The Velvet Jacket

This will be quick. For the Fall and Winter seasons, it is imperative to have a velvet jacket at your disposal. The velvet jacket can dress up blue jeans for a casual ensemble, and can serve as the focal point for alternative black tie.

The key is this; with jeans, wear a crisp white dress shirt sans tie. The shirt should be nicely fitted. For alternative black tie, wear a black bow tie, black trousers, and either black cap-toe shoes, velvet loafers, or opera pumps (scratch that... save the pumps for white tie... unless you're in for serious rule breaking).

One should still wear a nicely fitted white dress shirt or a tuxedo shirt, although the look works better without a tuxedo point collar, but rather a spread or traditional point collar. French cuffs look best, and a subtle tactile texture in the shirt comes across very nicely.

For in-betweens (pictured) keep it minimal. White shirt, black neck tie (or solid color complimentary to your jacket color), black trousers, nice black shoes. Go bold if you must, with a brightly colored velvet jacket, such as this red Tom Ford offering with shawl collar (photo 2), but feel free to throw in some pattern to add some nonchalance and to deformalize the look a bit. For more formal occasions, one can never go wrong with midnight blue (left). In all cases, be respectful of the inherent formality of the velvet jacket and allow one 1/2 inch of cuff to show.

Velvet jackets are available from very low to very high prices, from a multitude of designers. I am wearing a customized vintage Hickey Freeman in photo 1. Tom Ford offers something similar today, but for lower prices, check Calvin Klein at Macy's, or just browse. Velvet jackets are big this season and everyone offers them. Get down with it!

Cheers,

 Paul

Bond's Accessories: Persol

It has been a while since I last wrote about sunglasses, but I have in the past mentioned my love of Italian sunglasses manufacturer Persol, and in an unrelated post, discussed the refined, insouciant character offered by a lighter colored pair of sunglasses than basic black. Today, I combine the two. Persol sunglasses, and tortoise-shell frames.

Persol calls their tortoise-shell colored frames "Havana". Call them what you like, the lighter colored frames catch more attention and can better compliment a colorful ensemble than black frames. Black is unimaginative in most cases- granted a black suit and shoes would probably cry out for black sunglasses, but in other scenarios, a lighter frame accents the different color hues in most clothing.

I personally have been blessed/cursed with a fair complexion, light hair and skin tone (yeah, that's me on the right), and tortoise-shell frames break the stark contrast that is achieved when I wear all black frames. Conversely, individuals with either olive, brown, or reddish skin tones will have their complexion complimented by the different shades of brown and amber present in a tortoise-shell frame. Everybody wins, you see.

My newest aquisition are these Persol 2720-S sunglasses, which were worn by Daniel Craig's James Bond in the 2006 film, Casino Royale (see picture, below). I opted for the brown lenses while Bond wore frames with green lenses, but I like the way that the Persol brown-orange lenses block out all the sunlight without making indoor lighting seem nonexistant (for the times when walking indoors briefly after forgetting your phone at home or dropping something off at the post office or making a bank deposit... not when gong out clubbing and trying to look cool by wearing shades indoors... you actually look like a douchebag when you do this. Trust me).

I have quickly fallen in love with this pair of shades. My wife tried to "adopt them" and I told her she'd better start trying to come up with a way to bump me off if she wants to inherit them. Like Charleton Heston said, "...From my cold dead hands." They're mine. I offered her my Ray Bans. She refused.

For those who are unaware of the history, Persol comes from the Italian words per il sole, meaning, "for the sun". The brand was founded in 1917 by Giuseppe Ratti. Its trademark is the silver arrow, and several of the company's glasses feature this symbol.

Persol was a heavy influence in the production of sunglasses. The company developed the first flexible stem.
Persol was introduced to the United States in 1962. Its first boutique opened on Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles in 1991.

Steve McQueen popularized two Persol models: the 714 folding sunglasses and similarly styled 649. He wore a special pair of 714's with blue lenses (now avaiable as a Steve McQueen Special Edition model at http://www.persol.com/) in The Thomas Crown Affair and was often photographed wearing the 649 model.
One of the most iconic images of Persol sunglasses can be seen in the movie Divorce Italian Style where Marcello Mastroianni wears a pair of black 649s; Mastroianni also has a pair of Persol sunglasses on in almost every scene in the movie La Dolce Vita.

Persols can be seen on celebrities as frequently as plastic surgery. Jack Nicholson, Jake Gyllenhall, Jay-Z, George Clooney, Sharon Stone, Pierce Brosnan, Bill Murray, and a slew of others are seen wearing them regularly, but that's not to say that celebrity iconography is what makes them worth a damn.

Persols are durable, stylish, and fit like a glove, thanks to the brand's patented "Meflecto" cylinders in the arms, which hug and flex comfortably around the wearers temple to provide a custom fit. The lenses are made of high-impact glass rather than plastic, and resist scratching better than any other sunglass lens on the market. The lenses also provide unsurpassed clarity. Each pair is hand-made in Italy and no two pair are absolutely alike, like a utilitaritan piece of art that one can wear on his face.

Upon reflection, I don't know exactly what the purpose of this post was, whether it was to plug Persol, make a James Bond reference, promote tortoise-shell frames, or just to say, "Hey, check out my new toy." Maybe it was a bit of all of these reasons, but I can guarantee you this: each reason was in the service of style. After all... that's why we're here. Isn't it? 

Cheers.

-Paul

Esquire Has Done it Again!

New for Fall 2010, Esquire magazine has released its latest offering of the semi-annual Big Black Book: The Style Manual for Successful Men.

This edition has a wealth of fine information with features on everything from Cars, Watches, Colognes, Writing Instruments, Holiday party beverages (the good ones: with booze), Socks, the ways to wear Black-Tie, Outerwear, a dissertation on absolutely everything one needs to know about wool, Tweed, a nice two-page spread on L.L. Bean Signature, and much, much more.

Without giving too much a way, a couple of page shots are pictured here, but the style-conscious man owes it to himself to pickup a copy. The newest Black Book is available at newstands for $9.95, or from http://www.esquire.com/.

If you are currently not an Esquire subscriber, the magazine is offering a great special now; the current Black Book and a one year subscription to Esquire for only $14.95. Very well worth it. Check it out!

Cheers,

Paul

Great Tips from Sid Mashburn

Check out the link below for a video of great tips from one of Atlanta, Georgia's premier clothiers, Sid Mashburn. Sid combines the best from Italian, English, and American Prep styles to create a winning look. Selected as one of GQ Magazine's 10 most stlish men last year, the words of Sid Mashburn will take you far in the realm of men's style. The video link supplied briefly covers essential clothing pieces, plus how to get some utility out of your dressier wardrobe items. Check it out!
Sid Mashburn Video

Umbrella Review: Brooks Brothers vs. Leighton

Good day, gentlemen. Fall is here, and it's time to prepare for some rainy days. It's also time to amp up your umbrella game. Fold up travel umbrellas are convenient and they keep you dry. They can fit in a briefcase or dangle from a lanyard around your wrist. Golf umbrellas keep you dry as well... along with everybody else in your zip code. Neither of these umbrella types are particularly stylish. Travel umbrellas are strictly utilitarian, and golf umbrellas are a roving billboard for Wachovia or Bank of America.

What a gentleman needs is an attractive stick umbrella, free of crazy bright colors, company brands, and small plastic handles. A wooden crook handle and (when collapsed) a slim silhouette, a generous (but not gigantic) canopy, and a dark, solid color. Do you notice the funeral scenes in movies? I don't care which movie, because they're all the same. The day is dreary and rainy, and everyone stands under a sea of black umbrellas as they mourn. NONE OF YOU fine gentlemen need to be the lone idiot with the enormous red, white and blue BofA umbrella. Trust me! Now I'm not saying a fine looking umbrella should be restricted to funerals- quite the contrary. But one should be able to carry it anywhere to fit in...

...or stand out! Remember The Avengers' John Steed, who carried his classic stick umbrella with him everywhere, even on sunny, bone-dry days? Remember Sean  Connery as Henry Jones in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (whose umbrella came in quite handy in warding off a flock of angry pidgeons, or something to that effect), who had his umbrella with him always? A nice umbrella is like a sidearm. It can go with you everywhere, even if you don't intent to use it, but you'll never know when you might need it!

 Today I review two classic-looking stick umbrellas, one from Brooks Brothers (top left) and one from a company called Leighton (top right). Let's get started!

First off, both umbrellas have a classic, refined style. Black canopy, slim design, and wooden crook handles. The Brooks Brothers "New Stick Umbrella" has a wooden shaft as well, while the Leighton "Executive" has a shaft fashioned of steel. Leighton makes one with a wooden shaft as well, which actually costs less money than their steel shaft version, so I wouldn't consider the shaft material on either umbrella to be a pro or a con, although the wood does look nice.

Both umbrellas have eight ribs that support the canopy. The Brooks Brothers (above left) version employs fiberglass ribs that are attached to the canopy with (bummer) plastic grommets. The Leighton umbrella (above right) has steel ribs attached to the canopy by a metal hinge. A much stronger design, if you ask me.

The tips of these umbrellas are both wood. The Brooks Brothers umbrella has an attractive metal ferrel at the base of the wooden tip, while the Leighton has a thicker, shorter tip with no added adornments that matches the wood of the handle. I'd say that the BB umbrella tip probably looks a bit nicer, but the very end is just painted black and not very smooth, so it looks as if something fell off or came unglued. I'd call this round a draw.

Both umbrellas boast a generous sized polyester canopy. Of the two, the Leighton is Teflon coated. The Brooks Brothers umbrella is not. Major score for Leighton. Also, the Leighton has an auto-open feature, while the Brooks Brothers umbrella is manual only. Another point for the Leighton.

The Leighton has a lifetime replacement warranty.
There is no stated warranty for the Brooks Brothers umbrella. 3 - zip Leighton.

The Brooks Brothers umbrella does have their   attractive script logo on the canopy strap, which is a nice little touch. They also have a black canopy version with the BB Golden Fleece logo dotting the surface, which looks nice, but the ferrel on the wooden tip is plastic rather than metal, which turned me off to that design.

The Leighton umbrella has a nice little touch on the handle as well; a leather wrapping with the Leighton name embossed on the surface. The Leighton also has a metal ring to secure the rib points directly above the handle. The BB umbrella has no such feature.

In terms of dollars and cents, the Brooks Brothers umbrella retails for $60, which is approaching a lot of money for what you're getting. The Leighton Executive retails for $30, and is available in several colors at http://www.umbrellasandbeyond.com/ for $24, I believe.

When all is said and done, my endorsement goes to the Leighton, mainly because of this reason: when opening the Brooks Brothers umbrella for only the third time, prior to even testing it in the rain, one of the plastic gromets that secures the ribs to the canopy snapped, leaving one rib flopping about and the umbrella unusable. I returned it for a refund, and purchased the Leighton, which so far seems damn-near indestructable.

Both umbrellas are made in China (which greatly disappointed me on the Brooks Brothers model, considering the price tag), and the Leighton is clearly a higher quality product, which cost me less than half as much. I am a big fan of Brooks Brothers, as some of the previous posts would indicate, but they never have specialized in umbrellas, and I'll consider them in the future for their own items, rather than something they're just sticking their name on.

Anyway, go out and get yourself a man's umbrella, and give your novelty golf umbrellas to the Goodwill. If you must have something that large, Leighton also sells a Doorman model, with 16 ribs and a 60" canopy which retails for a mere $36, but unless you routinely walk around with a wife and 3 kids under your umbrella, a standard stick size will do. Travel umbrellas are great for... well... traveling, or to have in your briefcase as a backup, but we're men of distinction here. Get something that makes a statement that you have class.

Until next time,

Cheers!

-Paul

Button-Down Shirts with a Tie

Video by Paul Walters

Hello all! Someone that I know well and once considered myself to be friends with (we see each other very little these days) began making custom clothing a few years ago. I can't endorse it because I've never seen it first-hand, and I've never seen him wearing his own clothing at any of the fashion and style events we've both attended, but if it's as good as he says it is, his clothing must be excellent. I've only seen him wearing his own suits on video and in pictures, so they could be fused rather than canvassed for all I know.

On YouTube, this fella has posted a couple of videos offering clothing tips and style advice; one is about wearing a nice watch, where he shows off his fake Breitling for Bentley tourbillion watch and claims that it's real (the tourbillion brackets on the originals are slightly "A-framed", and the fakes are straight. I know the difference... I studied watches for years... the real ones also were "on sale" for $99,000), and one has to do with saying that button-down collar shirts should never be worn with a tie.

In my first-ever video blog, I debunk this myth, and explain why. Please enjoy.

Cheers,

Paul

More Brooks Brothers: Fall 2010

Here is the new video look-book for th Fall 2010 lineup at Brooks Brothers. Enjoy.

Brooks Brothers: An American Staple Since 1818

The American brand for nearly 200 years: your one-stop-shop for almost everything a man could possibly want.

A Little Piece of Americana

I wanted to share with you all a little something I picked up the other day. I was at one of those multi-vendor gift shops... you know the ones; not quite an indoor flea market, not quite a retail store, and not quite a yard sale... something different but strangely reminiscent of each. Some vendors sold antiques, some hand-made jewelry, some books and other assorted knick-knacks.

One glass case caught my eye. It had shelves that rotated with the touch of a button, displaying tie bars and vintage cufflinks and intricate costume jewelry. In the center of one shelf rested my new acquisition. This brass Levi Strauss & Co. belt buckle.

Now, I don't know how old this is... possibly 1970's, but it's incredibly cool and with Levi's new merchandising and design director Erik Joule (the man behind the collaborations with J. Crew, Opening Ceremony and more) continually adding excitement to the brand, I had to buy it. I definitely see old Levi Strauss collectables like this becoming more and more sought after. I had actually left the store and gone home, having been accompanied by one exhausted 4 year old, but when I couldn't get the buckle out of my head 3 days later I went back and rejoiced that it was still there. Mine.

This buckle is the type that one would see on one of those woven Boy Scouts type slide belts, as can be seen from the photo of the back. The problem is that all of the replacement straps I've seen since buying this buckle (including a pack containing 3 interchangable color options actually made by Levi's) are just a bit too wide, so I'll let you all know how it turns out after a visit to the Army & Navy store. Hopefully I'll be able to sport the buckle soon. I tried a leather belt strap that wasn't too wide, but it was far too thick for the hinge mechanism on the back of the buckle. I'll keep looking.

In the mean time, if anyone knows anything about the vintage of this particular buckle, let me know. I think it will be a perfect compliment to my growing wardrobe of heritage American items.

Until next time,

Cheers!

-Paul

Visual Style at Its Best

You know, say what you will about George Michael, but the man knows what people want to see. His gift for capturing a viewer's attention and playing with one's senses is uncanny. I was at a posh uptown party last night and found myself in a high-rise condominium overlooking the Charlotte skyline, which may very well be the coolest bachelor pad I've ever seen. I'm not going to go into too much detail except to say this: there was a laser/light show and a big TV mounted above the room playing music videos. One of the DVDs that the host put in featured music videos by none other than George Michael.
I thought this to be a pretty bold move at first, given the whole "lewd act" thing of a few years back, but considering that this particular condo probably got our host loads and loads of female... shall we say... attention, I watched. And watched. And realized that I'd forgotten how stylish this man's music videos were. Incredible attention is paid to color and movement, and even the shape of the models faces and hair styles contibute to the visual aesthetic of George Michael's music videos. Each frame of every video could make for an impressive photograph.
Check these examples out and see what I mean and you'll realize it too; the man has taste. Cheers!

Style In It's Purest Form

"Do not let others look down on you because you are young, but set forth an example..."

1 Timothy, 4:12

Okay... I know, I'm reaching, here. Forsaking context when quoting scripture. But this Biblical reference popped into my head tonight when my three-and-a-half year-old son approached me tonight with explicit instructions on how I needed to help him get dressed.

It has been snowing today, you see, and my wife asked my son if he'd let her take him walking in the snow. My boy, Benjamin, required very little consideration prior to issuing his reply. "Yes," Ben said. "I'll go get dressed." Benjamin ran upstairs to his room and began preparing himself to brave the cold as my wife did the same in our bedroom. A few moments later Benjamin ran back into our kitchen where I stood cooking, and said "Dad! I need your help!" I turned and looked down to see a very well put-together young man.

I asked him, "Did you pick out your clothes, Benjamin?" "Uhh... yeah," he replied. He may as well have said "duh," but his tone of voice said it loud and clear, so he stuck with the polite response. I asked what I could help him with and Ben explained that he wanted his scarf tied by folding it in half and pulling the two ends through the loop around his neck, so that the scarf's fire truck insignia could be displayed in the empty triangle where his denim shirt was unbuttoned, and since he was already wearing mittens, he needed me to zip up his outer jacket.

I did what he asked, and then looked him over. I realized that I had to take pictures to preserve the first moment where I had been schooled by my kid. My son knew exactly how he wanted his clothes to appear on him. He had his rubber Wellies (with frog faces on them) peeking out from the bottom of his corduroy cargo pants, his denim shirt peeking out from beneath his Lightning McQueen "letter jacket" hoodie, embroidered fire truck on his scarf sitting adjacent to the embroidered car on his jacket... I was impressed.

And then I realized that this kid has grown up watching me get dressed in the morning. He's shopped with me. He's paid attention to the way I've played around with color, and with layering, and with quirkiness. And then it hit me. Damn. This kid's got style. In fact, this is what style is all about. It's not that the outfit in itself is spectacular, but he's three, and here he has assembled an outfit of various articles of clothing all purchased at different times by different people. He put them together in a way that expressed his personality and he knew in his mind's eye precisely what function every component was to serve. He even told me how to tie his scarf. And this is a kid who has no concept of labels and designer branding... just a kid who understands the essence of what works and what doesn't.

We should all be so lucky.

Cheers!

-Paul

Esquire's Best Dressed Real Man Competition

Hello all! I have been meaning to enter Esquire Magazine's Best Dressed Real Man in America competition for the past 3 years, and for some reason have always seemed to miss the entry deadline. This year, I officially entered. I'm not sure how I'll fair, but the chance to win an IWC Portuguese wristwatch is enough for me to throw my name in the hat! I implore my faithful readers to check out the site at Real Man Profiles and give me your vote! Thanks so much. Here are a couple of the pics I posted. Thank you all for your patronage.

Cheers!

-Paul

An Earful of Style: Billy Joel

It's not about how he dresses. In fact, most of the later images of Billy Joel show him dressed in a black suit with a black t-shirt underneath; uber-monochromatic. But damn. Just listen to the soul in his voice, the perfection in the notes he chooses to play on piano, the emotion that comes through his voice, and the feeling that stirs inside of you when one of his songs comes on. Especially this one, Vienna. Tell me that ain't style. Cheers!

Style Icon: Alain Delon

Once hailed as the french James Dean and the male Brigitte Bardot, Alain Delon has always been stylish and exceptionally cool. He laid the groundwork for Matt Damon's role in The Talented Mr. Ripley, starring as Tom Ripley nearly four decades earlier in Plein Soleil (Purple Noon), the first adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's celebrated novel (The Talented Mr. Ripley).
Whether immaculately tailored or in leisure dress, Alain Delon always epitomizes style and looks comfortable and nonchalant in whatever he wears. He's a master of fit and proportion, which is probably why aside from acting, Alain Delon is known abroad for his stores which sell everything from perfume and cologne to finely tailored suits and wristwatches. Currently 74 years old, Delon is still a representation of impeccable style. Peruse these images, taken from all stages of Delon's career, and see for yourself. Cheers!