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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.
We still love the analog life, but we might have been a little premature when we urged you to snag a clothbound notebook. After all, sometimes you want something a little bit more flexible.
These notebooks come from BillyKirk and Norwegian designer Ryder Robinson. We aren’t sure about the bee, but we’ve always thought there was something elegant about a writing pad with a bird on it.
American manufacturing has been hit pretty hard lately, but boutique brands have a little more flexibility…and at least some of them are staying put.
Of course, it’s hard to know for sure, so A Continuous Lean has put together The American List, a handy guide to which brands are manufactured stateside, and it’s required reading for anyone interested in modern Americana. It’s also a surprisingly short list.
Our favorites are Red Wing, Billykirk, and Engineered Garments, but it’s striking how much they all have in common. There’s a lot of denim, a lot of flannel, and a lot of weathered fabrics; it’s what you might call the American style.
At least, the part of it that isn’t made in China.
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.
Speaking of web retail, our old friends at Billykirk just put this leather-and-canvas overnighter for sale online. It’s American List-approved, naturally, but this is the first Billykirk item that seems like a complete item, rather than making the best of some amazing materials. From the pitch-perfect stripe of the canvas to the smaller rivets closing up the top, the usual industrial style is toned down just enough to stay under the radar.
The result is the only engineer-style bag we could imagine taking to the beach.
The taxidermy enthusiasts at Freeman’s Sporting Club in New York just unveiled a new belt with a little help from Billykirk. The vegetable dye gives it a lighter sheen than usual, which fits in with their frontier aesthetic just about perfectly…even if they always struck as suspender men.
A little known fact: before the temperance movement got a hold of it, root beer had some real kick to it. As in booze. And the folks behind Hendricks Gin are getting ready to bring the old hooch back.
The result is ROOT, an 80-proof version of the drink you remember from your tenth birthday party. We first sampled it at a recent BillyKirk party and were surprised at the result: somewhere between Barq’s and bourbon. The flavor’s all natural, distilled from organic sugar cane along with nutmeg, black tea and a handful of other spices, so it couldn’t be farther from the world of flavored vodkas. And because it comes from a cohort of Philadelphia crafties, everything from the label to the cork radiates homegrown scrappiness.
Plus, we hear it goes great with ice cream…
The rules of the flight bag are pretty simple: Keep it slim and keep it simple. If you do it well, you’ve got a
And in this case, BillyKirk did it very well indeed. This flight bag brings together waxed cotton and beautifully worn leather trim for a one of the better carryalls we’ve seen this year (at least of the ones that didn’t say Filson on them). Luckily, the retro vibe didn’t stop them from sizing it just large enough for a laptop.
But it should fit in that overhead compartment.
Who’d have thought a few tables of gear would cause so much ruckus?
Last weekend’s Pop-Up Flea (co-helmed by our esteemed editor, Mr. Randy Goldberg) has attracted the ire of some internet denizens, and it was enough to call forth this downright brilliant post from Put This On’s Jesse Thorn, defending well-crafted denim, designer interpretations of classic work shirts, and the Americana movement in general.
We’re not much for dwelling on the negative, but with all the accusations of bad faith, it seems healthy to bring things a bit down to earth.
Despite what Mr. Timberlake would have you believe, doffing a brimmed hat is still a pretty dandyish move. But as dandyish moves go, it’s one of the better ones.
This green felt trilby from BillyKirk isn’t that different from the one you might find in J.Crew, but the belted crown and forestry-ready coloring make it one of the more effortlessly Edwardian items we’ve come across in quite some time. And for 2010, the style makes quite a bit of sense.
We’re not sure if this means we’re headed towards duck hunting outfits and Gosford Park revivals…but it’s certainly not the worst that could happen.
