If ever you find yourself in Maine, on a whale-watching expedition or, perhaps more likely, a hunt for the country’s best lobster roll, you can now dress the part.

Rogues Gallery, a small label known for its vintage inspired t-shirts and ultra soft flannel button-ups, has just opened its first shop at 41 Wharf Street in Portland. Located in a 19th Century industrial building, the store’s wrought-iron entryway, concrete slab walls and pine plank floors reflect the antiquated aesthetic the brand is known for. The store will carry the entire men’s line, and we hear that a women’s line is also in the works.

Because there’s nothing sexier than a woman in flannel.

Apparently the Rogues Gallery folks have kept busy since we last checked in. They’re expanding beyond the world of brick and mortar into the magical world of online sales, with a few online exclusives to sweeten the pot.

For instance, these nautical hats, which should go well with those deck shoes we noticed a while back. There are also a few T-shirts, a key fob, and an inexplicably shiny bag available as exclusives, along with the rest of the nautically minded stock.

Happy sailing?

So far, the rise of workwear has mostly focused on the American Rust Belt, but there’s plenty of labor going on across the water too. Or should we say, labour.

Inspired by England’s Northeast coast, Norsea Industries comes at the blue-collar revival from a scrappier vantage, mixing steelworker denim with Member’s-only style jackets, vintage-inspired beachwear, and a nautical vibe that reminds us more than a little bit of Rogues Gallery. Apparently Yorkshire is quite the sartorial melting pot. After this, we’ll be sure to keep our eye on it.

After all, one post-industrial wasteland is as good as another.

Get a closer look at the line after the jump»

Modern style tends to be a bit too skewed to the urban, so it’s nice to see a good pair of creek boots every now and then…and nice to have companies like Rogues Gallery around.

They’ve been holed up in Portland, Maine, stubbornly resisting the lure of the city, ever since they launched. Luckily, they’ve set up a blog to let us city dwellers get a taste of the New England wilderness. The blog is called PTLDME (try here to skip the eye-catching intro), and they’ve been dropping bonus bits of inspiration there all month, like this snap from the Bailey’s Island photoshoot for their Spring lookbook.

See a few more shots here»

Those Colors Don’t Screen: A quick, patriotic demonstration in screen-printing from the folks at Rogues Gallery. [A Continuous Lean]

We Hardly Knew Ya: Less than a week into unofficial presidency, Obama is already making JFK look bad. [Gawker]

The Pen is Mightier: Luxist counts down the ten most expensive writing instruments on Earth. But you’ll still lose it after a week. [Luxist]

But How Will it Play in Fargo?: Chuck Klosterman sets his sights on James Bond. Usually that works the other way around. [Esquire]

We draw from a lot of sartorial wells, but it’s easy to lose touch and, if we’re really honest, it’s been a while since most urbanites saw buffalo check in its natural habitat.

If you were wondering, this is what it looks like. (And yes, that’s a Kalashnikov she’s carrying.)

Rogues Gallery pointed us to these local Maine characters. The woman is Carolyn Chute, an occasional militia leader who has just written a novel about “living off the grid in rural polygamist Maine.” Her well-bearded husband is an illiterate gravedigger.

Welcome to New England.

The two Portlands have gotten a lot of attention in the past year or so, so it was inevitable that a rivalry would pop up. And when a food site like Epicurious slips an item titled “Portland (Maine) is the New Portland (Oregon)” into its yearly trend roundup…it’s officially on.

See how the two stack up»

Nautical duds are nothing new, but we’re always glad to see a good idea take root.

In this case, that means Mister Freedom, a Paris-by-way-of-Los-Angeles marque, is releasing a line based on the ten years their mascot spent sailing the Indian Ocean. It’s all fiction, naturally, but they go as far as titling the line “The Last Cruise, the Salty Years,” which certainly rolls off the tongue better than “spring/summer ’09.”

As you might imagine, the clothes are pretty thoroughly broken in, but they’re also impressively well-chosen, ranging from peacoats circa 1910 to replicated U.S. Navy “jungle cloth” that was phased out in 1950. Not bad for archival work, but we still can’t see a deck hat without thinking of Gilligan…

See the line here»

GQ held their CFDA party last night, and there was no shortage of famous faces. This snap caught GQ’s Jim Nelson, Thom Browne and Andre Benjamin in the same frame, and it offers a glimpse of things to come. Nelson’s getup shouldn’t surprise anyone with a subscription—at this point, the slim suit-and-tie are nothing short of a dress code—but Mr. Benjamin’s Bogart-level beltline is one of the few moves that genuinely surprised us. He pulls it off perfectly…but we doubt anyone watching had the courage to try it out themselves.

See more of the scene»

Behind the Camera: Natalia Vodianova sets out to make her name as a lingerie designer. But who will they hire to do the ads? [Luxist]

And the Winner Is…: Robert Geller takes home the GQ/CFDA award, beating out Rogues Gallery and Benjamin Bixby. Oh well, Maine will rise again. [Material Interest]

Dressed like a Porn Star: Sasha Grey shares her fashion wisdom…which seems to involve a lot of fishnets. [BlackBook]

Wrestling with Success: Mickey Rourke continues to be a magnificent trainwreck. [Vulture]

Portland, ME just got the first real appraisal we’ve seen, courtesy of the ex-Gawker mapblog Gridskipper. Naturally, Rogues Gallery’s standalone shop comes out as a major point of interest, but we were surprised how much else there is in New England’s finest hipster enclave.

Take off to the great white north, take off»

Our latest favorite picture comes from Rogues Gallery’s latest lookbook, and it manages to sell us on Maine, screenprinting, and redheads all at once. (Not that we needed much convincing.)

Also, we don’t know who that bearded chap is, but we’re pretty sure we wouldn’t want him hanging over our bed.