What's good for some, isn't good for others.

I like Ralph Lauren. They make good shirts, khakis, suits, ties, and sweaters. While most of what Ralph Lauren sells, it on occasionally is inappropriately branded (see big pony). There are more obvious mishaps, and then there are subtle ones that, depending on the wearer, may or may not be off target. I think one of the best things about RL is that many pieces are staples. A man's wardrobe could be completely RL from it's selection of basic BD shirts, chinos, ties, jackets, suits, and even classic shoes, but I don't endorse this.

This shirt gets away from the RL wardrobe staple. It's a piece that is pulled out on occasion, just to add a little flair. If worn in this way, I think that this shirt could be worn in good taste, but if worn more than a couple times, I feel that this shirt may become "that shirt". You know, "that shirt" receives more eye rolls than a emoticon in an business email. Don't be pretentious, be subtly pretentious.

My call: Bad taste

Schoolboy Blazer: American or English

Having spent some of my life at a boarding school, I feel that in someway, my view of education and its dress are different than one who attended a public school. As a high school senior, I had much more of a reverence for blazers than many a public schooler whose uniform, unchanging as mine, was blue jeans and a t-shirt. Every boy at Western Reserve Academy had at least two blazers. One green blazer for set aside green days (our school colors) and one blazer for non-green days. The days get confusing and I won't go into detail. I personally owned (and still do) multiple, but most owned a typical 3 or 2 button navy blazer with golden buttons.

An American invention (the gold buttons that is), it's an article of clothing that I associate very closely with boarding school and American traditions. Recently, I saw this blazer released by Band of Outsiders called the Schoolboy blazer.

Tweed, while a really cool fabric, was never for anyone at boarding school a staple. It was something you pulled out for those lazy Saturday mornings when you had to doze through a Virgil reading or trignometry lecture. While this certainly could be considered an English boy's school blazer, I would say that this is improperly titled. If you disagree with me, please argue with me, as I'm making a wide generalization from a specific experience I had. In other news, this blazer is cool like Kool-Aid after mowing the lawn.

Alaska and Me

The Rainy Day Song by Alaska And Me from Tyler Cox on Vimeo.

Alaska and Me broke up last year when their van broke down for good. Being a band is a lot harder than one may think. Road food is unhealthy, shows are exhausting, and equipment is fickle. They had a Northwestern vibe to them that few bands have nowdays... but this video sucks. Too bad Jake Davis wasn't around to save the day.

Music = good taste

Video = bad taste

Good Taste via Cartoons

Get yo' WASP on!

The Hundreds Denim

While APC would be the obvious choice, I'm debating whether to grab this pair of jeans for my next pair to break in over the winter months.

Monica Denim $139

Do these jeans constitute bad taste? For me, there's a chance that I would be exercising a lack of taste by rocking these. I'm not really a skate park/big t-shirt/rap kid as I'm more of a flannel/rock&roll/bike kid. The Hundreds is a brand that has a really chill SoCal vibe. Surfing, skating, freestyling, and getting high is the image that they have built around their brand. I know that that's not me. I think here I've built enough reasons to not get these and spend a couple extra bucks for the New Standard APCs but the SoCal feel to these jeans attracts me, even if it's something I'm not. This specific cut is skinnier than The Hundreds typical cut and looks something like the 501 or the 514. I usually wear skinnies but I would definitely be down with a pair that's baggier than my 511s. Restraint is something I'm going to exercise so I don't end with jeans that look silly on me. While branding is stupid and shallow, people will judge you on the stitching on your back pocket. Your clothes represent so much about you that if you dress like a confused person, people will think that you haven't found what kind of person you are. Knowing who you are and what you can wear is exercising good taste.

Regrets

I'm regretting not having a camera as of this weekend. I went with my teammates to see our faster counterparts race at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and afterwards we went to Johnny's Deli in Bethlehem and had their famous bagels. Holy smokes, they make some mean bagels. I got two: a garlic bagel with salmon cream cheese spread and a plain bagel with blue berry cream cheese spread for dessert. The former blew my socks off with it's garlic-y and salty taste which made the salmon spread that much better. The plain bagel with blueberry spread, while not as awesome as the previous bagel, proved itself much better than a Dunkin' Donut bagel. Warm, fresh, and dripping blueberry hunks out of the melting cream cheese, the bagel just melted sweetly into my mouth (yeah, it sounds so gay but tastes so straight). Looking for pictures online, I only found an angry reviewer complaining about how the service there hit on women... stupid feminists ruining my view of a perfect shop (can I say that?). I wish I had a camera to show you my delicious meal. I wish my area had a good bagel shop. I wish...

Parting thoughts: I'm feeling the diner coffee mug. I'll have to steal one sometime.

Fedora

Fedoras must be tread lightly around. There are few that can pull them off. I'm under the impression that more people can pull off the Canadian tux off than the fedora. Japan usually nails new interpretations but not this time. They take the already touchy fedora and make it cheaper and rattier looking. Sorry boys, try again. I won't be caught dead in this.

You can end up looking like a boner here.