Like so many other parts of previously normal life, the work of craftspeople has been disrupted and displaced by the current epidemic. Factories and workshops have been closed, like the stores which sell their finished products.
Yet individual makers have persevered where they can. Continuing to exercise the skills that have taken years to sharpen. And we’ve seen the return to a mode of production common before industrialisation: individual, artisanal craft in the home.
The black community is hurting, and it’s time we come together to amplify the voices that need to be heard.
This list, albeit incomplete, represents an effort to highlight the talent of black creators and businessmen in the menswear community.
If you’re unable to support these businesses with your wallet at the moment, remember that you can make a difference by simply following their accounts on social media, engaging with them, and sharing them with your friends.
Feel free to help us expand this list by leaving a comment with a link to more brands, shops, and talents.
Memorial Day sales will not be the same this year, and neither will our shopping. The current health crisis has profoundly altered both the ability and the desire of people to buy fashion items.
As usual, we are here to help you make the best decision on how to spend your hard-earned dollars – starting from a list of brands and shops that are offering never-seen-before markdowns.
Shop mindfully.
Shopping for face masks is only the latest of a series of habits that define our “new normal”.
We are now advised to cover our face partially in order to help slow the spread of coronavirus whenever we are outside in the presence of other people.
Face masks do not replace social distancing, which is still the most effective way to curb the spread, but they offer an additional layer of protection for both the wearer and the people around him/her.
Since it is imperative at this stage that people do not buy and hoard medical equipment essential for frontline workers, we scoured the web (and our affiliate list) to find alternative options. These masks don’t take away equipment from front line workers, and they might help keep these companies afloat while they wait to resume their regular production.
If you’d rather try your hand at sewing following the tutorial of a tailor, check out this tutorial to create your own face mask using any cloth you like.
Happy shopping and stay safe.
My first experience with the negroni was on my honeymoon, long ago in 1999, in Riomaggiore, the southernmost town of the Cinque Terre in the Italian Riviera. The town is squashed in a precipitous, narrow valley that pours into the sea, like a confetti-colored shovel diving into the blue, and the main street is right in the middle, cutting the town in half, terracing downward. On this street, in a random bar, we asked the man behind the counter for an Italian cocktail. The man replied there was only one, and poured us each a negroni. It was the first of several that night, and countless since then. To this day it remains my favorite drink.
For years only a handful of bartenders knew what a negroni was, which stupefied me at first, and I was forced to order a Godfather, which like the movie was about as close to the Italian experience as you could get in America at the time. With the launch of Negroni Week in 2013 by none other than the Campari company itself, however, the ruddy libation was suddenly thrust into the zeitgeist, to the point that nowadays it seems like everyone has one in hand, which is perfectly fine by me.
Photo: @albertovoglio
