Duran Duran

Here's another one of our outdoor locations; this is outside our back door, in front of the awesome wall of bamboo that towers over the property line. This is on the second floor of the building and you can see that the bamboo extends well above where I'm standing. When it's windy it makes the most beautiful rustling sound.

And yes, I tucked my tie into my shirt. It wasn't quite the way Duran Duran used to do it (owing to the fact that the shirt has a zipper up the front instead of buttons), but hey, it worked for me.

As an aside, Mark and I saw Duran Duran live at the Fillmore a few weeks back, and they were awesome. They looked great, they sounded great, and it was a blast to see them at such an intimate venue. Back in the day I saw them at the Oakland Coliseum, which involved considerably more shoving and being squashed than I could ever deal with these days. The recent show was far more civilized; you can tell an audience is mostly 40+ when the cocktail waitress can walk right through the crowd and deliver drinks all the way up at the front.
















Blazer: Helmut Lang
Shirt: J. Peterman
Tie: thrifted
Harem pants: Vera Wang
Sandals: Kors Michael Kors

Relaxed Suit

Sal wrote recently about this season's thriftable trends, and mentioned velvet as one of them. And what did I find during my most recent thrifting experience? This cropped velvet waistcoat by J. Crew (coincidentally, the shirt is also a thrifted J. Crew find). To me this is a great way to wear velvet -- I'm not so keen on a whole dress made out of the stuff (not since the 80's, anyway), but a waistcoat or blazer adds that soft texture and sheen without dominating the outfit. I totally forgot to photograph the adorable back of the waistcoat, but I'll show it to you the next time.

The waistcoat is a deep chocolate brown, which is more apparent in the detail shot. The back is a striped yellow, black and brown silk, the sort of pattern you might find on a man's tie or lining a suit jacket. The mixture of the menswear shape and back of the vest with the feminine texture of the velvet gave me the idea to pair it with trousers and the casual waffle-weave shirt in order to give the outfit the appearance of a relaxed suit. Instead of an actual tie, I added the scarf and let it hang straight down the center just as a tie would do. If it were a little less bulky I'd have tucked it under the waistcoat, but I didn't want to look like I have a beer gut.

By the way, I tied the scarf using the first technique I demonstrated in my video tutorial.

Shirt, waistcoat: thrifted
Scarf: Banana Republic
Pants: Anthropologie
Boots: Bronx

Suffer for Fashion

The original kernel of inspiration for this outfit was, "shorts with an oversized blazer," which ended up being a great starting point for building this look. I'm sure I got the idea from somebody's blog but at the moment my head is too wrapped up in other things to remember which one, so if it was yours, please stop in and take credit.

I love the fact that you could pretty much swap this whole outfit (maybe minus the tights) onto a boy and it would look equally good. And while we're on the subject, why can't boys wear tights, anyway? If they want to wear shorts on cooler days they just have to freeze, and that hardly seems fair. Oftentimes for the men photographed by the Sartorialist, even socks seem to be out of the question. Those poor guys, with their frozen legs and blistered, sweaty feet. And people say that women suffer for fashion.

Jacket: Nanette Lepore, thrifted

Shirt: J. Crew, thrifted

Waistcoat: Last Kiss

Shorts: Mango

Tights: Falke

Boots: Doc Martens



Over and Under

Clearly with all the layers and tights I've got going on in this outfit, this was worn before our little heat wave began (which, by the way, is already pretty much over). This is the first time I've worn this yellow tie; I think I bought it more than a year ago but somehow I just hadn't yet found the right outfit for it until now.

This is another of the new vests I bought recently from Forever 21. My original idea for this vest was to wear it with the off-white dress I posted yesterday, but it's so narrow at the top that it really needs to be paired with something that has sleeves. I liked the effect of the black layers mingled with the gray; because there are black layers over as well as under the dress, it has sort of an optical illusion effect, as if you can't tell which pieces are separate and which are one. If you look carefully at the hem, you'll see that I also had my black and white polka dot skirt on under the dress.

The "belt" is just a wide piece of grosgrain ribbon, which I added in order to emphasize my waist. 

Dress: Red Dress Shoppe

Tie, skirt: thrifted

Vest: F21

Shirt: H&M

Tights: MP (via Sock Dreams)

Shoes: Tsubo

Redundant

Here's the third wearing of these shorts (see the first two here and here), and the next on my list of ideas for ways to wear them. I've still got one more idea I'm wanting to try, and that's pairing them with suspenders and oxfords (which I still have yet to get stretched to the correct width). You'll see that one soon enough, I'm sure. I don't know what the hell I'm going to do once I've run through all these ideas. Actually that's not entirely true; I still have other ideas for these shorts, but the other items involved in those outfits are too wintry even for this very chilly SF summer.

The goal with this outfit was to wear my polka dot tie. When I put this together I fretted that I've already worn this shirt and tie together several times before, but upon perusing the archives I realized that the tie has most often appeared paired with my Max Studio black V-neck top, and has in fact only been worn with this striped shirt one other time. Whew! I thought my outfits were starting to get redundant.

Shirt: Promod
Tie: thrifted
Shorts: White House Black Market
Boots: Modern Vintage

Uniform

This outfit was inspired by Rad_in_Broolyn's recent Angus Young look. I'm not a huge fan of AC/DC, but I must admit I've long been drawn to Angus's English schoolboy uniforms. This outfit wasn't a literal translation because it was too warm that day for a blazer, but I think it captures the vibe pretty well.

These cropped pants were actually in the bin to go to the Goodwill because I hadn't worn them in quite some time, but after getting inspired to do an Angus outfit I pulled them out again. I used to have a matching blazer as well, but I never could bring myself to wear the two together because it looked too, well, uniform-ish. It would have been perfect for this outfit, although I'm sure I would've balked at the last minute. There are limits to just how much of a costume I'm willing to wear, and anyway the jacket just wasn't a very flattering cut.

Shirt: Promod
Vest: A. Byer
Tie: thrifted
Pants: H&M
Socks: Sock Dreams
Shoes: John Fluevog

Here are a couple more Georgie outtakes from the day's photos:

Georgie channels many different animals. Here you can see her "seal" look on the left,

and her "fruit bat" look on the right.

Frankenstein

For quite awhile I had my eye on these Jeffrey Campbell shoes:

But then I saw these...

aaaand finally these....

Hey, it's not like you didn't already know I was a shoe fiend.

Now, early on I ruled out the Potion sandals (the top pair), for a few reasons. For one thing, open-toed shoes are tough for me, and I figured that with all those straps there'd be plenty of opportunities for pain. And then, I'm not super comfortable with a solid wedge that's that high -- I think they look great on other people but I have a thing about my feet looking like Frankenstein's, which I fear they might in those. And finally, everybody seemed to own that pair, and I didn't want to be like everybody.

When I saw the Clinic wedges (the second pair), I was really in love. They solved the problem of Frankenstein feet because the metal siding makes it look like the wedge isn't such a massive hunk o' shoe, and they obviously solved the problem of the open toes. But by then they were sold out everywhere, and there was just no tracking down a pair in my size. So I used Solestruck's nifty feature of an automatic email notification if/when my size became available again, and kept looking.

At last I found the X-Ray boots, the third pair, the one that wasn't too hot or too cold but juuuust right. Bless you, Jeffrey Campbell, for making so many variations on this style (there's also a tall boot version, a clog, and a mary jane!). With these there are no Frankenstein block-feet and no skin-scraping open toes. As an added bonus, you can tuck jeans into them. Though they were also sold out at the online shoe retailers, I found a brand new pair in my size on eBay without any trouble, and a happy ending was made.

I wore my towering wedges to work last week and achieved a full 6'1" height, causing multiple coworkers to do double-takes and one of my employees to cower in fear when I stood up from my desk (I'm pretty sure he was only half joking). Because these shoes have the potential to look a bit over-the-top, I wore them with jeans (tucked in, of course!) and a relaxed menswear blazer/tie combo.

These shoes are, believe it or not, remarkably comfortable. Though the angle looks steep, they don't really feel any taller than a regular heel. There was one interesting drawback though, and that was driving my car. Though my legs grew by 5 inches, my arms certainly didn't, so while I could slide the seat back to a comfortable position for the pedals, I had to stretch my arms to their fullest extent to reach the steering wheel. Next time I'm definitely driving in flats and changing when I get there.

In the end I loved these shoes so very much that when I eventually got a notification from Solestruck letting me know that the Clinics were back in stock, I snapped them up too. The Clinics are going to be a little more challenging to wear because they're a bit more daring than the X-Rays, but nevertheless I'm pretty excited about the possibilities for bad-assing up my bare-legged summer outfits.

Blazer: Nanette Lepore (thrifted)
Tie: thrifted
Shirt: Max Studio
Jeans: Acne
Boots: Jeffrey Campbell

Lunch Meeting

I wore this outfit when I went to lunch with gorgeous fellow bloggers Sonja and Jennine from The Coveted and Tami from fête à fête. Yes, that's how far behind I've gotten with my outfit posts -- I wore this on December 18. Thankfully Jennine was on the ball and posted about our meet-up in a much more timely fashion.

Since I was having a lunchtime meeting, I figured what more appropriate than a tie? I've really grown to love the look of a tie, and I'm inspired to try to thrift a few more in the coming months. Some pointers on wearing a tie without looking too androgynous:

• Make sure there's at least one piece in the outfit that looks feminine. In this case, it was the fitted, short-sleeved jacket. While the plaid print and neutral color scheme are harmonious with the menswear look, the shape is figure-defining.
• Don't tie the tie too perfectly; keep it a bit sloppy as if you're truly wearing your boyfriend's clothes. This was an easy one for me since I really am quite inept at tying a Windsor knot.
• In the same vein as the point above, keep the outfit slouchy and relaxed looking, even if the individual pieces are tailored. I left the jacket unbuttoned, and let the cropped pants bunch up around the tops of the boots as if they came untucked on their own.

My outerwear was this lightweight, hooded black jacket with gray piping. The day turned out to be one of those glorious San Francisco winter days where you barely even need a jacket at all. We seem to be blessed with a lot of them in November and December, which makes up for the fact that we don't get much of a summer.

Short-sleeved jacket: A. Byer
Tie: thrifted
Top: Max Studio
Pants: Noa Noa
Boots: Modern Vintage
Coat: Liso Bono

Louis XIV

Well, I really went for it with this outfit -- the tie, the crazy bell-sleeved, bustled shirt, the stripey socks -- and what do you know, my coworkers actually noticed! I got several compliments on this one, as well as a few admiring looks (at least, I took them to be admiring). Amazingly, I didn't even plan this outfit in advance; it just came to me in the morning while I was getting ready.

I thought this outfit was an interesting blend of modern menswear and a 17th century court vibe. Those big elaborate sleeves paired with the cropped pants and heels made me feel like one of Louis XIV's subjects. This was a really fun outfit to wear.



Vest: Last Kiss
Shirt: All Saints
Tie: thrifted
Pants: Noa Noa
Socks: Sock Dreams
Shoes: Tsubo

Breaking the Tie Barrier

So last week I wore a tie to work. It represented something of a final frontier for me, since it's one of the few articles of clothing I had never worn to the office. Another is a corset, but I assure you it won't be for long -- I've got an outfit all lined up, and as soon as this spell of unseasonably warm weather is over, out it comes. The tie is one that I bought to wear at Burning Man, but I thought that with the polka dots it was just too cute to relegate only to costume wear.

I really liked this outfit, although it did feel a bit Michael Jackson-y, which I don't consider to be a good thing. Don't get me wrong, I think his music is great, but I just don't get why everyone is suddenly so in love with him now that he's dead. If I were a conspiracy theorist I'd swear he faked the whole thing, because frankly this is some of the best press he's had in years. It's as if the last couple of weird and creepy decades of his life were magically erased, and he's now forever frozen in time back in the good old Thriller days, when he still had a nose. I don't get it.

Anyhoo, let me tell you about these pants. I've had them for ages and ages, and even though I wear them infrequently, I keep them around for a couple of important reasons. First and foremost, they have a lot of interesting detailing that makes them somewhat irreplaceable; I just love all the snaps, the riding-style panels on the inner thighs, and the tabs on the back of the calves with multiple snap positions that allow me to adjust the fit and flare. But also, they represent a time in my life when I was really starting to figure out what looks good on me, and when I was learning to appreciate unique quality items such as this. At the time, this was the most I'd ever spent on a pair of pants, but now, years later, I'm glad I took the plunge and invested in them. Incidentally, the main reason I don't wear them more is that they're a bit short for my liking, nor is there enough fabric to let the hem out. But since the tops of these shoes are black anyway, they worked fine with this outfit.

Having broken through the tie barrier, I feel emboldened to play with this look some more, especially since menswear is going to be a strong trend this season. Perhaps I'll throw a cravat into the mix before the winter is out, or even an ascot!

Top: Max Studio
Tie: thrifted
Pants: Elie Tahari
Shoes: vintage

Hoist Your Freak Flag

For awhile now I've been hounding Mark to create some guest posts for my blog, firstly because men's fashion is sorely underrepresented in the blogging world, and secondly because I'm trying to bring some variety to the blog by sprinkling in guest posts and other features in addition to the daily outfits. So without further ado, here is Mark's contribution.
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Very little separates one shirt or pants, or even shoe from another, and visitors from other planets would conclude that most every male human shops for clothes at exactly the same three places. I was at a festival this summer on the Central Coast, and I noticed that the guys were almost lockstep uniform in their expression of individuality. Through clenched teeth I muttered that the sight of one more RVCA hoodie and generic graphic t-shirt was going to send me over the edge. I had visions of sabotaging them with Supersoaker filled with highlighter pink paint, the way animal rights activists stain baby seals to keep furriers from clubbing them to death.

Fortunately, I live in a San Francisco where people can wear literally whatever they want and not be a freak. Well, at least if they are they have plenty of company. Guys not only can get away with wearing things outside of the proverbial box, it is encouraged. There are plenty of local designers to fill a growing demand for creative stuff that doesn’t look like it came from a mall or a department store, but also isn’t cheesy costume wear. Another source to find unique and interesting looks is in combining vintage items with new ones.

I confess it’s taken me a while to work up the nerve to be a little different. I might be noticed (gasp). It’s best done gradually so as not to shock the cerebro-nervous system and cause painful separation anxiety with your current wardrobe, most items of which look just like the next one. One example of versatile and colorful menswear I found not long ago is a vintage, early to mid 1960’s suit. It was deadstock, meaning it was still brand new, never worn, and older than I am. The blazer is a dark yellow plaid pattern with green and blue pinstripes, and the pants are a solid dark gold. I found it by chance, and it fit as though it had been custom tailored for me. Women seem to know more than men do when clothing is just meant to go live with them. This was one of those.

The suit is remarkably versatile, and by mixing different combinations I can get at least a half dozen or more outfits with it. First, it works great as a suit with a solid matching shirt and color-compatible tie, and a pair of vintage oxblood wingtips – all of which I found at thrift stores. Secondly, the suit can be casualized such as pictured with a pair of jeans, a blue-striped Nautica shirt, and a pair of red and green John Fluevog shoes.
Also shown here, it can be dressed up modern-like with a pair of new Heathen jeans with a side-stripe, a black & yellow striped Marimekko shirt, and classic black boots by Frye. Even the look of the matched jacket and pants of the suit changes dramatically with a bolder shirt and contrasting tie, such as the pictured red-white vintage shirt. To completely change the look, I swapped the jacket for a vintage teal one, and slipped into some dark brown modern Rockports.

Shopping for vintage clothing or even thrifting is mostly an exercise in patience and training your eyes to see past the mountains of crap, but it's worth the effort.