Reeboks?

The white sneaker is a staple. GQ endorses it, ACL endorses it, hell, the kid down the street does too. Of course when winter rolls around, the dirty sneakers get put in the closet. White sneakers, be they canvas or leather, just aren't built to stand up to snow and keep your feet warm. Winter has traditionally been reserved for the boot. While I love boots, they can sometimes be too heavy on those days between the first snow and an actual snow base. On these days I go for *drumroll*... my Reebok Workout Mids.

"Why would you wear these?" you ask. "They'll get filthy in winter, they don't look like something a skinny jeans/button-up guy would wear, and you certainly don't play basketball. These are actually the most comfortable shoes I wear and they are indeed filthy. Unlike a Vans or Sperry, you certainly can't wear this shoe with shorts and without socks (should go without saying). I bought these off final-score.com last year for $29.99. Sorting through the perpetually bad sneakers, mostly rejects from the sneaker freaks, I found these. They don't scream "awesome" but when I read the comments I was hooked. One man said he had been wearing these for the past 10 years working at a Ford factory. Another said that they wore these when working on his garbage truck. Being a person that thinks workwear is pretty cool (like 90% of other bloggers, right?), I purchased these even though these were made in Indonesia. While they look very silly during the first few wears, once they brown, they look as loved as your first pair of Chucks. They're killer, in my opinion, and I'd be interested to see if anyone else owns pieces of clothing that are not typical ACL wear. Non-blogged items can add so much character to your wardrobe, and while it's shallow, set your apart from the crowd.

LL Bean Trim Fit

Wrinkle-free shirts have been given a terrible rap as gross and chemically. While it is true that some have been irreversibly altered, for some shirts you can wash the chemicals out. For example, this LLBean trim fit will be soft and chemical-less in about 7-8 washes. Having worn two of these for both years of prep school, I can attest for their quality. They don't fit super slim as they fit similar to Brooks Brother's slim fit. I certainly don't swim in them. And really, for $29.50, you won't worry when you eat spaghetti sauce. I would recommend at least getting one and remember, frumpy takes time.

Being a college cross country runner, I drink a lot of Gatorade. It was probably cooler when it was out of a glass bottle.

Color

With the blogosphere mostly just posting about certain pieces that can be worn with hundreds of different clothes (in case you haven't noticed, disposable style is not our mantra), I think there is one aspect of how we wear our clothes that I get the feeling gets occasionally overlooked. Color is generally something that we stay very basic with as the pictured man above demonstrates. He goes with a nice red and blue colorway, mainly playing with one palette. No reason to overthink it, that would be silly and slightly unmasculine, however, wearing greys and blacks can get (pun intended?) drab. Everyday, I try to throw something on that pops. For instance, the man above (in case you couldn't tell, I got that from the sartorialist; now that's a man who pays attention to color) would look dull without his red cardigan. By all means, a man should be understated, lest he look the fool, but color makes dressing everyday less boring. I'm under the personal opinion that a man should have several colors to choose from in his wardrobe. By having many different colors, he in turn opens up many more ways to wear his clothes. For example, I own a blue khaki shirt that just looks boring with jeans, but pops when worn with light khakis or with a red undershirt. I don't need twenty different khakis or red t-shirts, just one or two khakis and one red shirt. By having these color options I just opened up three more ways to wear my shirt. I'm under the opinion that we should limit our clothing but never limit our colors. My parting thoughts to you: diversify your palette, it makes dressing in the morning, believe it or not, easier.

I own two Ketch neckties. They are both rip-offs of traditional designs sold by stores like JPress and Brooks Brothers. One is paisley and the other is university stripe.They are both made of cheap material but don't look cheap when wore due to their lackluster shine (their polyester isn't showing out). I like 'em but you might only be able to find them in thrift stores. I'm not sure who carries them and I can't seem to uncover much about them.

Secret Forts

This post is SO COOL.

Berries in the bushes...

Ok, I'm going to lay-off these types of posts for awhile. It was really a celebration of the fact that I'm finally hosting my own pictures now and not feeding off others.

I'll be back posting stuff I find neat, and maybe a little odd, in a day or two. Also, the spacing is very intentional.