This snap comes from the latest lookbook from Beams+, showing what a chambray tie, a cotton blazer and a button-down shirt can do. This, gentlemen, is how Tokyo does it.
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“Chambray”
A man should own a handkerchief.
They’re ideal for mopping brows and consoling distraught strangers—but it’s not just that. It’s the kind of gentlemanly affectation that suggests you’re in tune with a more genteel era. Of course, the white linen version can be a little traddish, even for us, but there are plenty of more lively options.
For instance, this chambray handkerchief from Rogue Territory. It’s rough-and-tumble enough to leave hanging out of the back pocket of your jeans, or peeking out of the breast pocket of your coat.
It wouldn’t look bad tucked into a stocking either.
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via Catching the Moneyball: Would you like to know what Yogi Berra thinks of Moneyball? Of course you would. [WSJ]
The Raleigh Crowd: Raleigh Denim has been getting into indigo-dipped chambray, to great result. [Selectism]
The Punk Tailor: Tokyo lost one of its more interesting tailors this week. Raise a glass, gentlemen. [neojapanisme]
Nice Suit: Tom Ford is returning as James Bond’s tailor for Skyfall. We were foolish to doubt. [Telegraph]
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Between biker style and the reappearance of the neckerchief, bandanas are having a pretty good year. And while Hill-Side is still the go-to, we may have found a slightly more ambitious option.
The brand’s called Grei, and they specialize in taking US-made chambray and running it through smart dye routines until it resembles the kind of thing you’d see on the wall at MoMA. SF’s Unionmade just put up a dozen pieces in their e-commerce shop, so you can start perusing now. Now if they only made pocket squares…
As we head into fall, here’s an alternative to your standard-issue tweed jacket.
It comes from Monitaly, with the same cut as their Italophile blazers and one important difference: the fabric is duck canvas. That’s the same stuff you find on a Carhartt—basically the toughest canvas known to menswear. So despite the dandyish cut and the chambray-and-silk lining, this jacket can handle just about anything headed your way, including any September gusts.
Or any semi-formal construction sites.
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This one comes by way of Australia, where the usually forward-thinking Vanishing Elephant line dipped into vintage styles for the tightest line they’ve ever made. That means intricate prints, polka dots and (our favorite) a club-collared chambray shirt. Well played, gentlemen.
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Billy Reid’s been busy.
His broken-in take on the K-Swiss sneaker arrives tomorrow (apparently he’s been wearing them for years), but we’re even more impressive by the seven items that just arrived at J.Crew. Our favorite of the bunch is a fantastic chambray suit that boasts an extra pair of patch pockets and a few genteel pleats on the pants.
If you were looking for something to wear to the Kentucky Derby, we’d say you’ve found your man.
Outlier’s latest lookbook demonstrates the proper time and place for rocking a pink S/S/B/D: on a speedboat outside the Port of Miami. The shirt is Brazilian chambray, and pretty handsome stuff—although if you’re short a boat, we might stick with the blue version.
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It looks like the chambray jean is finally hitting the mainstream.
Levi’s is getting together with Opening Ceremony (and, incidentally, Ziggy from The Wire) for a mini-line called Levi’s Chambray, arriving in stores next week. There’s a classic jacket and smock, but the main event is the chambray jeans on display here. (They’re also available in peach, if you’re feeling delicate.) As soon as warmer weather rolls in, they should be a pretty useful item.
But as this shot demonstrates, it’s probably best if you keep them as far from denim as possible.
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via Our cardinal rule of style is to dress for the occasion. And when you’re a Vogue Brazil editor on assignment in Art Basel, that means bringing your A-game.
Fortunately, when presented with said challenge, Fabrizio Rollo knocked it out of the park.
The sockless loafers speak for themselves, as does the just-weird-enough chambray tuxedo shirt—so we’ll start with those pants. We haven’t seen double pleats on a fashionista in quite a while, much less wool pants rolled above the ankle, but if you’re dressing for a cold season in a warm climate (like Miami in December or Rio in July) it’s a pretty smart move.
Throw in a summer scarf tied over both the collar and the shirt, and you’re in hall of fame territory. Take notes, gentlemen.
We doubt any of you are having trouble finding a chambray shirt, but this one from Crate comes with an interesting detail worth applauding: back darts.
It’s an Italian tailoring trick for getting rid of the excess fabric in the back of a button up—a reliable problem for anyone on the svelte end of the spectrum. In fact, it’s so reliable of a problem that we’re surprised more shirts don’t come with darting built in.
Of course, the best example is always going to be custom, so you may want to try the term out on your tailor next time you’re having a shirt made. If you’re feeling particularly handy with a sewing machine, you can try putting them in yourself, but it’s not for the faint of heart or the delicate of finger. Consider yourself warned.
Chambray is nothing new as a shirt, or even a blazer, but Manhattan’s Jean Shop has finally hit on something new: chambray jeans.
Since Jean Shop takes its fabrics seriously, that means Japanese selvage, spun in the airy lightness of chambray, tumbled and softened to perfection in-house for one of the lightest summer pants this side of linen. And since they’re jeans, and not trousers, they’ll be weighty enough to feel like light denim—and hold a summer roll.
At the moment, these haven’t even made it to their website, but if you want to get your hands on a pair you can stop by one of their New York outposts or shoot them an email.
Just tell ‘em Kempt sent you.
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The chambray march continues! And while most sartorially-minded folk are using it to add a little texture to the dress shirt, Wings + Horns are eager to make the move to outerwear.
This Baracuta-style item should be landing at Roden Gray in a few weeks, in anticipation of sunnier days, and while we never saw chambray as outer-layer material, we’re ready to be convinced. It’s certainly rumpled enough to stay casual. If you’re feeling adventurous, you might even try a matching scarf.
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It’s tough to pull off a pocket square without coming off like a trad, but if you choose wisely, it can give a staid suit some much-needed playfulness. Our advice: nothing too flashy and per A Suitable Wardrobe, stay away from silk.
Which is why a touch of homemade can be extremely useful. Like cufflinks, this is an instance where you may find the best stuff on Etsy. These cotton squares range from chambray and navy stripe to more complex graphic patterns—depending on your irony tolerance—any one of which would go over pretty well at a holiday party, if tucked into an appropriately rugged blazer.
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Hill-Side has built a brand on the premise that just about everything is better made from chambray. And so far—as applied to ties, handkerchiefs and bandanas—they’ve always been right. Their latest gem takes the French fabric into the world of scarves and, while we never would have thought of it…they may be on to something.
The result is a little light, and it doesn’t offer the kind of windstopping fuzziness you’ll want when January rolls around, but it’s also a lot more manageable than the wooly competition. We suggest rolling it up and stashing it in a briefcase, desk drawer or glove compartment for safe keeping. The next time a late-night cold front rolls in, you’ll have an extra line of defense.
We’d cooled off lately on our effusive love for Kanye, but it turns out all we needed was a good reminder.
Kanye’s performance Wednesday night was enough to win back our interest. The song wasn’t bad, but the chambray shirt, and effortless use of the trucker tux won us over. It also didn’t hurt that he was rocking RRL jeans, which might be our favorite denim product ever.
Of course, he’s made a few good videos in the time since too, but the crucial thing has always been public performance. And, like nobody else in music, Mr. West understands how to dress the part.
We’re on record predicting the return of the belt buckle…and we’ve finally found a more reliable source. If you happen to be in the market for a waistline trophy—and you’re in the New York area—our friends at UrbanDaddy put us onto a belt-buckle exhibition currently passing through town.
And if you happen to have a chambray shirt lying around, it might not be a bad idea.
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We were looking through Rag & Bone’s latest offering and the thing that caught our eye wasn’t the puzzling resurgence of the car coat, but the welcome reappearance of the bowling shirt. Only we remember them looking a bit different…
Don’t let the androgynous model fool you, this is a men’s shirt. Shouldn’t there be a cursive nametag somewhere? Shouldn’t there be a polyester sheen? They call it a bowling shirt, but the combination of the piping, the lightweight chambray and the shawl collar put it a lot closer to sleepwear than sportswear.
Then again, maybe it’s just what the times call for.
We were browsing through the latest Gargyle stock when we came across this Fred Perry Chambray shirt—call it one more upside to deflation.
Of course, we’ll want something a lot heavier than chambray for the next few months at least, but it never hurts to plan ahead. In this case, it even pays off a little.
Any time a glossy unveils their New Rules for anything, you know they’re about to get themselves in trouble. And when it’s something as commonplace as denim…it can get ugly.
DETAILS’ just debuted their New Rules of Denim and, to their credit, it stops short of being a complete embarrassment. But you can tell how hard they’re working.
The problem is, denim just isn’t that hard to wear. By now, you know whether the skinny look works for you, and beyond that, there just isn’t that much to it. So to stretch it out for six slides without repeating yourself takes some real journalistic ingenuity.
It’s The Perfect Time For… April77′s Spring/Summer
collection. [
Dress to Suppress: Amidst what appears to be
total collapse of democracy, journalistic independence and human
rights, some intrepid fashion writer actually managed to file this
story on style and the derailed Zimbabwean presidential campaign. Who
needs freedom of the press anyway? [
Bulletproof Bonnet: Perhaps a more useful mode of
dress for scared Zimbabweans, this cutting-edge, street-thug tech
hoodie can stop a 9mm round. [BBC]
Ships Ahoy: A naval salute to Chambray. [
Continuous Lean]
Get Fit: A little primer on silhouette theory. [
Style]
Go Green:Take a peek at Timo Weiland’s bio-friendly
billfolds. [Refinery29]
Off The Cuff: Pop quiz, hotshot. Your brand-new
slacks haven’t been to the tailor yet and you’ve got 15 minutes to
meet your people at the bar. What do you do? What do you do? [
