Santa comes early...

Back in the day when I was in grade school, and snow days were a part of life, impending snow always put me in such a great mood.

So Friday, the weather man starts talking about a major snowstorm headed our way. Kinda messed up wedding plans of my best friend this weekend, but never the less, I got that nervous-energy-happy-feeling back on Friday.

Jake Davis had a piece about the newly blown-out crotch on his APC New Standard Jeans on Friday. I have been wanting to replace my Levi’s Vintage 1947s since I shrunk them 18 months ago, but didn’t know what to replace them with. Kicking Mule Workshop? Samurai? Dior?

The APC thread got me curious. I had never done my research on them. My research on Friday quickly told me I had to check these out.

Went up to the APC shop on Mercer St in SOHO. A really nice guy working there in the denim department schooled me a bit on the fits, stretching, wear, etc. 30 mins later I walked outta there with a dope pair of Japanese raw selvage New Standards. I bought a 33 waist. Usually I’m a 34 in Levi’s & J Crew.



I’ve been wearing these babies since 7pm yesterday and they are beginning to stretch already. Just will have to get the inseam taken in a few inches.

I’m really looking forward to breaking these in. I will definitely make these A#1 denim for the next 12-18 months, and hopefully longer.


Today, I was able to find a real score: J Crew’s men’s 100% cashmere winter hat for 50% off. Had been balking at the full retail price of this one for a while. In the meantime, I bought 3 other winter hats, so now I have 4 for this winter. I’m stacked. This cashmere baby is sure to be my new best friend on cold winter days in NYC.

Almost....

Saw an interesting pair of jeans at the J Crew Men's shop at 484 Bway this weekend.

They were raw, selvage. Tasty. Came in its own canvas bag, individually numbered. $225.

Very timely find, seeing how one of my recent posts spoke to J Crew's lack of untouched, raw, dark denim.

My excitement was quickly damped as I saw these babies were only available in the 484 Fit. I've tried this extra-slim fit and found it to be much too slim for my tastes.

If I'm gonna spend $225, at least allow me a cut that's more classic.

For all you dudes out there who dig the 484 fit, give 'em a look-see if you're in the Big Apple. Not available on line, in the catalog, or anywhere else besides here and the Liquor Store.

The drought is over

The loooooooong wait is over. Finally, new music from The Lady.

Release date has been set for Sade's Soldier of Love CD: Feb 9 2010.

Fans all over the world are jumping for joy. When you love Sade, you become accustomed to long waits between CDs, but that doesn't make it any easier. Almost 10years of waiting.

The Lady, now 50, drops the first single from the CD:

Listen: Soldier Of Love


This is music.

Say what Jack ?

The Jack Knows Best feature for men has been a nice add to the J Crew website, even if it does just seem like a way to point people to more J Crew products they should be buying.

Here's what I found very interesting: When asked about denim, Jack recommends that the anchor to your denim collection should be a pair or dark, or preferably raw, jeans, with little (if any) artificial wear-signs. I'm all for this, of course.

The odd thing is that if one looks at the J Crew denim collection these days, this is exactly what you're least likely to find. As far as I can tell, there is just one pair in the vinatge slim category that could fill this need ("worn rinse wash"). The blue and black resin crinkle wash jeans are quite nice, but the straight fit was only offered on-line and are almost entirely sold out now. (Sorry, the 484 slim fits are too claustrophobic for me)

The "dark worn wash" looks nice at first site, but when I tried them on the artificial fading, whiskers, and marks in the back of the knee were a turn-off.

Just seems like there are so many pre-faded, destroyed, repaired, worn wash, etc jeans. I think its a bit overkill, no?

Let's get back to the classics.

Jack, ya hear?

To be continued.....

About a month ago, Jake Davis, who writes one of favorite blogs, held a contest. The theme of the contest was for the readers of Jake's blog to pick the top three men's (life)style blogs out there. I think Jake listed around 30 blogs or so, if I remember correctly. Some of these I read, some I don't. I can tell you, the ones I read, are really well done. (A Continuous Lean won top honors)

They're original, they're always informative, and they're really thought provoking.

It got me thinking, I kinda like doing my blog, but really, what am I adding? Maybe a few people give 2 hoots about my latest obsession from J Crew, but does it really go any further than that?

So I've been thinking over the past month, what can I do to make it so this blog actually matters? What can I do to make it a bit more relevant?

The answer? I'm not sure.

So while I continue to add great J. Crew pieces to my shrinking closet, I'll keep thinking of how I can make this thing more appealing.

Enjoy the Holiday Season!