February 7, 2012 world of men's style / fashion / grooming RSS
“The Past”
01/25/12
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The Past

Dusting Off: The Concorde

It was the crown jewel of aircrafts from the moment it lifted off in 1976 until its sudden, catastrophic extinction 27 years later. The Concorde.

On the outside: a supersonic, transatlantic rocket ship with four Rolls-Royce engines cruising along the outermost layer of the earth’s atmosphere at Mach 2. On the inside: the last of the 1960s’ international jetsetters and the wealthiest of the 1980s’ Wall Street tycoons sipping champagne and moving twice as fast as everyone else in the world. “You can be in London at 10am and in New York at 10am,” said Sir David Frost, a Concorde regular. “I have never found another way of being in two places at once.”

And then, like Keyser Söze, poof: it was gone.

We’d like to dust off the fleet…»
 

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01/11/12
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The Past

Dusting Off: The Rocking Chair

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 rocking chair.

Chairs just aren’t fun anymore.

Sure, if you want to sit in front of a computer all day, modern furniture design has your back completely—but if you’re going to spend the next two hours leisurely sipping a mint julep (possibly on a veranda), it can be hard to find an appropriately relaxing place to sit. Which is why we’d like to dust off the easygoing fixture known as the rocking chair.

Lean back; we’ll take it from here…

A paean to the forgotten charms of the rocking chair»
 

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12/21/11
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The Past

Dusting Off: The Cigarette Ad

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 cigarette ad.

Cigarettes are bad. But boy were cigarette ads good.

By good, of course, we don’t mean accurate. (“The finer the filter, the milder the taste.”) Or moral. (“Blow in her face and she’ll follow you anywhere.”) Or okay. (Barney Rubble: “I sure hate to see our wives work so hard.” Fred Flintstone: “Me too. Let’s have a smoke around back where we can’t see ’em.”)

Yeah. There’s a whole lot wrong with cigarette ads…»
 

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12/07/11
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The Past

Dusting Off: Playing Basketball in a Cage

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 basketball in a cage.

The NBA’s in trouble.

It’s not just the newly resolved labor troubles, or the Christmas games, or the Kardashian marriages. We’re talking about something deeper. The game has lost its way. It’s time to get back to how basketball was meant to be played.

Inside a 12-foot cage.

It’s an antiquated blood sport we’d like to dust off»
 

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11/29/11
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The Past

American Motors’ Greatest Hits

American Motors cashed in their chips more than 25 years ago, but while they were still active, they were responsible for some of the more iconic American cars on the road. (Gremlin, anyone?) So we were happy to see a batch of vintage AMC ads arrive on the Web, detailing everything from the tankish ’50s cruisers to the gloriously sleazy muscle cars of the ’70s. They don’t make ’em like they used to…

Check out American Motors’ greatest hits»
 

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11/16/11
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The Past

Dusting Off: The Confidant

You’ve got friends and colleagues and acquaintances. And thanks to Facebook, you’ve probably got a pretty accurate count of each one. But when the time comes to confide, to spill a personal secret to someone you trust implicitly… you may be coming up short.

According to a recent Cornell study, the average American makes do with only two “confidants”—down from three in 1985—and as we scan our own contact list, we have to admit that’s about right. We’ve got double the personal network of the last generation, but it’s only half as deep—but it’s not too late to dust it off…

Allow us to elaborate…»
 

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11/02/11
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The Past

Dusting Off: Morse Code

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 morse code.

You never know.

It’s one of the few constants of life. After tomorrow, you could be lost in the wilderness, wrestling bears for survival. You could find yourself becalmed on the high seas, signaling to passing ships with a flashlight. The future is cloudy, like the fortune tellers say.

All you can do is try to develop skills that will get you through any situation intact. Skills like knot-tying, tent-pitching…and an ostensibly outdated system known as Morse Code.

It’s a telegraphic code we’d like to dust off…»
 

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10/27/11
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The Past

In Which We Rummage Through Arnold Palmer’s Old Clothes

A polo, wool pants and a cardigan. They’re all simple items, but they were practically a uniform for Arnold Palmer in the ’50s. It was one of the tricks that carried him to icon status, and a surprisingly easy one to pull off today. So naturally, we were a bit curious about exactly how the glorious trifecta looked up close.

It turns out, it looks pretty good.

We recently got a peek at the original items, straight from Mr. Palmer’s closet (courtesy of the fine folks at his clothing line, Arnie). And as you might expect, it was glorious.

What you can learn from Arnold Palmer’s clothes…»
 

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10/19/11
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The Past

Dusting Off: Alpinism

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 alpinism.

It’s hard to know the meaning of our lives.

We muddle through, doing the best we can, but we’re mostly making it up as we go, ignorant of any larger significance our time on earth might have.

So we’re just going to tell you. The fates have guided you to this blog post, and now we’re going to provide you with the purpose of your existence. We’re not even going to put it after the jump.

Your purpose in life is to ascend the tallest mountains on earth, bringing glory upon your name and country.

It sounded strange to us at first too …»
 

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10/13/11
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The Past

The Dark Side of the ’70s

Now that we’ve defended the ’70s with Mr. Garfunkel, it’s time to acknowledge the dark side of all that disco. Specifically, the bad suits, wide lapels and exaggerated swagger that give them such a bad name even 30 years after the fact.

Consider, for instance, Mr. Justin de Villeneuve.

He was a staple on the London scene as Twiggy’s Svengali-esque manager, notable for feathered hair and lapels that reached out to his shoulders. In short, everything that was wrong with the style of the day. And now that he’s made a recent comeback among the McMullan set, we couldn’t resist a quick tour of his notorious past. Thankfully, he’s improved a bit in the intervening decades, but he’s got plenty to live down.

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here…»
 

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10/05/11
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The Past

Dusting Off: The Single-Bar Kicker’s Helmet

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 single-bar kicker’s helmet.

Like most of you, we are all in favor of the NFL doing whatever is necessary to protect its players. Ease up on the defenseless receiver. Respect the fair catch. Save the horse collar tackles for the rodeo ring.

But since we are ever-so-slightly more interested in aesthetics over long-term brain functionality…»
 

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09/29/11
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The Past

The Jets of Yore

Here’s your historical fix for the day: this chart shows almost a century’s worth of airline companies, including buy-outs, mergers and bankruptcies, distilled into one genealogical table. The picture above is a tiny snippet covering the last 20 years, but there’s plenty more where that came from. Take a look here.

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09/21/11
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The Past

Dusting Off: White Socks

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 white socks.

The usual line on socks is pretty simple: gray, blue, brown or black. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can get into crazy patterns and fluorescent hues, but that’s pretty much the limit of blog-approved style.

It wasn’t always this way. In the Kennedy era, the tube sock was one of the great American staples alongside crewneck sweatshirts and pressed khakis—but somewhere along the line, the snow-white tube sock became a sartorial faux pas. By our lights, it’s due for a revival.

Rehabilitating the tube sock…»
 

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09/07/11
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The Past

Dusting Off: Manual Scorekeeping

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 manual scorekeeping.

We live in a world of convenience. So it’s only natural that when we find ourselves at a sporting event—or watching on TV—there’s always some sort of device there to tell us who’s winning.

Even if we might be better off figuring it out for ourselves.

Allow us to elaborate…»
 

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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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08/10/11
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The Past

Dusting Off: The Summer Cabin

Summer Cabin

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 summer cabin.

Nowadays the words “summer vacation” usually imply a plane ticket to a southern island and an anonymous and freshly scrubbed hotel room. We’re not knocking it, but there was a time when those words meant something a bit more traditional, a bit more familial.

And the resulting few weeks were often spent in a cabin of some kind…

Wherein we extol the virtues of living the simpler summer life»

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07/27/11
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The Past

Dusting Off: The Two-Sport Professional Athlete

Bo Jackson

As connoisseurs of history, we sometimes find styles, trends 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 two-sport professional athlete.

These days, nobody seems to know what Bo knew.

We’re not talking about breaking bats over your leg (though we wish someone could figure out how to do that in one attempt, too.)

We’re referring, rather, to the seemingly lost art of playing more than one professional sport. Bo Jackson’s name was synonymous with the practice in the 90’s, thanks to his penchant for blasting stratospheric home runs into the upper fountain at Royals Stadium while averaging the second-most yards-per-carry in NFL history.

We had this poster on our bedroom wall, and so did you.»

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07/22/11
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The Past

The Prohibition-Era Leather Jacket

Schott Jacket

Here’s a dispatch from biker history: when Schott rolled out their now-classic Perfecto jacket, it was the first zippered leather jacket anyone had ever seen. Which means all the biker jackets before then were a little more…peacoaty.

Kind of like this, in fact. This is Schott’s best approximation of the 20s-era moto jacket (give or take a few zipper pockets), arriving with the rest of their spring/summer ’12 gear. Of course, we’re still partial to that legendary zipper, but if you’re looking for an offbeat twist, it could be just the thing.

Maybe it’s more of a Vespa jacket…

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07/13/11
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The Past

Dusting Off: When a Woman Jumps Out of a Cake

Paz de la Huerta

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 magical moment when a woman jumps out of a cake.

We’re men of simple tastes.

And yet, we can’t suppress a slight melancholy whenever we see a roughly human-sized cake, only to realize that there is not a scantily clad woman waiting to burst from beneath its surface.

And it’s time someone did something about it…»

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06/29/11
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The Past

Dusting Off: The Wooden Roller Coaster

Coaster

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 wooden roller coaster.

We’re suckers for a good amusement park. It’s not the most sophisticated variety of thrill, but there’s something about the rush of speed, the open air and the timelessly kitchy décor that brings us back to sunnier days.

But naturally, as the world’s amusement parks have doubled down on the twisting-steel-vertebrae school of coaster design, we find ourselves nostalgic for a more rickety kind of ride—the kind you only get from the wooden coaster.

In fact, it’s a pastime we’d like to dust off…»

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06/23/11
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The Past

Today in Urchin Style

UrchinSee it full size

Boing Boing stumbled on this classic urchin photo, of the local genus known as the Spitalfield Nippers.

They were name for the Edwardian street youths that haunted the East End of London in ragged suits and, apparently, fantastically wide-brimmed hats. You can see the whole thing here, but we thought we’d focus on this fire-eyed youth, who seems to have mastered both the intricate scarf knot and the rakish hat-tilt at an early age.

Does he remind anyone else of Mister Mort?

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06/16/11
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The Past

Yesterday’s Glove

Huntington

Call us nostalgics if you like, but we couldn’t let Father’s Day pass by without one last old-school baseball post. This time, it’s a fingerless mitt circa 1870, stitched together by the Cooperstown buffs at Huntington Baseball Co. (by way of Antenna). In those days, they didn’t bother with niceties like laces. Instead, you’ll get a thick patch of leather over your palm…and nothing else. Hopefully, you’ve got a Lemon Ball handy.

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06/15/11
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The Past

Dusting Off: Classic Shaving Cream

Proraso

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 classic shaving cream.

By now, you’ve heard from the shaving trads.

The ones that swear by the straight razor. The ones that let nothing but badger hair caress their virgin cheeks.

So we won’t waste your time proselytizing the old school barbershop shave—but we would like to draw your attention to the most important and most overlooked element of the holy ritual: the classic shaving cream.

It’s a custom we’d like to dust off…»

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06/08/11
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The Past

Ernest Shackleton In Puppet Form

Ernest Shackleton

They don’t make Antarctic explorers like they used to.

So we thought we’d take a moment away from our usual programming to celebrate one of the boldest, most hard-headed men of the early 20th century: Mr. Ernest Shackleton. And to do the man justice, we’re going to video.

Our two-minute guide to the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition»

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06/01/11
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The Past

Dusting Off: Smelling Salts

Smelling Salts

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 smelling salts.

Quacks have gotten a bad rap.

Sure, we wouldn’t go to them with anything serious—the flu shot, the broken leg—but if your problem is more along the lines of a mild headache and a general malaise, the snake oil salesmen may be able to help you a whole lot more than a GP.

So naturally, there are a few folk remedies we’d like to dust off…starting with smelling salts»

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