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Monthly Archives: March 2013

PSPCwebIf you ever get scared of colour. Well, just come back to this post.

I believe the term wowsers is appropriate.

I count at least 6 different solid colours and 3 different patters that should never work together, yet all do. How did he do it?

Well, once again, it’s the small things isnt it?Lets start with that mustard and bright blue belt, notice how it’s echoed perfectly in his packet square? Yeah. Not an accident.

Same goes for the tie and shirt, the green and purple are complimentary colours (in short - opposites colours on the colour wheel that go really well together) and so blend together awesomely, but the blue in the tie also picks up perfectly on the navy blazer.

The burnt orange pants? Well, this man has doubled up on complimentary colours (I didn’t know it was possible either), with the blue and orange.

I do have 2 small caveats deeming this outfit imperfect I’m afraid, the first is the length of his tie, come on dude, ties run button to button. Secondary, is that messy tie clip, you cant get so much right and throw it away by overlooking that detail.

Either way I tip my hat to this fine young sir, and of course our friend the sartorialist for capturing him.

Okay. Stay fancy.

 

I was recently asked if I’de like to participate in a Puma creative factory as part of their love thy planet initiative.

Uh…”Ya” I said! Who wouldn’t? It is iconic sportswear brand Puma after all…and YES, I do love my planet! We all know green is the new black.

Then I got one of these.

IMG_8079What we have here is a pinhole camera.

Well, first it was a shoe box, then it got re purposed to be a pinhole camera, it came with the instructions to go out and shoot what we wanted to preserve. It was trickier than I anticipated.

Our images would later form the artwork of the T shirts we would be printing.

How did we print the T shirts? Well, take a look at this video.

Basically it’s a process using Lumi Inkodye a light sensitive ink that exposes under UV rays. So , yes, the sun was printing our T shirts for us. My photos were terrible and all my T shirts looked like I had bought them at a sea side surf shop, in the 80′s. But I had a plan.

I made a skull stencil and created this guy below.

IMG_8428This was basically all a little bit of ‘guinea pigging’ for the mega workshop we would be having with the public in Johannesburg a few weeks later.

Basically anyone from the public could come down and use our pictures to create Tees of their own.

Knowing my little stencil trick worked so well the first time I set to work painstakingly cutting out this anchor and rope guy. It was totally worth it for my first ever WMBW designed and manufactured garment. Wish I had made more of them.

IMG_8752

The whole process is super cool and I loved the experience and meetingt some super rad people. They’re having workshops all over the world and you can see all the details of whats happened and happening on the love thy planet website.

Okay. Stay fancy.

Happy good friday everyone.

Just because it’s a public holiday doesn’t mean we don’t hit the streets all fancy like right?

I’ve included a little behind the scenes snapshot here so that you guys can see what we go through. Misha and I running around downtown Cape Town in the morning, chasing light and avoiding crowds.

Not much to say about this particular outfit, just that mixing patterns can be tricky. I have this blazer that I absolutely love but is so hard to pair with anything, I went through every shade of blue and brown tie this morning and it all just felt too matchy matchy…you never wanna be too matchy matchy. Through on the red and blue striped tie and it gave it a different look all together, just needed to pull the red through on the pocket square, and voila, I think it worked.

The details of the outfit are the following.

Brown skinny chinos (with turn up detail) from Topman

Checked blazer from Zara

White button up shirt from H&M

Red and navy striped tie from Aldo

1inch latte tie clip from The tie bar

Persol reflex sunglasses from Sunglass hut

Pocket square from Markham

Yellow lapel flower (refashioned earring) from Mr Price

 

Blue brogues by Ted Baker (available at stuttafords)

Okay. Stay fancy.

 

 

 

nick-wooster-in-madison-square-park-fashionThis weeks Wooster Wednesday is a little bit of inspiration for our friends in the Northern Hemisphere.

As we start taking on the cold weather here on the southern most tip of Africa, spring is springing all over Europe and the U.S and my tumblr and Instagram feeds are filling up with short sleeves and even shorter pants.

So I thought I would share this look of Nicks, It’s one of my favourite, though I’ve never been brave enough to try something like this myself.

A blazer with shorts and some semi formal shoes I think will go a long way to owning spring this season, though I’m a little on the fence about the man bag (I have been for a while now)

Nick Wooster 4Nick-Wooster-in-Madison-Square-Park-blog-fashion-menThis hat on the other hand, I love! Yessss! (Ive told you more than once to get a hat - he says without having one himself)

Nick seems to have quite a penchant for his patchwork blazers, and I’m warming up to them myself, very ‘hobo chic’ as if it came straight out of Mugatu’s derelicte camapign in Zoolander. It does however feel like it’s the perfect match to that tartan shirt of his.

Wooster lesson for the week?

“Shorts does not a casual outfit make”

Okay. Stay fancy.

 

 

So I’m late with this again.

Busy weekend. Sorry.

So, this is one of the sartorialists favourite subjects. A gentleman called Lino leluzzi, he’s regarded as the ‘grandfather of style’ and owner of Milanese haberdashery Al Bazar. Kinda feels like he’s Italy’s answer to Nick Wooster (though I’m pretty sure he was around before Nick.)

Either way it’s no surprise to see why, the man has style beyond.

I’m not sure if its that beautiful double breasted trench or the extra wide cuff in his trousers, but everything is just classic tailoring and very dapper. And those monk strap shoes? Are you kidding me, with one buckle undone all casual like…bello sguardo sig Ieluzzi aspetto molto bello’

I’ve thrown in a few more pics of this well dressed gent as an apology for being late with this. Enjoy.

Okay. Stay Fancy.

 

 

Yep, this is totally Nick Wooster inspired. Unashamedly.

I really loved this week’s Wooster Wednesday, and the fact that it showed how you don’t need a thousand accessories to stand out.

So, I went on a shopping mission for this Fancy Friday. I was definitely looking for a 3 piece suite with the intention of only using the blazer and waistcoat, There’s a big “heritage” inspired trend in all the stores at the moment so this tweedish pair just stuck out for me, the waistcoat was just filled with details and it had a really fun lining. The pants were also very old school dapper with a little houndstooth pattern but a contemporary slim fit.

I purposefully didn’t wanna bring in tie bars or lapel flowers, to see if the outfit would hold it’s own. I kinda think it did.

The details are the following.

Brown houndstooth pants from Markham

Ray ban clubmasters from Sunglass hut
Blue tweed blazer and waistcoat from Markham
Blue shirt from Abercrombie & Fitch
Red woolen tartan tie by LVJ Haberdasher
Tan leather belt by Paul smith
Shoes from Zara Man
Okay. Stay fancy.

 

Nick-Wooster I’ve been sitting on this image of a Nick for a while now.

But I wasn’t quite sure what I liked about it, or what I wanted to say. Then today, I found the below image and it kinda all fell into place.

Nick-WoosterFirstly I love the matching blazer and waistcoat paired with non matching pants. In this case those tweedish type pants make this little get up a texture extravaganza that works amazingly.

But it was more than that, and this close up made me realise what. We’re always looking to Nick for a little tip or silent advice right? Right! This time, I think it comes in the form of details.

We tend to think the details that make our outfit are loading it up with accessories, a lapel flower, pocket square, tie clip, laces etc etc. And often, it is. Don’t get me wrong I’m a big fan of that kind of detailing, evident by my outfits.

But look at the details on this outfit of Nicks, the rounded collars and that weird cut out in the waistcoat that adds an element of layering. Those are details too, just, built in details.

So maybe that’s our lesson, and here’s some home work. The next time you go out shopping, look for that item with a little something different, something that doesn’t need you to accessories it to make it unique.

Okay. Stay fancy.

 

Derby shoeThere’s a reason this has taken so long.

Explaining the intricacies of mens footwear is a tricky situation as it often comes down to the smallest detail on a strange part of the shoe.

I had to start somewhere so I’ve started with one of the more difficult ones, the Derby. Identifying a derby shoe, all comes down to the eyelet tabs. The derby has what is called open lacing, which is to say that you can see a gap between the laces (in front of the tongue of the shoe), caused by the eyelet tabs being placed apart from one another.

The one further detail that makes a shoe a derby and not a bulcher (the two are often confused) is that the eyelet tab is attached to the vamp of the shoe as a separate piece of leather. What’s the vamp you ask? Simply explained its the piece of shoe that warps around your foot from before the toes to your ankle or heel.

I’ve indicated the explanations above on on this pair of derby’s from Zara below.

Derby-shoe2 Derby-shoe3Once again guys, I’m no shoemaker or fashion history expert, but I do research the death out of my posts before I wright them. If someone out there has a better explanation or finds fault with the description, drop me a comment and I’ll be happy to re look it.

Okay. Stay fancy.

Finally on time with a sartorial sunday post.

I also thought rather than work back from the new stuff to the old stuff, I would do it the other way round, you know, when Scott still had the time to find proper street fashion, rather than being flown around from fashion week to fashion show.

This gentleman above has the most perfect outfit in fact Scott titled it “I Should give up now”. Though he didn’t , as this pictured dates back to 2008. Yep, it’s 5 years old and wouldn’t look out of place in any menswear tumblr today. It ask predates the fashion blogger craze and street style star, so this gentleman, is the real deal!

Everything is cut perfectly, from his jersey to the lining up of fabric pattern at his shoulder. No detail is spared!! I tip my hat to you sir.

Wonder what this guy’s wearing today?

Okay, stay fancy.

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