishlist accessories gifts that aren't clothing

Al Oudh isn’t the fanciest perfume in the world, nor the most expensive, nor the most fully-packed with exotic ingredients. It is, however, an excellent scent, and for men or women who don’t want a collection in their cabinet there’s a good chance this could become an every day fragrance. It’s more accessible than fancier oud scents, less cloying, and a bit fresher and friendlier to more noses. I’ve been jealously hoarding my tester-sized sample of this fragrance for a while now, and I think it’s time to treat myself to a full bottle. Or rather, for someone else to treat me. ‘Tis the season.

L’Artisan Perfumeur, $145

Jaybird X3

Jasper's holiday wishlist accessories gifts that aren't clothing

I scored a pair of Jaybirds on Amazon over the summer, and they have changed my life. That sounds like exaggeration but it’s not – I’m not an audiophile, but I do listen to music 12 hours a day, whether I’m sitting at my desk or exercising. These are great for both – they’re comfortable enough to wear for long periods, the battery life is great, and when you do go for a run they actually stay in your ears. Plus, the sound quality is pretty darn good. So far, mine have been one of the best purchases I’ve made all year.

Best Buy, $130

Pyrrha Stag Ring

Jasper's holiday wishlist accessories gifts that aren't clothing

I am a sucker for all things symbolic, and doubly so for vaguely heraldic imagery. Pyrrha has been making wax-seal silver jewelry for over a decade now, and has inspired legions of other brands. They’re rough-hewn, cast from Victorian-era wax seals, and – I think – quite beautiful. I also have a thing for stags, generally; horned gods being both classic and timeless and beautifully foreboding.

For women, there are a host of beautiful necklaces, rings, and bracelets, which means that whoever you’re shopping for, you’re bound to find something that will speak to them. Pro tip: searching for “wax seal rings” on Etsy will show you plenty of other options, but since they go quickly and are variable in size, Pyrrha is a good stop for consistency.

Pyrrha, $380

Wear a Black Turtleneck Under Everything

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Remember when I said that I almost never wear black? Well, I’m here to tell you about the one exception I make: the black turtleneck. Because in Denver, the weather has finally turned, which means that it’s the season when I wear a black turtleneck every other day.

We’ve discussed roll-necks in the past, but I’m specifically talking about the cotton, shirt-weight black turtleneck, which is the ultimate cheater’s garment. Let me explain: it is a t-shirt that looks fancier than a button-up. Well, not always. But a lot of the time, wearing one instantly takes you from “slob” to “suave” (zing) in perfect comfort. Besides, it fits every style out there, regardless of whether you pine for James Bond-ian masculinity or Creative Artsy Dude Vibes(tm).

Although you can find these anywhere, in a wide range of fabrics, my favorite black turtleneck comes from Uniqlo. It’s very unassuming – thick-ish cotton, relatively relaxed in fit, and it only cost me 15$. I like to wear it under my quilted ts(s) blazer, under an SNS Herning “Stark” cardigan, or alone under a piece of long outerwear or flight jacket. The point is that it looks really good with everything I can think of at the moment. It’s an especially great option for the dreaded company holiday party, when you don’t really know what to wear but you sure as hell don’t want to wear a tie.

The black turtleneck is the kind of shirt that you could stock up on, wear every day of the week, and look great. And as a plus, that whole myth about black being slimming isn’t entirely a myth, which – if you’re as predisposed to holiday overindulgence as I am – can come in pretty handy. The only downside to these cotton pieces is that they don’t insulate as well as wool. So, if you plan on sweating a lot, a good way to combat that is to wear an insulating undershirt beneath it and stay nice and toasty. Of course, Uniqlo also offers Heattech turtlenecks. I have no experience with those, but I’ve worn plenty of “athletic” undergarments under casual clothing, and the idea is sound.

It’s the ideal garment for days when you want to look good but can’t be bothered to try looking good: choose pants and shoes, put on black turtleneck, and outerwear goes on top of that. Done. That’s the kind of ease I can get behind.

Member Focus: Staying Classic with Andy57

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Today, we say hello to another member known for keeping the “Classic” in Styleforum’s Classic Menswear community: Andy57. Whether wearing an odd jacket and trousers or a dinner suit, Andy always takes the time to get the details right. Here, he tells us what led him to men’s style – and what has kept him on Styleforum.

I’ve always been interested in style and fashion, both men’s and women’s. About four years ago, I had to make some changes in my diet and lifestyle to reverse a trend of increasing blood sugar. These changes had a side effect for me of losing around 30 pounds, and so I needed a new wardrobe. Over the years, I had accumulated a number of jackets, some of which now fit me better than they had in years. But even the jackets that fit me were rarely worn and I decided I wanted to change that. so I started to wear them, even though I was still wearing jeans and sneaker, for the most part. But over time, I realized I needed better trousers, which led to better shoes, which led to wearing a tie occasionally, which led to bow ties, and so on.

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Although he often shares suits, Andy57 is no stranger to the odd jacket.

Then I began to do some research. I began to learn about how clothes were suppose to fit. I realized that most of my clothes were too big, for example, and as I learned more and came into contact with more resources, from which I learned more, I began to understand.

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Suburban life with Andy57: always tasteful.

In addition, I had always harbored a desire to have a suit made for me by a Savile Row tailor. But I did not know which tailor to select and I was somewhat daunted at the prospect. But I heard of a tailoring firm called Steed Bespoke Tailors that is part of the Anderson & Sheppard diaspora and that visited San Francisco regularly and I decided to go with them. And it has been a good relationship.

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Here, Andy57 shows off a beautiful white DB suit.

I’ve learned a tremendous amount by being part of Styleforum. Clearly, menswear has standard texts by Boyer, Flusser, Manton, and others. But there’s no escaping that the internet is and continues to be a tremendous tool for learning and for obtaining items that, without it, one simply would not encounter.

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Andy57, enjoying the view.

To the extent that I have a style, it’s a combination of what I hope is a classic English style and then at times a fairly unrestrained exuberance bordering on dandyism. I love color and I love wearing things that few others would wear. For example, I bought some of the last few meters of an ivory flannel with a navy pindot windowpane from Fox and had it made up into a lovely double-breasted suit. I wear it on warm evenings, or sunny summer days and I love it. People notice it because you almost never see anyone wearing such a thing. But I have a gorgeous lovat green tweed jacket that is classic and conservative and occasionally people notice it because it is so classic and well cut. But, in the end, style is individual. Style is harmony. Style is beauty. Style is being comfortable in your own skin and having confidence in your appearance. I don’t think you can have style without confidence.

Black Friday: Jasper’s Picks

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Wow, sales season really came in like Miley Cyrus this year. At this point in my life, I have a pretty short list of clothing I want, and a lot of it doesn’t go on sale that often. That said, this Black Friday has kind of thrown me for a loop, and I’ve managed to grab some pieces I wasn’t expecting to see (I’m not complaining. Your tastes may certainly differ, but here are a few pieces I think are worth capitalizing on this year. Don’t forget to look at our list of all the Black Friday Sales worth your time to see sales codes for the below webshops.

 

  1. Kapital Century Denim at Blue Button Shopjasper's black friday top picks styleforumBlue Button came in YUGE this year. I almost feel bad. They’ve got 30% off of all stock with code THANK30, which means you can pick up a pair of Kapital’s incredible Century Denim for 265 USD shipped, which is about the same as it would cost you to proxy the same pair from Kapital in Japan. If you’ve ever wanted a pair, I’m not sure I can remember seeing a better deal.
  2. Viberg Boots at Blue Button Shop

    jasper's black friday picks sales styleforumDid I mention that Blue Button came up big time? When’s the last time you saw Viberg Boots for 30% off? That puts several models just under 500$ shipped with code THANK30, which is nuts, even if the models on offer are pretty basic. Jump on this, people.

  3. Comme des Garçons Parfum at Notre Shopjasper's top black friday sales picksAgain, 30% off what is (in my opinion) a great fragrance that doesn’t often see discounts. CDG’s incense series is a fantastic blend of natural and synthetic aromas; meant to invoke human spirituality in a way that is both immediately recognizable and undeniably otherworldly. My favorite is Ouarzazate, but Kyoto is great as well – heck, at 67$ a bottle after the coupon code, you might as well buy all four.
  4. Sashiko Shop Coat from Blue Blue Japan at No Man Walks Alonejasper's top black friday sales picks
    How could I make a list of any kind without at least one indigo-dyed item? This shop coat from Blue Blue Japan was a stand out piece from this fall’s collection, and the sashiko fabric with natural indigo dye makes for an incredible color and texture. Did I mention that No Man has it for 371$, which is a must-buy price? No Man’s entire sales list is slightly bonkers, but these pieces are beautiful and unique, which will go a long way this winter – and well into springtime.

  5. Marimekko “Nimikko Mikko” bathrobejasper's black top black friday sales picks styleforumHailing from the land of the Moomins, Marimekko has long offered pop-inspired prints to households that skew towards the nouveau Scandinavian. I have a soft spot for the loud stuff, but these simpler bathrobes are equally fun. Do as Marimekko suggests and wear yours after a long, relaxing sauna.

Accessorizing with Dogs: A How-To

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There has long existed an association between tiny, handbag-friendly dogs and the fashion elite, but there is more to the art of accessorizing with dogs than a chihuahua in a purse.  For everyone who shares a home – even briefly – with a four-legged companion, the question has always been: how can I maximize my dog-outfit synergy?

The first consideration is, of course, the breed. Dogs such as border collies naturally pair well with workaday or outdoor clothing: consider Engineered Garments, Battenwear, or Nigel Cabourn, as all of these brands perform admirably even when covered with hair. A bulldog can complement both vaguely-sleezy 70’s inspired menswear as well as 3-piece suits of heavy tweed , whereas a Borzoi may lend itself best to a fan of the Antwerp Six. Devotees to the house of Marc Jacobs will, of course, love bull terriers, whereas advocates of quirky menswear will be quick to point to Menswear Dog  as an example of why Shiba Inus make the perfect stylistic companion. Some dogs are as versatile as a navy blazer – Welsh Corgis, for example, go with just about anything.

Don’t be too concerned, however, as any dog can be the perfect match for their wearer’s peculiar clothing choices, and mixes often show the most aesthetic versatility. Take, for example, my good friend @konorobu‘s predilection for combining Rick Owens and Carol Christian Poell with his small and adorable adopted friend. This, of course, is additionally powerful due to the inherent gap-moe of the combination; or the charm of contradictory habits or personality traits. If you’re a man in a power suit, consider a Pomeranian. If you’re wearing head-to-toe Acronym, a Lhasa Apso will provide a well-groomed counterpoint to your edgy, apocalypse-ready exterior. There is no reason to feel pigeonholed in your wardrobe choices when accessorizing with dogs – experiment with outfits to see what works best with your companion. I favor a pair of adopted Shiba Inus, as I find the coloration and temperament lends itself nicely to indigo-dyed streetwear and the occasional jacket and trousers.

The second consideration is fur type and coloration. When accessorizing with dogs, it’s important to take note of ideal color combinations. Keep in mind that black-and-white is not the be-all, end-all of a fashionable companion. High-fashion aficionados will find that the black-and-tan of a Bernese Mountain Dog will go nicely with a monochrome look, and the subtle tones of a Blue Heeler will bring out the best in any colorful outfit. Texture is a secondary aspect; brushed tweeds go equally well with shaggy or shiny coats, and light linens and cottons are a perfect match for both high-fuzz-factor dogs as well as adorably soft and tiny companions.

Ultimately, there is no end to the number of ways you can accessorize with dogs. The fashionable options are limitless, especially when the personality of the dog in question is taken into consideration. Beyond the purely aesthetic advantages that dogs confer, there are innumerable health benefits that come from living with them. Ten out of ten doctors now recognize that accessorizing with dogs results in lower blood pressure, more Instagram likes, a higher sex drive, and funnier jokes1. This should not be taken lightly – for any of you who are struggling with wardrobe direction or how to maximize your swag levels, a dog can provide the boost you need to hone in on your style.

There are now multiple apps that allow users to rent dogs. Dogs of all shapes and sizes, from the tiny and yappy to the huge and drooling. Some of these apps are geared towards people who want to test the waters before adopting their own new best friend; others are designed as social meet-up or even dating tools. And ever better, your local Humane Society will have all kinds of dogs for you to meet, love, and even take home with you. Just make sure that you’re doing your homework before you take the plunge, because there’s nothing more un-chic than being a bad dog owner. If you’re diligent in your search, I’m sure you’ll find a companion, and I’m sure you won’t regret it – because all along, the best accessory to a happy life and a happy wardrobe is a doggy friendship.

  1. This is completely fabricated.
  2. Cover photo credit: Arianna Reggio