For Emily Whenever I May Find Her

For a very special friend on her 19th birthday. Hope you have a wonderful day & stay warm! Love you, buddy!

January White Sale

Just back from 2 weeks in Cancun (wink, wink); sorry for any disruption this may have caused. Hope all is well with you. At least two loyal followers have asked if anything was wrong. I say, no not really; I've just had my head in the sand for a while, and now it's good to pull it out and smell the coffee. After a while, you run out of easy things to say. Truthfully, I've spent a lot of time looking at watches online lately.

Here are some of the watches I have been admiring in my tour of the duty-free shops:

Steinhart Marine Chronometer

Sewill's Ark Royal Marine Chronometer

Muhle Glashutte 29er

Muhle Glashutte 29er Chronograph

P.S: Here are some of the girls I was at the beach with:

Gucci Loafers

I have wanted to write a post about this shoe for some time. Back in the day as I was coming through my twenties and primarily only comfortable with brown shoes, this was the only black shoe in my wardrobe. Now there are plenty of black shoes. Still this one stands out as a classic. A go-to shoe for almost any occasion. I can live without Belgians and without slippers. The Gucci horsebit loafer I could not. Rank this as a "must-have."

And while these trousers are much too long and the Gucci's are snakeskin, still there is plenty of swagger in this photo, so I include it anyway:

Cheers.

Are You Going to Scarborough Fair?

In my travels I came upon the latest issue of Vanity Fair online.

A 1955 Morgan +4 Drop Head Coupe

Can you say, "WOODY?"

While initially intrigued by the majesties of Ralph Lauren's stable of vintage automobiles, I stuck around long enough to read this fascinating article about Zsa Zsa Gabor:

Zsa Zsa with her 10th husband, Prince Frederic

Frederic, as captured by the paparazzi, July, 2010.

Ribbon Belts

Photo courtesy of MisterCrew

Here is a nice photo of what I had in mind when I mentioned ribbon belts in my previous post. Of course, you can find these at a lot of places, including J. Press and the Andover Shop. Lately I have had very good luck with Eliza B. at Leatherman.

Photo courtesy of Leatherman

Photo courtesy of Leatherman

Needlepoint Belts

Sorry, I have been away for a while, figuratively if not literally, celebrating my birthday. While I was away, we have gained a new follower, and the subject of needlepoint belts came to mind.

I have long been familiar with ribbon belts and surcingle belts, both cotton and wool, but until I moved to St. Louis, I was not familiar with needlepoint belts. That is to say not familiar with their prevalence and their symbolism. Suffice it to say that I have been sufficiently educated in the meanwhile.

Even as of this writing I do not yet own one, but I have one in the making and it is being carefully stitched by my favorite beltmaker who resides outside of Chicago, Illinois. And someday (probably next year at Christmas) it will be showcased here.

For those of you with less patience, there are at least two retail opportunities to get in on this craze. One is Tucker Blair, the other is Smathers & Branson. Happy hunting!

Peal & Co. Raywood

I'm thinking of pulling the trigger on this one and thought I'd give the faithful an opportunity to weigh in.

The pros: I remember this shoe from back in the day, as I was graduating out of Bass Weejuns into suits and dressier things. I thought Brooks Brothers had stopped carrying it. Perhaps this is a revival of some kind or maybe I just haven't been paying attention. At any rate, the shoe has a great versatility to it and can go from very dressy to quite casual. Looks great after breaking in, antiqued with a little black polish.

The cons: well, all the usual things, including low funds post Christmas and the fact that they don't have my size. I wonder if I dare order a half size down.

As I was wandering around doing research on this post, I came upon this great artifact, courtesy of Mister Crew, proving once and for all that Brooks Brothers shoes sold under the Peal banner, really are "in name only."

Hammer Time

Speaking of neckties, Will over at ASW is having a special on custom made Capelli neckties. Go see Will and tell him I sent you.

And speaking of specials, if you like monk straps, The Brethren have this lovely Peal's number at $195. Hard to beat.

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

I must admit that I am a devotee of Morning Joe on MSNBC. This morning, during the final "What Have We Learned Today" segment, CBS' Leslie Stahl gave a shout out to her daughter's apparel company Little Barrel.

I know that Vineyard Vines came first, still these are pretty nice.

Sensible Shoes

Gokey Sauvage Oxfords from Orvis, on sale now for $169.

Shirtings - Addendum

Just a brief addendum, and then I promise I won't bore you with any more of this. When I wrote about shirt rotation the other day, I left out two fabrics. The first of these, the large blue check, is a newfound favorite. The second, the lilac houndstooth, came to me by way of Toad's comment on my 1-1-11 post.

Toad asked about purple. I really think about Lilac or Lavender. I've noticed it's a very tricky color to get just right. But for those of you who are interested, here's one I'd like to try:

Ghurka vs. Mulholland

Today, while doing research for my other website , I came upon a site which provided links to its competitors. Now, I hate to admit this, but I found the competitors' links more noteworthy. To that end, here are two competing companies, two competing duffels for your perusal. The first is by Ghurka:

The second by Mulholland:

I have owned products by Mullholland; I don't believe I have ever owned a Ghurka bag. To me they seem pretty similar. If you look at their websites you can see that they seem to feed off of one another in terms of design influences. How you would choose between these two may have more to do with your own worldview than anything else. Me, I take a different view: they are both too damn expensive.

Probably a better way to go would be a canvas tote or duffel from L.L. Bean, Wm. J. Mills or Beckel Canvas Products.

Much of what I write about here isn't just to provide information to the public. A lot of the time (and this is especially true of the links) it is to provide a record of the places I have been on the web: a Hansel and Gretel roadmap of breadcrumbs on how to get back to the interesting places I have found quite by accident.

Thos. Moser

"This above all, to thine own self be true . . . ." Whether you realize it or not, this blog is about craftsmanship, the value it, and how it is a dying art in this great country, No one in my mind epitomizes an adherence to this ethic more than Thomas Moser of New Gloucester, Maine. and how this determined man left behind a professorship at Bates College, took out a small 1/8th column ad in the New Yorker and started building shaker furniture to his heart's delight. He has turned it into a family empire, not quite like Donald Trump, but much more to his own liking. I suspect many of you are already familiar with him. If not, he can be found on his website.

Shirt Rotation

Mrs. W. tells me I own too many shirts. I know she's probably right. So I am determined this year to pare down the closet to the very basics. Those that fall within these parameters will stick around. Those that don't will go off to worthy causes.

First off, all shirts are button down, unless otherwise noted. Specs on the collar:

• 3-3/8" point length
• 3-1/2" spread
• 3/4" tie space
• Collar height (measured at the back of the collar): 1-5/8"

• One-button barrel cuffs.
• Center box pleat.

Fabrics:

Bright White button down:

Bright White Oxford

Dark blue button down, that old Brooks Brothers:

Deep Blue Oxford

Sky Blue Houndstooth makes for a very nice pale blue shirt (almost white) with a little texture to it:

Sky Blue Houndstooth

From the far distance, this shirt looks just the same. Sky Blue Thin Stripe:

Sky Blue Thin Stripe

Oxford cloth, my favorite pale, pale blue:

Pale Blue University Stripe

Flag blue, different collar options:

Flag Blue

Pink oxford:

Peachy Pink Oxford

Blue high rise check:

Blue High Rise Check

Brick Red University Stripe (Oxford Cloth):

Brick Red University Stripe

Navy/Blue Tattersal:

Large Scale Blue Tattersal

Blue Gingham (can you ever get enough of this?)

Blue Gingham

A Couple of Bold Stripes:

Bold Stripe No. 1

Bold Stripe No. 2

The following two fabrics for shirts with white collar, white cuffs:

Deep Blue End-on-End

Thin Blue/White Stripe

Finally as a fashion statement, Bright Magenta:

Orchid-Magenta Twill

That's all for now. Happy New Year. Don't make any resolutions you can't keep!