VintageGent’s Menswear Daily

Mark Twain…Zombie Link?

Tina Kubula sent me a post via Twitter from Bryan’s Book Blog where he reproduced the The 50 Best Author vs. Author Put-Downs of All Time from Examiner Michelle Kerns. Pouring down the list, I was someone edified to see so many authors raise an eyebrow to Pride and Prejudice. While the book was certainly a refreshing change to fair contemporary to the writing, being that Elizabeth doesn’t instantly fall into the arms of the charming Mr. Darcy by page ten, much of my senior English honors class noisily slammed our books down after the final page and said, “Um….so? Why couldn’t they just get on with it.”  Clearly, our raging hormones, despite our bookworm tendencies weren’t mature enough for the nuance.

At criticism #31, I stumbled past Mark Twain’s opinion of the said work.

31. Jane Austen, according to Mark Twain (1898): I haven’t any right to criticize books, and I don’t do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can’t conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Every time I read Pride and Prejudice, I want to dig her up and hit her over the skull with her own shin-bone.

I can’t help but think his comment inspired “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” to be written, had only I found this prior to mash-up author Seth Grahame-Smith did.

1974: The Year of Non Denim Blue Jeans

1974 was an interesting year for fashion. Simultaneously, it was the golden age of synthetic fabrics and corduroy pants. All factors collided to make it a fashion moment that you are either utterly repulsed or you wax nostalgic over.

I brought this 1974 Jeep CJ/5 ad out of my collection today. It touted a special trim package of Jeep in Blue Jeans.” For a little while, I mulled over the benefits of a denim interior, and ultimately gave it the thumbs up. It may pose issues when sliding onto your seat in the middle of a rain storm that vinyl would never pose. Namely, your seat would stay wet longer. However, there would be many other benefits. It wouldn’t matter if it faded. You could always patch it too. Maybe I never really “read” the ad until now, but quite clearly it states:

Look what the well dressed Jeep CJ/5 is wearing! New Levi’s styled seats with matching fold down top. Made of rugged easy to care for vinyl fabric in absolute authentic styling-right down to the copper rivets!

Umm..vinyl?

Talk about a “bait and switch”

This was not the only false denim item being sold in 1974. Levi’s and Lee were clearly in cahoots.

Brawny – That’s the word for these Lee doubleknit jeans and matching shirt-jac. The cut hails from the West. In every detail…And comfort comes from the new non-glitter, snag -resistant doubleknit of 100% Dacron polyester.

Dacron isn’t denim! They sure don’t look like “jeans” to me.

It would seem logical that if something was labelled “denim” than it is made of the heavy cotton fabric popularly known as denim. It not, it is “denim look” or just quite simply “indigo vinyl.” If pants are not denim, but rather polyester, then they are slacks, cords, trousers, or pants, as they have nothing in common aside from a zipper.

I hate to be a stickler for details. Maybe it is because of my checkered past at a small high school where we relished our rare “jean days.” Show me a pair of pants that could be worn on a regular day and you won’t get me to call them jeans, no matter what the marketing department said.

I am going to go put on my gray fleece jeans, considered too “revealing” for school for both boys and girls (figure that one out) and take a jog around the block to try to cool off about this.

Readers Spending My Money

No sooner did I post a reminisce about dumpster diving in New York, an alert reader just slipped a note under my door about rent controlled homes.

The best way to save on rent is to find one of the Owner Financing Homes. Buying is cheaper than renting. If you plan to keep a residence somewhere else, you won’t have the debt ratio banks are looking for because you will try to own two places. An owner might understand your predicament and see that you are using the place in the city to scout out furniture and might be sympathetic to you. The money won’t go down the drain and when you are done, you might be able to rent it out before you sell it and flip it again.

Well, renting an apartment on Beacon Street in Boston or in Manhattan just to see what finds are at the estate sales or what midcentury furniture is cast out when students return overseas is really just a fantasy and not a legitimate pursuit of mine. Sure, rent is cheaper when you rent for the year versus the month and buying is more economical still IF you plan to live there for awhile. On some properties, it takes a couple of years to save, some a lot sooner depending on the market.  Do you think I have a cash dispenser in my wallet, by the way? I may seem like I have champagne tastes, but its only because I bought that ONE bottle of champagne.  And I have been looking at it for the past decade. Just admiring it.    I read through the FTC Overview on Mortgages and predatory lending. However, for me to be prey it wouldn’t be about shifty numbers but trying to confuse me with bursting into discussions about Herman Miller, WWII military uniforms or a sheet of $2 bills.

Curbside Seating

I was talking to a friend from the city, and I was reminiscing over the days of itty bitty Studio Apts that were wedged in the attic of brownstone apartment buildings. I have left that life far behind, but the treasures that people put up on the curb for the trash was amazing. Far from a dumpster diver, I couldn’t help not stop for a midcentury modern chair or a coffee table with a car engine as the base. Folks tossed it rather than stored it if they were a foreign student who went home for the summer, or just didn’t have a buddy who had a pickup truck. I guess when everyone takes the subway, those are in short supply.

Makes one think about getting one of those studios in NYC for a month to camp out just to see what can be had. Sort of a midcentury modern stakeout. Maybe not, as a “cheap” studio apartment in town is quite hefty, but everything is relative. I was shocked when I met someone with a $2,500 hole in a wall. They said they lived in a “rent controlled” building. Seems like that is OUT of control rent. I would need rental assistance big time if that was the going rate for 400 square feet. I don’t think the furniture would earn their keep.

April’s Worst Shirts: Maybe Not THAT Bad

The New York Magazine fashion blog, The Cut, opined on the best and worst fashion editorials for April 2010.  On the “Loser” list were these selections from the April issue of Details

Worst Men’s Shirts – Details

There is maybe one acceptable shirt in these two pages, and that is the white one in the top left that is barely visible. The girl in the yellow dress with her hands in her ears screaming “LA LA LA LA LA” has the right idea.

Do we agree?  No and Yes.  Fashion is sometimes about the appropriateness for the application and how confidently one can pull it off.  Fashion is surely the ability to identify what is best suited to one’s frame and personality and come up with a look where the person and not an overbearing shirt or hat is what is the first thing noticed.  However, sometimes we are in danger at scoffing at creativity.  “Creative” dressing is snidely and condescendingly relegated to someone who is an “artsy” type and it is assumed one is referring to baggy and unkempt.

While the delivery may not be what the editor of this “worst” gallery would like to see, the man on the right is sporting a look that could easily be pulled together using vintage clothing elements as long as it was worn with confidence.  The shirt pattern and color combination may be too casual for the suiting material and boutonniere hole by traditional views or tried and true styling rules. However, it seems that the editor is objecting to the shirt rather than the suit.  To me, the shirt is what is setting the tone here and my eye instantly goes to wanting to alter some details of the jacket to make it work a little better. There is nothing innately wrong with that shirt for the right gent if one can carry it off.  In trying to aspire to this look, pair a vintage shirt with a jacket of a different era, otherwise you will look like you are playing “dressup.”  If you are a 20 year old hipster, you may get away with it, of course.

If you are looking for a patterned shirt to try the first look in your own way…here are three worthy candidates from three different decades going with a cooler color palette. Hawaiian shirts purposely omitted, as that throws things into a whole atmosphere.

Left to right: “Jailbird” 50s striped shirt from FastEddiesRetroRags, Polyester oxford on Etsy from stephaniegeisler, 1960s Atomic shirt from DressThatMan.com

However, the gents in the upper left don’t fare as well, individually, unless they were aspiring mimes.  In numbers, however, it appears that this is some sort of “happening,” or they a part of a deliberate group. I am not sure what the “group” is set out to do. I most likely would steer clear of the whole bunch. While the shirts may not be as noxious paired with jeans, the ties are what influences me to believe someone put this together to be ironic.   Oddly enough, I looked again and there are only two striped shirts here, and two ties, but not both on striped shirts.  I suppose my feelings about the shirts just made me believe there were more of them out there.

The King of Cannes…Could It Be You?

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of goviral. All opinions are 100% mine.

Millionaire French socialite Jacques D’Azur has been a fixture at Cannes for decades thanks to his Dorian Gray-like painting in his sitting room.  Never heard of him? This influential gent has quietly inspired European taste and fashion for over four decades and was even rumored to have a new suit tailored in his hotel suite nightly.  D’Azure is far from a wannabe in the cinema industry.  Many cinematic legends attempted to muscle each other out to be right by his side, and modern folklore suggests that he is the father of the in-flight movie.  Several decades ago, D’Azur brought his personal projector on board and the rest is history.

Sadly, this year, there will be no Jacques. His last transmission came from somewhere near Tahiti. Declared deceased by the French government, D’Azur left behind a fortune. Now, an heir is being sought. If selected as D’Azur’s heir, you will step into his shoes for one weekend.

Step out of a helicopter in a tailored suit, retire to a room at a five star hotel and enjoy first class travel to your destination at the renowned film festival. The good folks at Belgian brewer Stella Artois would be pleased to grant this dream weekend to a lucky entrant. A stipulated in D’Azur’s will, any eligible individual could be named.  It could even be you, if you put your name up for consideration, that is?

If you were chosen for the luxury trip to the Cannes Film Festival, what would you do?  Pass out. No, I mean what would you do while you were there?  Would you quietly sit back and “people watch?” Your helicopter arrival and short walk to your quarters would make it difficult to fly under the radar.  You might cause a ripple with the paparazzi who would flock just imagining that you must be someone to watch.

Kiss My…Face?

Popular Fleece brand, The North Face, has recently been lampooned by the small,  upstart The South Butt. The South Butt busts its muse’s intentions of seeing its products warming Alpine climbers, and exposes the true demographic. Product descriptions, rather than outlandish designs, support the parody:

Because you deserve to look good at the coffee shop – a sign of serious commitment to relaxation. Embroidered logo on front and back. Available in mens and ladies 

If you are heading for yoga or the neighborhood bunko game the classic South Butt T-Shirt could be your best wardrobe choice.

Our South Butt Mall Series Jacket – nothing better for quick runs to the mall or market, and of course what could be more appropriate for that occasional visit to your econ lecture.

Now, The North Face is suing The South Butt, alleging “product dilution.” While parodies are a protected area of free speech, profiting on it may be another matter. Up until the media attention, The South Butt, started by Jimmy Winkelmann to help offset college bills, was a tiny operation. Sales were relegated to a local pharmacy and Winkelmann’s website.  With the media attention to something that could have easily petered out as the 19 year old Winkelmann lost interest or graduated, sales have jumped and now the clever lad has enough money to put himself through college.

While at VintageGent.com, blatant ripoff of designer dudes-a.k.a fakes-are appropriately dissuaded, Winkelmann did not set out to confuse the public, nor believes any of his merchandise will be mistaken for its inspiration.  Even if the suit holds and The North Face wins, it is sure to create dialogue on the big guy picking on the little guy as well as lend a more scrupulous eye to the motto “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

Dressing Chipmunks on the Cheap

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Alvin and the Chipmunks. All opinions are 100% mine.

Back in the day, my brother and I found “Christmas with the Chipmunks” highly entertaining due to their frequent insubordination to their human caretaker. Someone got a lot of mileage out of speeding up recording tracks. No, misbehaving rodents did not contribute to our demise as a society nor influence our behavior at school but were a welcome break from the overtly serious seasonal tunes. Actually, we appreciated reverentially hymns but thought some of the earlier Christmas novelty fare was a little goofy. Except for the barking dogs.  That was genius. We just didn’t want to hear anything else about two front teeth.

When the first modern Chipmunks movie was announced (the 2nd movie – the Squeakquel is actually out if you want to buy it now), I wondered how the 2D goodness would translate to modern day screens, and of course the answer was to make them look “real,” but not REALLY real.  You wouldn’t want kids mistaking actual chipmunks (who are cute but can bite if you squeeze and hug them) for the fake ones — knitting sweaters and shopping at Brooks Brothers for them and leaving the offerings at the bird feeder.  On the other hand, the non-real “real” chipmunks are really far removed from what I remember.  I wonder if the Chippers of the Olden Folk like me would translate better to my future children as successfully as the Hippo for Christmas did not from my parents’ day.

The key nowadays is to reach out with social media and interactive features, and the folks who have created the new Chipmunks have created a website where kids can experience  More Munk Mayhem by creating their own Chipmunks. Just like creating a Wii Mii, you choose hats, glasses, hair and feet. No trip to the mall or to Rodeo Drive is involved. How fashionable. My chipmunk would be the oddball who bought new pants, found a pair of shoes in their closet from 20 years ago that still fit and would have bought a shirt at a vintage clothing shop and hat at an estate sale.

LA Time Machines: Where to Wear

Los Angeles Time Machines is a site that we have been watching for awhile that we think our readers would enjoy. It focuses exclusively on pre-1970s restaurants and bars that are still in their original state. Occasionally, there are updates on when folks can make a big difference in saving a historic vintage landmark so stay plugged in!

It mainly focuses on the many sites in Los Angeles, California, but has extended to includes spots in Nevada, Maryland, Arizona, Washington and beyond. So, go look up a historic place and show up in your vintage clothing! It would make a great retro photo!  I usually try to look up places along every route I am planning more than a two hour car drive, just in case I should come across something classy or outrageous.

http://latimemachines.com
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