Today’s achingly handsome footwear comes from Ethan Desu and Saint Crispin’s 401 Balmoral Boots. Gentlemen: the power of shoe polish and soft focus.
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“Hong Kong”
Just a few days after we crowned Hong Kong as having Asia’s best suits, Tokyo gets in on the action. This pic from Colonial Goods shows the United Arrows braintrust showing off their soft-shouldered swagger in monochrome—and it’s a sight to behold. The race is on, gentlemen.
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To most gents, Hong Kong is still the land of cheap suits and great dumplings—but in the past few years they’ve kicked off a full-scale tailoring renaissance, with a blend of colonial style and globalist panache that you won’t find anywhere else in the world. It’s on its way to having the best suits in Asia—and we’ve got five reasons why.
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As soon as we see short sleeves, we start to think about madras ties. They’re one of the few preppy staples that’s risen above trendiness—thanks in part to being lighter and more colorful than anything else you might think of wrapping around your neck come June.
The latest three examples come from a globe-trotting collab between Opening Ceremony, Hong Kong’s Lane Crawford and Band of Outsiders. The square-end makes things a little bit more blue-collar, but otherwise they wouldn’t be out of place at a Newport garden party, or the Hong Kong equivalent. (For proof, here’s Chinese model Godfrey Tsao showing one off at the release party.) If he were feeling particularly daring, Godfrey might even tie it long and leave it tucked into his belt…but that’s between him and his bedroom mirror.
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As American as it is, workwear has always been a good deal more popular in Japan—see Engineered Garments, the endless stream of Red Wing collabs—which means in addition to the domestic stalwarts who keep producing the way they did 80 years ago, there’s a generation of designers in Tokyo trying to put a futurist spin on things.
Comme Des Garcons is hardly the most rugged label on the map, but Junya Watanabe may have brought out the outdoorsman in them. You’ll have trouble getting hold of his latest collection unless you’re passing through Hong Kong this month—hey, you never know—but it’s interesting to watch the way it blends L. L. Bean-esque fishing gear with more urban nylon vests.
At the very least, they’ll be ready for the rain.
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