Sunday, February 21, 2010

Red Wings and Levi's

I've had my Red Wings for 2 years now. The past few months I've given them some good, hard wear. Shoveled some major snow in them. Wore them in my crawl space while I changed my sump pump (how's that for some good old American workin'), etc.

Gave them a good conditioning and a shining a few weeks back and they look and feel better than ever.

Took a few shots of them with my new Levi's STF in Verde color this weekend. Found this old folding chair and thought it provided a great backdrop.



Saturday, February 20, 2010

Winter at 50%

And so we reach the half-way point of the winter. Which means the S/S 2010 goodies start to appear. Thankfully, as I've said before, I'm not a big shorts and polos kinda guy so not much is tempting me!

Except that J Crew Red Chambray. A lot of peeps are sweating this shirt. Better live up to its hype! I did the pre-order so it should be showing up this week. Willy Cheesesteak has a great shot of it on his blog here.

With great glee, I have fallen victim to 3 pairs of Levi's 501 since the new year.

1. Levi's 501 for J Crew in Best Blues (Selvedge)


2. Levi's 501 for J Crew in Indigo Ridge (previously mentioned in this blog)

3. Levi's 501 Dark Rinse (Selvedge). Made in USA. Beautiful dark denim. Probably 12 oz weight. Never seen anything like these anywhere. Found them in Bloomingdales in Short Hills, NJ. Had my eye on them for soooo long, but the $168 price tag put me off. Then one day in early February I'm walking thru the store and there happens to be a 50% off sale. I go over to the table where these are, expecting my size to be gone, but alas, there they were. I couldn't resist. These are beautiful. Will try to get some pix that do them justice.

I spent the better part of last week in Montreal, and believe it or not, I didn't dent the wallet. Saw some beautiful things but I held back. To be truthful, the wife was quite surprised at my control!

Truth be told, I did try and score another pair of Nudie Averages Joe's (cuz i LOVE the way my first pair are wearing thus far), but after I ordered with Oi Polloi I was informed they were sold out in my size!

Also, I've been pretty strong on holding off on those Alden's!

The New Levi's LVC collection has landed at selected joints (Farinelli's has a nice write up on them). I really want to get back into a pair of 1947s, but I'm gun shy given my recent purchases (since December) of APCs, Nudies, and a bunch of 501s.

To quench my thirst I got a pair of Levi's 501 STF in Verde. Went for my natural waist this time instead of +2 inches. Did my 20 min soak in a hot bath as my family looked on and contemplated calling a shrink. (no pun intended there). After 20 mins they felt great. Wore them for 2 hours and then let them dry overnight on a clothes rack. Have to say, for $36 (thanks Zappos and FREE next day shipping) these are quite impressive. As much as I dig those '47s (now close to $225, and $265 for the pre-shrunk J Crew version), I can get 6 pairs of these STFs. At some point I think I will fall victim to these 47s. WHY DID I EVER THROW MY LAST PAIR IN THE WASH!!! UUGHHHHHHHHH!

That's it for now.

Oh yeah, Sade's album is at number 1. Rightfully so.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

The Lady Returns

Almost 10 years in the making.

Sade's legions of fans are surely the most patient in the world. Nonetheless, we love and adore her.

Almost 10 ten years of patiently waiting, but never forgetting.

THIS IS SOUL href="">

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Haunted Heels

Have to admit, the recent J. Crew collaborations have been pretty impressive. Over the past year I picked up the Timex watch, Sperry shoes, RayBan shades, etc.

And now, now they come at me where I'm at my weakest.

I actually got to see and hold these in person at the Liquor Store a few weeks back and they've been haunting me ever since. (They also come in a dark brown.)

What a feeling, holding a pair of super high quality men's shoes (made in the USA!) that literally last their proud owners 10-15 years. This ain't your Made in China, glued together, toss away next year shoes that you won't remember 2 years from now.

How long can I hold out? I'm wearing thin....

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Write it Down!

A few weeks back I stumbled upon this great denim blog. See here DENIM NEWS.

There was a post I found very interesting on little black notebooks. HERE's THE SCOOP

I've always been a fan of carrying around a little notebook for my to-do list, to write down stuff I know I'll want to remember, but know I'll forget, and to help me manage life in general. If you remember, one of my earliest posts on this blog was about my obsession with to-do lists.

Not long after reading that article, I had to score a Rhodia. It really is as useful and well made as the review above paints it to be. I won't go through it all again, but this is really $15 well spent.


The sheer simplicity of this product, coupled with its usefulness, make you know this is gonna be around 25 years from now. Your chirping Crackberry? Probably not.