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A blog dedicated to the interesting, scandalous, useful and cutting edge in the world of men’s style, fashion and grooming.
An advance warning: This past June’s Pop-Up Flea is getting ready for a repeat performance from ACL’s Michael Williams and our very own Randy Goldberg. We’ll pass along more info on who will be peddling their wares soon, but expect some new names and fun offerings. In the meantime, we’d save the date. And, of course, prep yourself.
On the heels of Mr. Varvatos, the Swedish Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair has finally opened up an online shop. The prices, while not bad for a boutique brand, are also all in Kronor, so you’ll want to keep Google handy. (It’s 15 cents to the kronor, if you’re the calculator type.) There’s all the avant-Scandanavian gear you’d expect—drop crotch trousers, check; contrast patch dress shirts, check—but on the off-chance you aren’t signed on for the Swedish look just yet, there are still a few items ripe for broader appeal—these wool scarves for one. If Sweden can be counted on for one thing, it’s a good muffler.
As the economists say, it’s a recession when your neighbor loses his favorite vintage store and a depression when you lose yours. Well, we’ve got some bad news for you…
Houndstooth Vintage, one of Brooklyn’s best men’s vintage shops and our own personal Halloween costumer of choice, has closed up shop as of last week. You’ll still be able to get your hands on their goods by appointment through their blog—at the moment, they’re pushing a batch of vintage belts—but the days of stopping by in search of a vintage tux are over. Fare thee well…
In our all consuming quest to keep you looking your nattiest, it’s once again time for our monthly look at your face. Or at least the glasses sitting on it. With the help of our good friends Jordan and Erik from Silver Lining Opticians—our vote for the best specs shop in all the land—we’re going to bring you the vintage shades you should be wearing, one category at a time. And if something catches your eye, just shoot Silver Lining an email and they’ll set you up.
Whether they were skiing in the Alps with a pack of wild bunnies or playing a few sets of tennis with unthinkably small rackets, the athletes of the 70s lived it up pretty thoroughly, and they looked damn good doing it. Their gear can be hard to come by nowadays, but not if you’ve got a few friends in the business…
Boutiques are always better if there’s an element of transgression on display. Usually, that means putting your wildest gear out front, but it can also mean making the most of an outré address.
Nuzyn, Amsterdam’s latest boutique is taking the latter approach, setting up shop in a former brothel in the red-light district with most of the old fixings intact. It’s a good idea—and, depending on Nuzyn’s clientele, just plain convenient—but what about the city’s endangered red light district? After all, the last thing a house of ill-repute needs is a rent hike. And after the first boutique lands, the strollers can’t be far behind…
We’ve long been fans of Billy Reid’s finely tailored Southern menswear, so naturally we leapt at the chance to visit the designer’s new store and headquarters in Florence, Alabama. (He was relocating from Dallas.) As you might expect, the shop—just down the street from both a charming diner called Trowbridge’s and a more mysterious outfit called Guns-N-Such—boasts a cozy, relaxed atmosphere with plenty of exposed brick, finely detailed wood shelving, and, of course, a well stocked selection of shirts, trousers, shoes, and suiting. They were working on the shop right up until the opening—happily, you’d never know.
via ShophoundStarting today, Gilded Age graces Uniqlo with a few downmarket gems, and the fine folks at Shophound managed to get a few early pics. We thought it was a good catch when the collab was announced, and it looks even better now, particularly the red henley-ed sweater on the right. On your marks, get set…
New York’s Oak is taking a shot at recession-friendliness with their new mini-web store A.Ok.
Of course, there’s already an ongoing 60% markdown on a few items, but this particular corner of their online store is dedicated to finds under $100. For now, the men’s pickings are limited to t-shirts, slippers, sunglasses (like the quay shields pictured above) and the occasional duffel bag, but we hear there’s more in the pipeline, and if the women’s items are any indication, they should be worth the wait.
Our friends at UrbanDaddy just tipped us off to the latest J. Crew store opening in New York. It’s a lot like their Tribeca outpost, the Liquor Store, but they’ve got a few new tricks up their sleeve too.
For one, they’ve tempted Richard Haines, one of our favorite sketch-bloggers, to make an appearance at the store from noon to 2pm and 4pm to 6pm this Tuesday and Saturday. He’ll be making and handing out original sketches of whoever happens by, on whatever paper’s handy.
It’s not a bad idea: A good artist can be more trustworthy than a mirror if you’re trying to figure out whether that blazer’s a good fit.
The ironic pirate look has taken on a new meaning in the past couple weeks, but if the design for your latest pop-up shop is already in the bag, you may be stuck with a morbidly timely décor.
BAPE is more invested in ironic cachet than most brands, and it looks like it finally backfired on them. Their latest pop-up just debuted in Nagano with enough Disnefied pirate booty to stage Peter Pan, and we’re betting there are at least a few marketing folks wishing they’d gone with the “astronaut” look this time around.
This is a snap from the latest redesign of Louis Vuitton’s Omotesando store in Tokyo, but it should look familiar to anyone who’s caught the traveling Murakami retrospective that’s been making the rounds for the past year.
The wallpaper and central flower-ball are all taken direct from the exhibit where they worked to great effect…but we’re not sure if it’s quite what we want in a retail setting.
Speaking of far-flung style outposts, Fred Perry recently opened up an eastern flagship in Moscow, and it’s one of the best store designs we’ve seen in quite some time.
Of course, Moscow has seen better days, so the Fred Perry folks dig into the seedy past of the Eastern capital with oriental rugs and a secret exposed-brick shoe lounge. It’s not bad for the most British Brand on Earth, especially since one doesn’t usually associate Fred Perry with this level of luxury. But Muscovites might be too canny to buy into it.
Nice digs are always good, but we’re guessing they’re more used to getting those briefcases off a street corner.
When it comes to store openings, John Varvatos has basically never let us down. So now that his SoHo outpost has emerged from renovation, we figured we’d take a look. The result is a new emphasis on tailoring space, along with the same vintage rock stills and leather boots we all know and love.
The oatmeal-loving minimalist Richard Chai is getting another shot at retail, thanks to a well-timed popup shop. This time, he’s taking to his brother’s rotating hipster depot DEN, with a few choice items from his recent Paris shows hitting the racks for the next few weeks.
As for the goods, it’s a bit more dour than last time around, but that might just be a sign of the times. The pants are all heavily cuffed for a grittily urban effect—none of Thom Browne’s nerd-chic here—with a few well-sewn jackets to complete the effect.
And apparently, like everyone else, he’s holding onto his chucks.
Another beloved boutique is going online. This time it’s the bicoastal Opening Ceremony (hat tip to Men.Style), who bring together their house label and international trinkets like this tool kit from Postalco.
Best of all, the site itself is bright and, aside from a few artfully angular background shapes, remarkably pleasant to look at. Compared to the usually dour boutique sites—we’re looking at you, Odin—it’s positively summery.
Apple’s been pretty consistent with their store designs—hewing to the everything-looks-like-an-iPod school of interior design—but not everyone’s happy about it. Specifically, the kind souls in the Georgetown area.
In case you’re less familiar with our nation’s capital, Georgetown is the rigidly quaint high-rent district with lots that look more like J. Crew than Popular Science. So when the Jobs Army came a-knocking back in September ‘07, Georgetown’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission turned them down flat. But give them credit for persistence: in the intervening 18 months, they’ve submitted three more designs, each of which has been subsequently turned down.
We’re not entirely surprised. Apple’s sleekness and Georgetown’s nostalgia are pretty tough to blend, but the surprising thing is how well the sketches end up bringing them together. Apple still has one of the best design teams in the country, so if anyone can do it they can.
In our all consuming quest to keep you looking your nattiest, it’s once again time for our monthly look at your face. Or at least the glasses sitting on it. With the help of our good friends Jordan and Erik from Silver Lining Opticians—our vote for the best specs shop in all the land—we’re going to bring you the vintage shades you should be wearing, one category at a time. And if something catches your eye, just shoot Jordan an email and he’ll set you up.
Frames have been getting pretty round lately, but by our lights, the angular style of sunglasses is due for a revival, and the second time through should be a touch more accessible. Ladies and gentlemen, allow us to present…square-frame sunglasses.
While we heartily enjoyed our stay in Vegas, we couldn’t help but notice that as a style town…things are getting a little sloppy.
It’s not all that surprising. Having made its name on excess of every kind, we don’t expect the Las Veganese to suddenly embrace subtly refined tailoring or jackets that aren’t covered in fur…but it’s still much much worse than we thought. These snaps both come from the MGM Grand’s Bernini and offer a more serious warning than we ever could. It would be nice to try on, but you wouldn’t want to live there.
This year’s color is getting some new life thanks to a recently opened pop-up shop from the Gap hawking an exclusive Mimosa-colored t-shirt. They’ve got a near-complementary blue on-hand too…but for that you should probably just dig up last year’s model.
Manhattan can be a hectic place for the brick-and-mortar crowd—in both good and bad ways—but it’s nice to see what a brand does when it has a little more room to breathe.
On the heels of his recent Manhattan shop, our favorite southern tailor Billy Reid has just opened up a Nashville location, and it looks like the extra real estate was put to good use. Like the New York store, most of the furniture here is reclaimed from points south to give the place an anachronistic ambiance. But don’t be fooled: the business is entirely modern.
This is Reid’s seventh boutique and, other than the New York, they’re all in the South—from industrial Dallas to Reid’s hometown of Florence, Alabama. And while everyone can probably conjure up images of classic southern style—other than Colonel Sanders, that is—nobody’s been interested in becoming the Great Southern Designer. He has his work cut out for him.
High-end watches are a tough subculture to track, mostly because the good ones tend to be so rare as to require a trip to Italy. But if it’s just a trip to midtown Manhattan…
Panerai just opened up a Madison Avenue branch and, recession aside, their timing couldn’t be better. A Ferrari collaboration (available in store) and two years of high demand and low supply have transformed them into one of the most sought-after brands in the watch world.
Of course, for a product that prides itself on perfect efficiency, they wouldn’t skimp on a little in-store design…
West-coast boutiques are getting in on the online game too. The latest is Seattle’s Blackbird, which has brought some of our favorite brands to its new online storefront, including Opening Ceremony, Rag & Bone, and Acne Jeans. Of course, you could find most of these brands elsewhere online if you looked…but it’s always nice to have a well-chosen selection.
The eCommerce bug is spreading across the East Village at an alarming rate. The latest culprit is Cry Wolf, who launched a site this month to bring brands like Harmon, Cronicles of Never, and Public School to whoever is wise enough to log on.
To our eye, it’s only a matter of time before someone draws together all the boutiques Alibris-style and makes hard-to-find labels a thing of the past. But until that time, this’ll do pretty nicely.
Magazines may be hitting a few speed bumps in the U.S., but it looks like Brit mags are still having a jolly old time. They’re not just staying in print; they’re getting into brick-and-mortar.
Last time we checked in with Monocle, they were collaborating with Drakes for a set of British-made scarves for their online store, but it looks like they weren’t satisfied with staying online. PSFK informs us they’re branching out into a spot off London’s Marylebone High Street. They’ll have less than 100 sq ft to work with, but they’ll manage to fit in all their collaborations, including a fragrance with Comme des Garcons and a travel gear from Porter, along with some of the editors’ favorite swag.
Now that we’ve set you up with a moped, you may need a tougher jacket to get you through the occasional wipeout. After all, even the briefest brush with the pavement will leave your peacoat well and truly tattered.
Our friends at UrbanDaddy tipped us off Smith & Butler, a biker-inspired shop in Brooklyn that happens to have some of the best gear in the borough. Old favorites like Barbour and Belstaff should keep you protected while you’re riding, but there’s plenty else to check out while you’re here.
Brands like Filson, Pendleton and Pointer make up one of the best workwear collections you’ll find anywhere, alongside nautical sweaters from Saint James and some choice photography books from Rin Tanaka. Add in a few well-chosen vintage items, and you’ve got one of our favorite new stores.
Hopefully your moped makes it to Brooklyn.
Just when it seemed like things were cooling down for Takashi Murakami, the holidays roll around and everyone in retail goes completely insane.
In the case of Louis Vuitton, that means wrapping an entire store in a vinyl sheet imprinted with your latest pattern. As branding moves go, it’s hard to beat dressing up your store as an enormous handbag, although Marc Jacobs could still top it by tattooing his name across his forehead.
Mostly we’re just surprised they’re still standing by Takashi after so long. After all, the store doesn’t look that different from one of the walls at Murakami’s Brooklyn Museum exhibit when this whole crazy trip started off.
Maybe they’re in it for art after all.
As you may have noticed, things are a bit different in Japan. An American storefront means the usual hole in the wall—maybe one with a little history and exposed brick if you’re lucky. But apparently Japan has a little more flexibility on the retail end.
A.P.C. finally finished up their Kita-Aoyama store (with help from architecture firm Wonderwall), and it’s quite a sight. It’s less a store than an all-encompassing bungalow, with a touch of feudal-palace thrown in for good measure. It’s not quite as location-appropriate as their industrial-throwback Brooklyn outpost, but we know where we’d rather spend an afternoon. And if you want to pick up those pajamas in person, we can’t think of a better place to do it.
Part of the fashion industry has always been digging up interesting subcultures—from skaters to steampunk—and exposing them to the mainstream until they dry up into clichés. The trendhunters are always on the case…but we thought it would take them a little longer to get around to furries.
Exhibit A: The new window display at the always-new Paul Smith Union Square store. The previous display was a dose of Varvatos-y rockism, but apparently they were after something a little more underground.
Either that, or they’re trying to keep up with world opinion of Smith’s banker clientele. But we’re all mammals, aren’t we?
In our all consuming quest to keep you looking your nattiest, it’s high time we address your face. Or at least the glasses sitting on it. With the help of our good friends Jordan and Erik from Silver Lining Opticians—our vote for the best specs shop in all the land—we’re going to bring you the vintage shades you should be wearing, one category at a time. And if something catches your eye, just shoot us an email and we’ll point you in the right direction.
One of the secrets of vintage gear is nailing down a specific place and time. In the case of the plastic aviator, it’s the late seventies, when muscle cars, eight tracks and unreconstructed rock could all still pass as unironic. And, now that it’s being sported by celebs from Kanye to Tom Ford, the plastic aviator is enjoying a much deserved revival. Ranging from high-tech to faux-cheap, we’ve put together a list that can see you through beach weekends, skiing, and your usual daytime adventures. And, of course, they all look good with a mustache.
Last time we checked in with the Brit sophisticates at Monocle, they were getting into the newspaper business, but it turns out they sell more than just reading material.
Their online store has a whole range of collaborative products, including a hinoki-scented fragrance from Commes des Garcon, travel bags by the Japanese brand Porter, and even a Swedish bike. The newest addition is a scarf from Drakes, but from the sound of things, there’s plenty more in the pipeline.
It’s a bit odd for a boutique magazine to have an actual boutique tagging along, but we can’t say we mind. Most men’s magazines distinguish themselves by their taste in swag; why not put all that taste to work?
Our friends at UrbanDaddy gave us an inside peek at the latest J. Crew outpost in Tribeca, and it’s pretty impressive. Lower Manhattan can be a tough locale, especially for national brands, so for this spot they’ve approached things more like a boutique, flooding the store with collaborations, cross-branding, and plain old outside labels.
As we’ve noted before, cobbling’s a tough racket. And while we’ve seen a lot of good stuff come out of the UK, domestic shoe men are usually more interested in basketball than brogues.
We’re curious fellows here at Kempt, so we’re always up for a little rack-hunting.
To that end, we took a peek inside In God We Trust, a boutique split between New York’s SoHo and Williamsburg. Managed by designer Shana Tabor, the stores split their stock between the house label—mostly female, but with a few very tempting bags—and what Shana calls “like-minded brands.” The store and the label both project a kind of Newport bohemianism that comes off much easier than it sounds.
The trick, we suspect, is being selective.
Our friends at UrbanDaddy just turned us on to Assembly New York, a new vintage-plus boutique on the Lower East Side. Like their neighbors Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons, Assembly stocks a healthy selection of random objects to back up their more than formidable rack fodder. Our favorites include a ram-shaped bolo tie, four-eyed Chinese masks (an artifact of an earlier time, we’re sure), and enormous (but surprisingly sturdy) vintage corkscrews.
When a particularly good sale comes down the transom, we like to pause and take stock.
Manhattan’s Bblessing is giving up to 80% off this weekend to clear their shelves for spring. We’ve been fans for a while, and not just because of their clothes.
We’ve been fans of John Varvatos for some time, but his takeover of the old CBGBs space looks to be yet another feather in his cap, renovating the space with a lot of respect for the venue’s storied past. It’s not his fault the previous owners lost their lease, but he’s managed to keep a lot of the old spirit alive.
Here’s a few pictures we managed to snag, courtesy of our friends at UrbanDaddy.
The French brand Kitsune caught our eye with their spring collection, shown above. The name is Japanese for “fox”—hence the logo—and the designs are suitably multicultural. (For instance, the collar on that dress shirt seems distinctly Asian.) The brand doubles as an electronic music label, leading to one of the more confusing websites we’ve seen in some time.
They opened a flagship store in Paris a few weeks ago— 52 rue de Richelieu, for the curious—that will focus as much on their music as their clothing.
If last year’s overwhelming resurgence of Ray Ban Wayfarers taught us anything, it’s that in matters of eyewear, everyone looks cooler in old stuff. Earnest Sewn—the masters of coopting quirky-but-classic brands—will take the idea one step further and about a century back, when Moscot’s pop-up shop opens in Earnest Sewn’s MPD store this spring.
Paying homage to the New York eyeglass store that opened in 1915 (that’s a solid 22 years pre-Ray Ban and 68 years pre-Risky Business), the shop will offer Moscot’s Original eyeglass and sunglass frames, as well as two new, collaborative, limited edition styles: the Lemtosh Frame in Buffalo Horn and a new, lighter Blond. So you can take a little chance without running the risk of resembling 1985 Tom Cruise.
Hysteria! Loud noises!—Muji!Muji! Muji! Muji and more Muji! Blogs and buyers alike have been waiting with oddly baited breath (what, did Muji invest in Racked or something) for the opening of the minimalist lifestyle supplier to open up on Broadway and Grand. On Friday, the Muji-hideen got their chance to peruse the pop-up-store-sized version of what one customer termed the, “Ikea of Japan.” That evening, we nudged our way through the ironically high number of Japanese tourists to see what the maker of our favorite business card case might offer for the Kempt man. While the pickings were few among the tasteful eggshell teapots, there were a few bargains for the taking. More on Muji…
Portland, Oregon isn’t anyone’s first stop on the fashion tour, but the city’s style quotient got a much needed injection with the June 07 opening of Stand Up Comedy. A mix of women’s/men’s, Stand Up Comedy offers a remarkably hip lineup by any standard: Henrik Vibskov, Slow and Steady Wins the Race, Acne Jeans, and Pleasure Principle anchor the men’s side…
If it’s possible to add more sex to Vegas, we’re pretty confident there’s only one man for the job. Word is that Tom Ford, the designer who brought sexy back in the land of women’s attire before moving on to menswear, is opening a flagship in the heart of Las Vegas. The Gucci-rivaling storefront will be located in the new CityCenter development, right on the strip (of course).
Seems like an obvious next step from the man who brought us the G shaped bikini wax—a trend that, we have no doubt, really hit home in the City of Sin. The store is said to have a similar aesthetic as the original Madison Avenue location, but our guess is that they’ll be moving more merchandise in the new digs (it’s Vegas, after all). Las Vegas and Tom Ford—some things were just meant to be.
—A.P.
Next time you ask a fellow astigmatic where he got his frames, he might refer you to the tattooed opticians at SoHo’s new Silver Lining. Described by co-owner Jordan Silver as, “the first optical shop in New York, or anywhere for that matter, that has a definite masculine feel,” the boutique will offer a selection of over 6,000 vintage frames and 500 one-of-a-kind pieces for discerning four-eyed customers when it opens November 2nd.
Already known for partnerships with several fashion houses and the venerable Selima Optique, Silver has joined with certified optician Erik Sacher to “bring back the profession” of matching unique men with unique frames. Of course, you don’t need 20/40 vision to get in the door. Silver Lining will also be turning their eye for craftsmanship and rarities to classic sunglasses. Visit Silver Lining at 100 Thompson Street between Prince and Spring, on the web at silverliningvintage.com or call 212-274-9191.
—G.B.
