Salt of The Earth: It’s fun to dress like a laborer when you don’t have to lift a finger. [NYTimes]

It’s a Cinch: Our mental jury is still out on this drawstring-hem t shirt. [Carrying Contraption]

Rope A Dope: According to this, Monroe-wannabe Lindsay Lohan’s sobriety is hanging by a thread?a resonating, energy-balancing thread. [SheFinds]

Tough Love: After banning Cathy Horyn, increasingly pissy Giorgio Armani has some choice words for Anna Wintour. [NYMag]

Big and Tall: After doing his best Dr. J impression, Will Ferrell indulges in some Charles Barkley. [Style Dash]

“Why Does Everyone Hate Hipsters?”: Um, because they’re hipsters? [LAist]

Politics as Usual: Sharia Law has nothing on campaign dress codes. [NYTimes]

Gisele Wears Naught But CGI Water: Damn you, Photoshop! [Popcrunch]

Sonia Rykiel Closes Men’s Line: And we’re not going to stop her. [VogueUK]

Blue-Blood Style: 2108 Vintage releases sweaters for those Ivy League shits who’ve been making your life miserable (not that we’re bitter for being waitlisted). [AnimalNY]

Blue-Collar Style: Way on the other side of the economic spectrum, our boy at ACL revels in 1940’s workwear. [A Continuous Lean]

“Why Are Straight Men Seeing Sex and the City”: They are? Really? Are you sure? [Gawker]

Cannonball!: Finally, some good advice on swim trunks. [Hint]

Deal Alert: Get down to Opening Ceremony and Acne you dirty, dirty hipster. [Racked]

Functional clothing has a built-in authenticity, whether it’s factory denims or riding boots. And as far as sincerity goes, work boots are one of the highlights. And not just because they’re indestructible.

Red Wing has been a favorite of ours ever since we saw it pop up in the J. Crew Tribeca store, but apparently we’re getting another crack at them at David Z. The white soles are a nice touch, but the real draw here is the tough leather and rugged construction. With the right care, these will last forever and withstand almost any conditions.

And they look like it.

Speaking of workwear, we’re drawing perilously close to cold weather, along with seasonal appropriateness for our favorite piece of lumberjackwear, the flannel shirt.

This one’s from Penfield—also a solid spot for your coldest-day-of-the-year winter coat—but if you don’t feel like checking online, we recommend a trip to your local vintage outfit. Vintage stores do flannel better than anything else, and you’ll end up with something more offbeat than anything you could find firsthand…as long as you don’t mind sewing up a hole or two.

Photographed by our fearless lensman, Patrick McMullan.

Good old Julian Schnabel. The minute everyone started copying his signature pajama look, the larger-than-life art world provocateur shelved ‘em in favor of something even shabbier.

The other night at a screening of nouveau western Appaloosa hosted by the Cinema Society and Vanity Fair, Schnabel showed up to rub elbows and such with Jessica Lange in a plaid flannel shirt and a pair of board shorts.

We’re sure this is just a temporary measure until the p.j. trend cools off a bit. Of course, since flannel workwear shows signs of a flare-up as well this season, he may be out of the frying pan and into the fire, sartorially speaking.

via Dan Mendell/NYT

The Times has an unusually thoughtful piece by Justin Porter today about skateboarding shoes. Because the skateboarders tear up shoes so quickly, Porter says they tend for flashier, more disposable pairs, even if they aren’t much cheaper. That caught our eye as the opposite of workwear, where the need for durability means more rugged materials like denim, canvas and metal come into play.

Another point is that this makes skateboarders ripe for sponsorship—Porter refers to some skaters being “on flow,” meaning they get a steady stream of free shoes from a particular company—but we aren’t sure this makes their shoes more important. If anything, they’re so disposable that the kids don’t mind making them billboards.

And what good is a sponsorship if your shoes are being ripped to shreds?

Our love of workwear finally made it into print today, with an article in the New York Observer quoting both our esteemed editorial director Randy Goldberg and Continuous Leaner Michael Williams.

Of course, Kempt’s contribution to the article—“there’s something stylish about the idea of punching the clock and feeling like the average American man”—was delivered from the deck of the Kempt yacht, while we bathed in cognac and ate strawberries covered in gold.

Ah, the blogging life.

The denim shirt may seem a little behind-the-curve these days, but we think it’s ripe for a comeback—especially given the trend pieces we see in the paper.

This one comes from Wrangler, with a little help from N.Hoolywood. It looks like it paid off. The stitching on the front pockets, combined with the high shoulder patches and smooth wash make this the best western shirt we’ve seen in some time.

Also, although you can’t see it in the picture, the cuffs are held together by no less than four different snap-buttons. No wonder the Selectism folks are so excited. So are we.

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»

Like its cousin the workshirt, the smock doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

This one comes from the folks at Norsea, and between the well-seasoned fabric and the diagonal-striped panel in front, we’re ready to call it one of the best showroom pieces we’ve seen all year. Put this under a roughly worn suit, or maybe even a three-piece, and you will have pulled off the formal workwear look to perfection.

Naturally, there’s no collar required.

The fine folks at Remington just alerted us to the fact that November is National Beard Month, which got us thinking about the mountain man look, in addition to making us wonder exactly how high the bar is for national month-long holidays.

Of course, the grooming end of workwear has always been amenable to a little well-trimmed stubble, but a full Morrison-style chin-hanger requires the kind of dedication you don’t see much outside of hipster enclaves anymore. It may not make your HR director happy, but that’s just the price you pay.

If you think you’ve got the follicles for it, feel free to live the dream.

A Continuous Lean’s Japan jaunt has unearthed a lot of good stuff, but this is our favorite so far.

Classic Americana brand Red Wing has been making this model for the Japanese model exclusively. Of course, it’s still stitched together in good old Red Wing, MN, but it’s a little stocker and smaller to accommodate Japanese feet. And, of course, we imagine it looks quite a bit different in a culture that’s more used to sneakers and oxfords. Stuff like this is rugged enough too be eye-catching in Los Angeles. We can’t imagine what they make of it in Tokyo.

A closer look»

As expected, Japan is already making a play to be the go-to source for Americana. Exhibit A: the latest line from Tokyo-based Hare, which delves into both workwear and the previously unnamed mountainwear, which consists mostly of flannel and nylon vests.

As is becoming the rule with Japanese designs, it’s familiar but stripped down enough to seem a few steps ahead of the stateside curve. There’s a lot of emphasis on scarves and boots, but somebody has to pick up the accessory slack.

More from Hare»

One of New York’s most influential boutiques just made the leap to the internet, and we’re happy to say they’re in fine form. Eddie Chai’s Odin has had ecommerce on the mind for a while, but they finally managed to take their extremely local operation—East Village, to be specific—to a national scale.

That’s not to say we expect Iowa City to get nattier overnight, but it matters that Chai’s impeccable selections are now available to anyone who cares enough to punch in the url. And the site offers a lot more than just a box for your credit card number. In addition to lookbooks for each featured designer, the site features remarkably in-depth interviews to give you a sense of why each designer was chosen. It’s the kind of thoughtful curation that our corner of the web desperately needs.

More on our new favorite shop»

Of all the boots we’ve talked about, this is pretty near the top of our list. From New England’s own L. L. Bean (American List-approved!), this Maine Hunting Shoe is one of the original creek-walkers, and the basis for a small mail order empire.

And if you know someone’s shoe size well enough, it might not be a bad thing to leave on their doorstep in a month or two…

We’ve been pushing Yuketen Boots (and the occasional imitator) for a while now, but it looks like the plaid-fortified work boot may be growing into a full-fledged trend.

These Rehancer boots swap the gray tweed-ish pattern for something closer to flannel, but it’s a familiar look. Unlike normal work boots, these are probably trouble if you wear them with actual flannel…but otherwise it’s just making a woodsy boot even woodsier.

Flashing Lights: The European take on workwear is more…fluorescent. [International Herald Tribune]

The Knot: Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen finally make it official. Does this mean they’ll have to stop living in sin? [People]

Mental Sprawl: Forbes counts down the most expensive fictional homes, which is pretty much all we can afford these days. [Forbes]

All Things to All People: Ralph Lauren Rugby, Metropolitan, Michael Williams, and Jared Paul Stern: it’s a Kempt quadfecta! [Luxist]

Occasionally Forgiven: Clint Eastwood makes it through a Vanity Fair photoshoot without giving up a nip slip. [Vanity Fair]

Groceries and Liquor: Whisky continues to be a bull market…and it’s not even Friday yet. [Luxist]

Bug Off: Starship Troopers goes the PSA route. [Jezebel]

The Big Time: Workwear comes to the weekly newsmag, courtesy of Michael Williams. [A Continuous Lean]

Suit Up: A calm, mathematical reaction to the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. There’s a first time for everything. [Daily Intel]

Do You Have Anything in Flourescent Yellow?: Esquire gives advice on the best gear to wear on a construction site…and happens to recommend some of our favorite brands. [Esquire]

Protect Your Neck: For no particular reason, the top ten hit jobs in cinematic history. Get ready to see a lot of ruined suits. [Vulture]

Valentine’s Insurance: 10 solid movies about unfulfilled love, just in time to put on your Netflix queue and have in your hands by Saturday. Don’t say you weren’t warned. [TakePart]