Allen Edmonds S/S 2010

While I do love a good thrifting adventure, much time is spend researching key brands and upcoming projects. Allen Edmonds are a dress shoe staple and are the workhorse of many shoe wardrobes. This year, they have put together a fantastic showing of new styles which had me wishing I chose a different career path. Who knows, maybe one of these will work their way to ebay or one of the many Buy&Sell threads on Men's Clothing Messageboards.

Levi's 501 Shrink-to-Fit

Last weekend, I furthered my experiments with raw denim by buying a pair of Levi's 501 Shrink-to-Fit. This could possibly be the cheapest pair of raw denim at an approximate cost of $35. With a classic high-waisted rise and a moderate taper, this is a far departure from the fit my New Standards. And so begins another denim project...

APC New Standards

Close to a year and a half ago, I resolved to start dressing better. I had been in the working world for a couple years and had little idea how to dress as an adult. After stumbling upon the Styleforum and Superfuture messageboards, I have found a new hobby... Raw Denim.

WAYWT 1/25/10

Hickey Freeman Sportcoat (thrifted)
Brooks Bros. Sweater (thrifted)
JCrew OCBD
Incotex Trousers (Daffys)
Bostonian Longwings (Thrifted)

Thrifting Finds: 1/25/10

This past Friday, I was invited to attend a board meeting for my job and it went over very well (WAYWT pic forthcoming). For this reason, I decided to treat myself to an afternoon of thrifting. Luckily, there were quite a few good finds. Unfortunately, the kindly gentleman who donated several tweed jackets was a size or two smaller than myself. I was forced to overlook a very nice Harris Tweed jacket made by Orvis, and another tweed that must have been a vintage 1960's 3-roll-2 button jacket. Ugh, they were fantastic. However, I did happen to find a very nice Navy Pin-Stripe Hickey Freeman suit for $30. There are some alterations which need to be made; the sleeves need to be lengthened and apparently the pants were previously altered in an odd way. It seems that they were taken in, but the zipper was either damaged or replaced strangely. Hopefully I can find a skilled tailor who can offer an inexpensive fix.

Rules of Thrifting

Now I don't consider myself to be an authority on much, but I do enjoy thrifting. A lot. Here are a few guidelines I use when I make my occasional trips to the thrift store.

New Music (For me) 1/20/10

Book Review: A Tale of Two Cities

Mehhh... It was ok. It took a while before I could really sink into the story and immerse myself in Dickens' prose. For the first half of the book, I found it difficult to desipher exactly what was happening. Add this to the fact I could care less about any of the characters (except for Carton, he kicks ass), it made for a challenging read. The las thrid of the book picked up the pace and became much more engaging. The story itself proved to be very entertaining by the end, and while it was a decent book, I now understand why I enjoy Hemingway as much as I do.

Thrifting Finds: 1/14/10

Since both Christmas and New Year's have come and passed, that means two things: 1) Tax season is upon us, which inevitably means 2) it's Thrifting Season! My favorite time of year. This is especially nice when you live in an area like Long Island, whose residents have copious amounts of expendable income. The quality of thrifting finds are then exponentially better. Last Friday, I made my first Thrifting venture and came back with a few choice items.

New Music (For me) 1/13/10