Kempt - Dept. of Corrections

May 21, 2012 world of men's style / fashion / grooming RSS

“Dept. of Corrections”

01/11/11

·

Dept. of Corrections

Knowing When to Pitch It

For all the talk of self-repair and the wonders worked by tailors, there’s something missing from the style conversation: it’s ok to get rid of old clothes.

In a perfect world—the world we try to inhabit as often as possible—everything you bought would be sturdy enough to last forever, your seams would never decay and you’d never spill red wine on yourself. If your suit had a negative experience with a cab door, you’d whip out your sewing kit (which you’ve been practicing with all year, of course) and no one would be the wiser.

But as you’ve probably guessed, we don’t live in that world—and when the magic between you and your jacket is well and truly over, there’s nothing else to be done. If you love your wingtips, get them rehabbed, by all means. But if not, don’t be afraid to send them on their way.

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

12/21/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

A Mighty Blow

In general, we try to keep a laissez-faire attitude towards a man’s morning routine, but when the latest issue of Gentleman’s Quarterly devotes a page of their fine publication to the premise of blow-drying men’s hair… we have to take exception.

To keep it brief, this is one trend you can skip. And the exceptionally self-serious black-and-white snap of Robert Pattinson that ran with the piece might give you some idea as to why.

Allow us to explain why…»

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

ADVERTISEMENT

11/19/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

Shoe Waxing: The Most Dangerous Game

Most of us have a loose pair of cloth sneakers kicking around the back of our closet, whether it’s Chucks, plimsolls or something even more summery. After a few summers, they usually look a little worse for wear—and become prime candidates for a little experimentation.

The most important thing is… be careful»

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

11/12/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

The Case Against Kanye West

Kanye’s having a good month. Between an awesome video, a career-peak album and a surprisingly lively beef with a former president, he’s crushing just about everything in his path. In the midst of the hitting streak, the chaps at Esquire are rolling out a full-throated endorsement of all things ‘Ye. To hear them tell it, he’s the fashion icon of our times, restlessly sifting through the styles of the day and making it all his own, one look at a time.

It’s a good case…but we’re not buying it. And not just because of his mullet period.

The case against Kanye West»

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

11/09/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

Fixing Up

There’s a Self-Repair Manifesto currently making the rounds among the tech crowd under the familiar slogan, “If you can’t fix it, you don’t own it.” In short, they want you to learn to fix your bike and figure out what Linux is.

For the sake of our pants, we’ll skip the axle grease, but it’s worth considering what this would mean for your wardrobe.

To start with, you may want to learn to sew…

Allow us to elaborate»

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

ADVERTISEMENT

10/29/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

The Wedding Ring

A style can mean a lot of different things, so we like to embrace simplicity where we can find it. Which is why we’re big fans of the wedding ring.

Today saw a little healthy debate on the question of married men going ringless in the workplace, but we’re skeptical. In particular, we’d like to call up this bit of timeless wisdom: squirming is not a good look. And if your job is anything other than metalworker or drug snitch, you’re not getting out of this one.

We’re not such big fans of jewelry in general—and we certainly don’t suggest getting hitched just for the accessories—but if that’s where you find yourself, it’s one of the simplest statements you can make: “I’m married.” If that’s too much of a mouthful, we’re not sure what to tell you.

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

10/28/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

Off Trend

Now that skinny ties are past the point of trendiness, there’s a bit of confusion in the men’s style blogodome concerning the proper width for a gentleman’s tie. The ones you see in GQ seems to be getting wider, but exactly how wide is the subject of some confusion…

Allow us to rectify the situation»

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

10/18/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

This Year’s Body

The Times’ latest exhausting entry into body-watching has been bouncing in and out of our tipline all weekend. The gist is this: the emaciated look is out, and the gents you see on the runway and in GQ are getting gradually beefier.

It’s the kind of advice that’s really only useful to industry folks, but since the Times Style Section is hardly a trade pub, we’d like to tackle this one head-on. If you were considering applying this wisdom to your own life, now might be a good time to back away from the newspaper.

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

09/30/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

The Style of Power

In the wake of a raft of pieces praising all the hoodie style on display in The Social Network, there’s a surprising confusion in the air about whether or not it’s actually a good idea to wear hoodies in a business context. Just to clarify, it’s not.

The argument goes something like this: Wearing pajamas to a board meeting means you don’t care, and only genuinely powerful people can afford not to care, so wearing clothes that say Gap on them should be more of a power move than all the silk ties on Madison Avenue.

Needless to say, there are a few problems…»

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

09/21/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

The True Meaning of Prep

For all the queasiness surrounding the idea of preppiness, it’s nice to know there are still a few gentlemen of style who can knock it out of the park. In this case, it’s Street Etiquette, reimagining the Ivy League’s past as a post-racial paradise of toggled sweaters and tweed. It’s befuddling to some—just look at the comments section—but for our money it’s the most important preppy document we’ve seen all year. Here’s why…

Fair warning: this might get deep»

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

09/14/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

Against the Ascot

Over the weekend, A Suitable Wardrobe offered up this picture with a general endorsement of the casual ascot, suddenly a very real threat to crewnecks everywhere. It’s advanced tradwear, to be sure, even if the knot’s not as complicated as you think—but we’re still going to have to give this one a pass. The reason is simple: most ascots are hideously ugly. It’s quite a job to find one that’s not paisley or polka-dotted. Even then they tend to be made of lounge-lizard satin, which makes them hard to work into an even minorly rugged wardrobe. That’s not to say there isn’t possibility—this kind of trad trickle-down has produced good results in the past—but until someone starts making them in chambray, it’s going to be a tough sell.

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

06/01/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

Match Point

We’re not much for sartorial backseat driving, but we saw something in the Post this weekend that was just crying out for a correction.

Describing the dandyish tendencies of Wall Street honcho Peter Krause, we ran across this tidbit: “Kraus color-codes his suits to match the band of one of his many designer watches, while his multi-colored ties usually work well with the timepiece’s dial.”

Allow us to retort…»

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

·bankers
·style

04/05/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

Live by the Brand, Die by the Brand

We knew things were getting bad at the Playboy Mansion, but today’s Wall Street Journal suggests it’s worse than we thought. Here’s the takeaway: That logo is about to end up a lot more places, and mean a lot less.

Allow us to explain»

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

·Branding
·Playboy

03/30/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

Padded

The tides of fashion are complex and difficult to predict, so it’s nice when we get the chance to give a clear, definitive answer.

Which is why we felt we should to respond to Gizmodo’s latest query, Does the iPad Make Man Purses Okay Now? It’s an interesting question, and we’re glad they brought it up. The answer is no.

Not at all.

Not even a little.

Allow us to explain»

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

03/25/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

The Tale of the Tape

We’re always glad to see signs of men getting a little more educated about their clothes, so this Observer piece was what we call in the business “a very good sign.”

Here’s the gist: New York tailors are starting to get customers who aren’t afraid to get into gritty technical details like ankle measurements, tapering and shoulder pitch. In short, they know what they’re doing.

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

03/17/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

The Longhairs

The chaps at the Observer have been noticing a little extra shagginess lately, particularly at the Oscars, where it seemed like every other recipient was sporting a mane.

The writer links the new look to everything from lumberjacks to Billy Reid, but the general 70s vibe is unmistakable. In particular, we’d link George Clooney’s Oscar shag to the Condor-era Redford—which seems to suggest the maligned decade is about to get a revival.

It’s the perfect antidote to the trimmed-and-pomaded Mad Men look that made the rounds a few years back—and for good reason. If you were sporting locks this long in ’62, you’d be lucky to get served in a restaurant. Nowadays, you won’t even offend your barber.

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

03/10/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

A-Trending We Will Go

Sometimes it’s helpful to think of trends as a hierarchy. At the top, there’s the far-reaching sea changes that fashion empires are built on. That includes preppy, raw denim, and maybe even Americana if we play our cards right.

Below that, there’s the stuff that lasts a few years and ages gracefully (military, nautical), the stuff that lives on runways and only occasionally sneaks into the more adventurous closets (Navajo prints, drop-crotch trousers), and the stuff that nobody will ever wear outside of a showroom.

And unless it gets a whole lot rainier in the next few weeks, we’re tempted to put the scuba trend towards the latter end of the spectrum.

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

03/02/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

Going Vertical

The chaps at Monocle are in the news again for launching both a Hong Kong bureau and a program on the BBC World News channel—a pair that would overjoy J-school purists, if it didn’t come attached to a magazine that’s looking more like a boutique every day. For those keeping score, Newsweek doesn’t have either.

The line so far is that they funded the new bureau with tote bag sales. Of course, all their revenue goes to the same place, so you might as well say they funded it with blackberry sales, retail money or (gasp!) good old advertising. It’s sort of true, but more than a little unfair.

Still, we’re going to call Good Idea on this one.

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

02/25/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

What’s in a Name?

The Awl’s Cord Jefferson launched a few shots against preppidom yesterday, singling out J.Crew’s “Plantation madras” button-down and a pair of Ralph Lauren pants in “Old Money Green” as perhaps not the best naming choices in the world.

It should definitely be a wakeup call to a few marketing departments—even if we’d vouch for Mr. William’s niceness, in both the traditional and early 90s hip hop sense of the word—but there’s something else at work here, and it’s worth a little digging to find it.

Allow us to elaborate»

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

02/04/10

·

Dept. of Corrections

Life after Americana

An insider’s tip: when Christian Audigier starts copying your style, things may have gotten out of hand. Add in a winking style guide or two, and the recent renaissance of heritage brands and workwear starts to look dangerously close to played out–at least from a trendwatcher’s perspective.

The only problem is that workwear was always more of a movement than a trend. Which raises the question of what’s left after the trend pieces dry up.

Naturally, we’ve got a few ideas»

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

12/02/09

·

Dept. of Corrections

‘Tis the Season for Product-Based Content

If our editorial calendar is any judge, you may be putting together a gift list around now. You may also be dreading the flood of gift guides currently swallowing up publications from GQ to Cat Fancy. So in the interests of appeasing Simon Doonan, we’re going to try to walk the line.

We won’t be doing a gift guide per se, but if you find yourself in desperate need of material guidance, you can direct yourself to our continually updated virtual gift guide. We’ve been filling it up all week with gift-worthy posts, past and present, and we’ll continue to do so throughout December. The gear may be familiar, but it’ll also be interesting, offbeat, and available for purchase, which is enough for us.

Happy holidays?

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

·holidays
·Media

11/25/09

·

Dept. of Corrections

Team America

Who’d have thought a few tables of gear would cause so much ruckus?

Last weekend’s Pop-Up Flea (co-helmed by our esteemed editor, Mr. Randy Goldberg) has attracted the ire of some internet denizens, and it was enough to call forth this downright brilliant post from Put This On’s Jesse Thorn, defending well-crafted denim, designer interpretations of classic work shirts, and the Americana movement in general.

We’re not much for dwelling on the negative, but with all the accusations of bad faith, it seems healthy to bring things a bit down to earth.

Our humble response»

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

11/17/09

·

Dept. of Corrections

A Knot Whose Time Has Come

Valet just did a roundup of scarf knots, ranging from the LA hipster look to the presidential style. Unfortunately, they stayed a little too neutral for our tastes, so we thought we’d toss in our two cents: If you’re breaking out the scarf, you can’t go wrong with the slipknot.

The style has been gaining on the usual wraparounds for quite a while now and, for one reason or another, most of the product shots we saw this year found the scarves pulled through in just this way. The slight asymmetry makes just about any outfit more interesting and, more importantly, the front knot protects the throat better than the single loop or formal half-loop. Valet gives the Sartorialist credit, which is certainly due—where do you think we got the picture?—but this one has been building steam in the preppy crowd for quite some time.

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

11/17/09

·

Dept. of Corrections

The Enemy

If you were waiting for a cockney-inflected counterpoint to Pitchfork’s recent decade-spanning mega-list, wait no more. NME just unveiled their 100 favorite discs (or possibly downloads) from the last ten years—each equipped with a few perfunctory links and a video—kicking off drunken arguments in pubs, schoolyards and hospitals throughout fair Albion.

The Strokes’ Is This It lands in the top spot, which we must admit is a pretty solid call. But to get you started in your own ranting, here’s a few outstanding grievances:

Did they really put Speakerboxx/The Love Below higher than Stankonia? And Bloc Party higher than either one? How many Damon Albarn side projects do they really expect us to listen to? And if they think we’ve forgotten how much they slagged Kid A when it first came out, they’re wrong.

Enjoy yourselves.

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

10/23/09

·

Dept. of Corrections

It Looks Costume-y

Since Halloween brainstorming is currently underway in walk-in closets across the country, we thought we’d drop a little advice. In terms of big-picture wisdom, we follow Esquire’s tweeted lead: make sure it preserves your looks, involves no makeup and can be quickly removed in passion. (Luckily, our Lord Willy costume fits at least two out of three.)

But in the interest of avoiding faux pas, we thought we might help you avoid some of the riskier costume ideas currently making the rounds. Consider yourself warned»

ALL Dept. of Corrections

TAGS

·costumes
·Halloween