http://www.thediscerningbrute.com fashion, food & etiquette for the ethically handsome man Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:51:26 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.thediscerningbrute.com/2010/01/11/spring-casual-cuffs-buttoned-up/ http://www.thediscerningbrute.com/2010/01/11/spring-casual-cuffs-buttoned-up/#comments Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:37:44 +0000 joshuakatcher http://www.thediscerningbrute.com/?p=3091
This freezing cold weather is out of control. So let's concentrate on spring. Since it's right around the corner, I thought I'd refresh you guys with some trends to keep in mind to spring. As per usual, I'm not in any way telling you to go buy ridiculously expensive designer stuff. Hit up your local [...]]]>
This freezing cold weather is out of control. So let's concentrate on spring. Since it's right around the corner, I thought I'd refresh you guys with some trends to keep in mind to spring. As per usual, I'm not in any way telling you to go buy ridiculously expensive designer stuff. Hit up your local thrift store and use these images as a guide for what to look for and splurge on one or two new things that are impossible to find elsewhere. Dress shoes with shorts & Suits with Shorts. It's OK to throw on a pair of oxfords or brogues with a suit and a really cool pair of shorts. Robert Geller and Calvin Klein's models pull it off with confidence. Cuffs (up top and down low). C.P. Company and DKNY's guys show off their shoes and their forearms. The Casual Suit. Like these images from the Rag & Bone and John Varvatos' runways, there's no need to put on a tie if you want to wear a waistcoat, jacket, and slacks or shorts. This a great way to communicate effortless and casual confidence. Button up. If you wear a button-down shirt, please do not leave the top three or four (or five) buttons open like so many guys do. It looks seedy and 70's and Dolce & Gabbana-Gay-Hooker-vacationing-in-Miami. If you must leave a button open, just do the very top one. Optimally button-up all the way, like these images from the Robert Geller and Paul Smith, and runways. Pleats. There's nothing you can do to stop it. Pleats are back. Whether it's one pleat or many baggy pleats - they are on almost every single menswear runway. It's OK if you avoid it, but it's also OK if you try it out. Yohji Yamamoto and Patrick Ervell are the messengers. ]]> http://www.thediscerningbrute.com/2010/01/11/spring-casual-cuffs-buttoned-up/feed/ 3 http://www.thediscerningbrute.com/2009/05/08/wiener-roast-rag-bone-and-dog-fighters/ http://www.thediscerningbrute.com/2009/05/08/wiener-roast-rag-bone-and-dog-fighters/#comments Fri, 08 May 2009 05:39:55 +0000 TheDiscerningBrute http://thediscerningbrute.com/?p=1462
Wiener Roast: If you've ever wondered why men identify with charring meat, check out the article I wrote about dude-culture and barbecuing! Rag & Bone's organic knits. You know we think wool is 'effed up. Rag & Bone, whose aesthetic we love, has some really great knits in organic cotton for Spring '09. Did you [...]]]>
Wiener Roast: If you've ever wondered why men identify with charring meat, check out the article I wrote about dude-culture and barbecuing! Rag & Bone's organic knits. You know we think wool is 'effed up. Rag & Bone, whose aesthetic we love, has some really great knits in organic cotton for Spring '09. Did you know that 25% of ALL PESTICIDES used globally is for cotton? Knock Out Dog Fighting: Tito Ortiz, Cung Lee, and other bad-asses take a stand against dog fighting. Check it out! Gardein ...tastes.... like... chicken. I picked up some It's All Good brand veggie-chick'n in tomato tuscan marinade because it's made with this really great faux meat called Gardein, and I hadn't tried it yet. It was really convincing (scarily so, for this more-than-a-decade-vegan), and has 26 grams if protein per serving! Wow.  I prepared it over quinoa with some steamed greens: ]]> http://www.thediscerningbrute.com/2009/05/08/wiener-roast-rag-bone-and-dog-fighters/feed/ 5 http://www.thediscerningbrute.com/2008/09/12/judicious-gentlemanswear/ http://www.thediscerningbrute.com/2008/09/12/judicious-gentlemanswear/#comments Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:41:08 +0000 TheDiscerningBrute http://thediscerningbrute.wordpress.com/?p=428
1. Fashion Week: Spring 09 Menswear Spring '09 will be full of stripes, neutrals with pops of color, and above-the-ankle pants. Band of Outsiders offered casual, laceless loafers, 80's inspired kid-hipster cuts, and a sense of playing film-noir dress-up. The DKNY man was mostly tie-less and laid back, wearing canvass sneaks. Ducky Brown was inspired [...]]]>
1. Fashion Week: Spring 09 Menswear Spring '09 will be full of stripes, neutrals with pops of color, and above-the-ankle pants. Band of Outsiders offered casual, laceless loafers, 80's inspired kid-hipster cuts, and a sense of playing film-noir dress-up. The DKNY man was mostly tie-less and laid back, wearing canvass sneaks. Ducky Brown was inspired by bike messengers and swimmers' spandex, Lacoste's man in red simply showcased polos and cuffed, fitted slacks. Marc Jacobs' double-belts, volume, and stripes followed the trends this season. Patrik Ervell toyed around with glam rock-a-billy, Rag & Bone just went straight for the many schools of punk, and Robert Geller took us to eastern Europe, with Gypsy-softened, military cuts. What we know about menswear is that there is little flexibility (at least in comparison to womens' fashion) concerning garments. There are things that define men - suits, ties, knits, hats, waistcoats, jackets, slacks, and certain accessories. In the world of menswear, the leather jacket is almost as defining to male gender as the Bloody Steak is in the world of cuisine. Aside from the perpetual re-modification of tailoring, cuts, and fits - most menswear designers are lost in a cyclical pattern of rotating colors, prints, eras, and fibers. Surprisingly, it is easy to use organic cotton instead of conventional cotton. It is easy to find alternatives to leather and fur. Thanks to designers like Jaanj, we know that ties do not need to be made with silk to be luxurious or silky. Same for knits and wool, yet designers keep pumping out the same old thing - imagining that somehow this is iconoclastic. Menswear is dying because of logistics and lazy creatures of habit. It is dying due to a lack of vision and a defiant unwillingness to adapt to a landbase in crisis. Designers could use ethical textile suppliers, forcing those who continue to shit on us and get paid for it to change or vanish. Phillip Lim's grotesquely excessive snakeskin shoes, and so-over keffeyah-inspired scarf seemed useless on the runway. I'd rather see the actual living snake (it is much more beautiful) - or a tribute to Palestinean solidarity that hasn't been bastardized. Hillfiger's bone and white suits could easily be made with organic fibers. Designers are just starting to realize that the bubble most of them have found tolerance in  - where snakes are shoes and cows are jackets and raccoon-dogs are collars - is becoming more and more difficult to cajole consumers with, whose broadening awareness begs for well-made, compassionate garments and accessories, and exposes the absent referent. The problem goes even deeper - in a culture of mainstream fashion 'journalists' and writers who lack the knowledge to create a critical discourse concerning textiles, labor, and functioning ecosystems - many simply fail to take into account what the clothes are actually made of, how that happened, and what the effects are.  Instead, when we do hear about fabric - the only barometer it is measured by is that of outdated and disfunctional ideas of luxury and evocation of wealth. There are a handful of ethical designers recognized in the mainstream - Trovata for instance - who will be selling their garments from a vegetable powered bus. Others are Organic by John Patrick, Turk & Taylor, NSF, and Linda Loudermilk. They are almost always written off as 'cooky'. More to come from spring '09. 2. Culturata Organics

What can improve upon a long family history in fine italian tailoring? Organic cotton. When in Rome... wear classic, tailored, organic shirts made by expert craftsmen. Culturata Organics is an emerging company with strict environmental and ethical standards. ]]> http://www.thediscerningbrute.com/2008/09/12/judicious-gentlemanswear/feed/ 2