February 8, 2012 world of men's style / fashion / grooming RSS
“Motorcycles”
01/20/12
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Elizabeth Olsen Has No Depth Perception

Elizabeth Olsenvia Interview

A Gentleman’s Guide to Florence: Lawrence Schlossman breaks down Florentine retail for all budgets. If you can afford the flight, there are plenty of good deals to be had. [Sartorially Inclined]

Adrenaline Rush of the Day: A brave man on a motocross bike motors along the top of a mountain—and survives. Breathtaking in the best way. [Autoblog]

Steve McQueen Was a Slick Bastard: Further evidence for the coolest man who ever lived. [Driven]

Singing Blues: A fitting send-off for Etta James, who passed away this morning. [Open Culture]

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12/23/11
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Big Picture

The Biker Look, Circa 1919

We’ve got some bad news. No matter how many pairs of work boots you get, you’ll never be as cool as this guy riding a motorcycle in his overalls circa 1919.

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11/10/11
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Storefront

Touring the Web’s Newest Storefront

Web boutiques have been popping up like daisies lately, but we’d like to single out a shop called Builtwell that opened up last week and immediately shot to the top of our list.

It’s a jumble of brands like Tellason, Garbstore and 18Waits, together with company profiles and Art of Manliness-style nostalgia. You could spend a whole afternoon exploring the site—but since you’re busy, we’ve rounded up the three coolest things below.

A leather bag, a motorcycle and James Dean’s pea coat, after the jump»
 

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11/02/11
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Filmic

Ride Like the Wind

Scott Toepfer

Photographer Scott Toepfer has been exploring the Western U.S. by motorcycle for the past few years, but he’s finally finished his grand diesel-smelling opus. It’s called It’s Better in the Wind, and it’s a solid 13 minutes of brilliant biker photography, along with some wheezing harmonica and earnest narration. Mountains! Moto jackets! America!

Watch it after the jump…»
 

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11/01/11
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Filmic

Gosling Goes Platinum

The first pics from Ryan Gosling’s The Place Beyond the Pines just arrived online. In a radical departure from Drive, he plays a taciturn, bank-robbing motorcycle expert—but if the platinum hair is any indication, he’s a little more punk this time around.

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10/12/11
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LinkOut

Finally, A Tumblr Devoted to Sideboob

A Little Bit on the Sidevia A Little Bit on the Side

Biking Through Italy: Michael Williams shares photos from a motorcycle tour of Italy in 1953. The Alps are beautiful, as always. [A Continuous Lean]

Perhaps I’ve Shared Too Much: Our culture of overshare reaches its apotheosis with a personal essay about deciding not to write a personal essay about something. [Gawker]

Take It on the Road: Aether has opened up a pop-up shop in an Airstream trailer, and they’re taking it from town to town, like the functional outerwear equivalent of the Grateful Dead. [Valet]

From Way Back When: Also, the new Levi’s Vintage Clothing website is pretty sharp. [Levi’s Vintage Clothing]

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08/26/11
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Nimue Smit is Summoning a Vodka Tonic and a Chair

Nimue Smitvia Fashion Copious

Project Wooster is Go: Michael Williams takes a tour of Nick Wooster’s latest creation. Todd Snyder’s looking pretty, pretty, pretty good. [A Continuous Lean]

Know The Enemy: An earnest plea for the end of five-finger shoes in non-jogging settings. Unfortunately, we suspect this conspiracy goes all the way to the top. [Zulkey]

Two Wheels: Driven digs up a 1937 Bonham’s motorbike, coming up for auction September 10th. [Driven]

Man at Work: A look at Lewis Lapham’s office, desk and pocket square. All three are extremely well chosen. [Work in Progress]

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08/24/11
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The Past

Dusting Off: The Sidecar

The Sidecar

As connoisseurs of history, we sometimes find styles, habits and turns of phrase from the past that we wouldn’t mind bringing back to the present, Doc Brown-style. This time around, we’re dusting off the sidecar.

You should never be afraid to pick up a passenger or two.

So much as we admire the solitary drive of the motorcycle, we have to admit, it’s missing something. A place for a navigator, or a passenger who doesn’t have to cling to your back all the way through Nebraska. Room for company—otherwise known as a sidecar.

It’s a charming item we’d like to dust off…»
 

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05/16/11
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Big Picture

Riding Low

El Diablo

One of our favorite photographers just put up a brace of photos from last weekend’s El Diablo run, a tequila-soaked gathering of motorbikes winding from Temecula, CA down through the Baja haunts of San Felipe and Ensenada. As you might expect, it’s full of tattoos, denim jackets and Harleys. Ride easy, gentlemen.

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02/22/11
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Amanda Seyfried’s Photoshoot Has Been Disrupted by Mice

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But Not Really: Amanda Seyfried conducts a nude interview with Justin Timberlake. In light of that fact, the pictures are somewhat disappointing. [Interview]

Good News for Alan Rickman: In honor of yesterday’s holiday, Esky casts all the notable presidents with vaguely sinister actors. [Esquire]

A Thought For Your Pennies: Mister Crew performs some guerilla un-branding: scratching the logo off his Ray Bans with a penny. [Mister Crew]

The Voyage Home: The final leg of that well-dressed motorcycle voyage. Handsome stuff. [Apropos Foto]

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02/15/11
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LinkOut

Mila Kunis is Riding a Yeti

milakunis2_crop.jpgvia Fashion Copious

Cross Dressing: A blogger comes forward with his style secret: wearing women’s ballet socks under boat shoes for a sockless look. The internet at large has yet to heartlessly ridicule him. Well played all around. [A Trip Down South]

Against Food: B. R. Myers has had enough of foodies. We’ll believe him when he pledges to eat nothing but porridge. [The Atlantic]

There Goes Sunday: Criterion comes to Hulu Plus with 400 Blows and a mind-blowing number of Zatoichi movies. [Criterion]

Saddle Up A photoessay of a motorcycle ride to San Quentin. [Apropos Foto]

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10/11/10
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Speed Freak

Easy Riding

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Electric cars are great in theory, but with the possible exception of Tesla, the tech has yet to produce anything that could be called “badass.” At least, until now.

This three-wheeler, welded together by metal artisan Josh Hadar, is a step in the right direction. At the moment it’s the only one in existence, and it tops out at a barely-street-legal 45 mph…but it’s still just about the coolest electric vehicle we’ve seen so far. Captain America would be proud.

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12/01/09
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Object

On the Side

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Schott’s Perfecto motorcycle jacket is in the midst of quite the revival lately (it’s better known as a Ramones jacket, if that’s not ringing any bells), but the biggest surprise of the movement has been the non-leather side-zips popping up in its wake.

This Haversack knit, for instance, takes the style to the twee confines of the cardigan, swapping in a shawl collar for the Schott’s iconic notch collar, and ends up with a light jacket that looks considerably more rugged than it is. It won’t stand up to any wipeouts—even if you’re on a Vespa instead of a Harley—but if you’re looking for a clever twist on biker style, it’s the best one we’ve seen so far.

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10/09/09
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Speed Freak

The Other Rocket

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As Italian motos have worked their way into American culture, two distinct schools have appeared. There’s the polished Vespas for the Apple crowd, and then there’s the ones with a little more kick…

This would be the latter. Ducati’s new Hypermotard 796 is smaller and lighter than the two-strokes they’re used to turning out, making it more useful for urban pursuits, but it still has the look of a powerful, well-engineered machine—and it doesn’t have to cover it up with polished metal. If you were looking for something to bridge the gap, this is it.

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08/10/09
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Speed Freak

On the Road Again

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With vacation season in full swing, a week of off-roading looks pretty good. But now that your Hummer’s out of style, you may want to think smaller. Much, much smaller.

BMW’s new R1200 GS (MRSP $16,750) doesn’t have the bulk of the usual off-road vehicles, but a couple saddlebag-style storage units and an adjustable suspension mean it can take you and your gear just about anywhere with a trail, whether it’s the Grand Canyon or the Yukon. (If it’s the latter, the heated handlebars might come in handy.) Best of all, it got its first road tests courtesy of a pair of dashing Scottish actors on a two-month road tour of some of the spottiest pavement in the world.

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04/02/09
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More Scarlett, More McQueen, and Just Enough Etsy

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Frankly, Scarlett: ScarJo lends her image to Moet, and expresses her deep love of ice. [FashionIndie]

Endorsements From Beyond: The late, great Steve McQueen may be in danger of having his name put on an inferior motorbike. Expect a zombie press release. [Selectism]

Fela Was Right: Lagos may have more sartorial acumen than we thought… [Slate]

The Online Jungle: Shana Tabor of In God We Trust shares her favorite finds from the strange world of Etsy. Unfortunately, our handmade lint sculptures didn’t make it on the list. [NYMag]

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03/23/09
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Pin-Ups, Bromance, and the Air Yeezy

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All the Pretty Broads: Pinup-style one-pieces come back into style. We heartily approve. [The Cut]

Tales of Bromance and Woe: A roundup of the great historical bromances, in honor of the final time we will ever use that word. [Men.Style]

Into the Sunset: The downturn comes to Harley-Davidson. Isn’t there anything Dennis Hopper can do? [Racked]

Genius at Work: Complex documents the tortured creation of the Air Yeezy for posterity. Our grandchildren will study this blog post in school. [Complex]

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01/27/09
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Good Idea

Pull Up a Stool

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Tumblr is a many-splendored thing, but the casual nature of the microblog, together with the ocean of images now available online, make it perfect for the peculiar phenomenon known as the inspiration blog.

Our current favorite is The Barstool Romantic, a more literary cousin to The Impossible Cool. They’re most impressed by the motorbike style of the 50s—in fact, we know a store they should check out—but the blog is broad enough to throw in a Rimbaud quote, pictures a few Francophone chanteuses, and a quick introduction to flaneurism—something any dedicated man about town should look into.

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11/17/08
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Storefront

Born to be Wild

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Now that we’ve set you up with a moped, you may need a tougher jacket to get you through the occasional wipeout. After all, even the briefest brush with the pavement will leave your peacoat well and truly tattered.

Our friends at UrbanDaddy tipped us off Smith & Butler, a biker-inspired shop in Brooklyn that happens to have some of the best gear in the borough. Old favorites like Barbour and Belstaff should keep you protected while you’re riding, but there’s plenty else to check out while you’re here.

Brands like Filson, Pendleton and Pointer make up one of the best workwear collections you’ll find anywhere, alongside nautical sweaters from Saint James and some choice photography books from Rin Tanaka. Add in a few well-chosen vintage items, and you’ve got one of our favorite new stores.

Hopefully your moped makes it to Brooklyn.

Take a look around the store»

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11/17/08
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Good Idea

Going Mobile

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Among all the rising greenery, mopeds may have been lost in the shuffle. Without the Mediterranean charm of a Vespa or the simian appeal of the Segway, we’d almost forgotten they were out there. Luckily, a clever designer was out there to remind us.

This Derringer model sprung from the mind of Adrian Van Anz, modeled off the board track racing motorcycles of the 1920s. After a few extra modernist curves and angles, he ended up with a Parisian style peddler that just happens to get 150 mpg. Of course, like Segways, this gadget is primarily a West Coast operation, so if you want one you’ll have to head out to their shop in West Hollywood.

Pictures and an address after the jump»

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08/14/08
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Shelf Life

Two Wheels

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You don’t hear much about biker culture as an influence on modern day designers, partly because the references are hard to name. John Varvatos usually gets a few references to The Wild One, but that’s like tracking British suiting back to James Bond. The look had to come from somewhere…

Rin Tanaka’s Harley-Davidson Book of Fashions gives a pretty good explanation of where. Covering the 1910-1950, Tanaka tracks the evolution of the bike from a useful novelty to a badge of outsider status, along with 40 years worth of bike helmets, any one of which would be enough to get a fledgling designer noticed.

With gas prices showing no signs of slowing, we may be on the cusp of a scooter renaissance, so the book couldn’t have come at a better time. It may not have our favorite biker jacket, but it’s got more inspiration than anything we’ve seen on the racks lately.

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06/18/08
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The Biz

Hello, Moto

klein_crop.jpgJennifer Livingston for Details

The globe-trotters over at Details just put up a few backstage snaps from the Fall ’08 shows in Milan and Paris, and we were a little surprised at how many up-collar leather jackets and tough fabrics there were. From Calvin Klein’s woven take on the biker jacket to Louis Vuitton’s helmeted models, motorcycle fashion seemed to be the order of the season.

More on the European biker look»

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06/03/08
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The Past

Stocked Up

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Today, our friends at UrbanDaddy take a look at Stock, one of New York’s best vintage stores. It’s equally beloved as a source for designers, a reference point for devotees of Early American Menswear, and a secret weapon for aspiring MOTHs throughout the city. And naturally, there were more than a few items that caught our eye.

See our favorite finds»

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01/30/08
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LinkOut

Lagerbear, Putin’s Runway and the Hair Steps Down

lagerbear

**Mini Marcs**: These kids may eventually have Marc Jacob’s cache, but will they ever match his crazy? [NY Observer]

**Dapper Discounts**: Loehmann’s to open it’s first men’s store in L.A. [DNRNews]

**Thread Bear**: Never say that Karl Lagerfeld isn’t cuddly. [WWD, 2nd Item]

**Forward Russia!**: Vlad Putin enjoys his own martial fashion show. [London TImes]

**Cole Trickle Rides Again**: Tom Cruise finds a new, expensive reason to make whooshing, overenthusiastic onomatopoetic noises. [NYDN]

**Muffled**: Berlin Fashion Week will crush your head. [Manolo for Men]

**Deal Alert**: Big savings at Stuart Wright. [Racked]

**The Do Is Done**: The best hair on the campaign trail calls it quits. [CNN]

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